Getting to Dominica

[Pedro Burrito]

It looks like I have two choices to get to Dominica:

from IAD (Dulles) to MIA and then to San Juan, PR and then wait 20 hours before taking a puddle jumper (American Eagle) to Dominica or

from IAD to St. Maarten non-stop and then take a puddle jumper (LIAT) a few hours later to Dominica. Has anyone taken either of those routes?

If I fly into St. Maarten, do I have to clear customs before getting on the flight to Dominica?

 

[silvernotch]

In general, you will have to clear customs in St. Martin before moving on to Dominica

 

[lmorin]

Clarify where you want to be and when, plus give the potential airports from which you can leave. If BWI is within reach, there are direct AirTran flights that would probably work. One stops from DCA will also get you to San Juan reasonably early for a flight to Dominica.

 

[agilis]

I think there is a 6am flight on United from Dulles to San Juan that gets you to San Juan in plenty of time to catch the 12:40PM Americam Eagle flight to Dominica. Avoid LIAT (Luggage In Another Terminal) if possible. They are having employee contract problems at the moment with cancelled flights, including today's Dominica flight.

 

[Barry Goode]

It looks like I have two choices to get to Dominica:

from IAD (Dulles) to MIA and then to San Juan, PR and then wait 20 hours before taking a puddle jumper (American Eagle) to Dominica or

from IAD to St. Maarten non-stop and then take a puddle jumper (LIAT) a few hours later to Dominica. Has anyone taken either of those routes?

If I fly into St. Maarten, do I have to clear customs before getting on the flight to Dominica?

I've tried to get to Dominica from Detroit during Spring Break for a couple years now but the flights always take 2 days each way. I finally, broke down & went to a travel agent who was able to get me 1 day flights each way during Easter week for $1000 round trip.

 

[kerk72]

Both ANU Antigua and BGI Barbados are also options and look like you can get there from IAD in 1 day. LIAT isn't that bad. If your luggage is delayed it arrives the next day and likely your accommodation provider would know a relatively easy way to have it retrieved from the airport. I did have it happen to me once at Christmas. Also, if you are able to pack on the small side, I have never had them weight my carry on even though they claim a very low weight limit, so if you can just keep it with you. You'll have to keep it under the seat ahead of you as the overhead bins won't accommodate the larger suitcase style carry ons. This also expedites luggage collection. In any case make sure that you have necessities in your carry on regardless "just in case".

As for clearing customs in St. Maarten, Antigua, Barbados, etc. I have always found that if you're heading out right away, they barely look at you. USA customs is a nightmare and as a Canadian we do anything we can to avoid flying through the states and SJU because clearing here takes so long - especially when you add in the Dept. of Agriculture scans.

Getting there is much easier now that they have the after dark flights, but be aware that the night flights are the ones that can be cancelled since they are limited to landing from the ocean toward the mountain after dark and if the wind isn't right, they can't land safely.