Insel Air

[wwguy]

The impression that I got was that Insel are all right and considering previous criticisms, have got their act together to a large extent.

Apparently you didn't read the most recent reports in the Insel complaint thread I linked previously. Just because they were on time for your flight, the one and only time you ever flew with them, doesn't mean their shoddy airline is "fixed".

For the timeframe we can go (November) Insel is $378 roundtrip from Miami, Delta is $1156 roundtrip from Atlanta.

All said and done, Miami and Atlanta are about equidistant. Our local airport is Jacksonville. It seems you really can't get anywhere meaningful from here for less than $400, hence the willingness to drive.

You're almost always going to pay more when departing from an airline's hub city, such as with Delta flights originating in Atlanta. Thus the term "hub captive" to describe travellers who live in hub cities.

You can fly Delta from Jacksonville to Bonaire, connecting in Atlanta, for almost half of the Delta price you mentioned. Heck, you can fly first class from Jacksonville on Delta for less than $1000.

Here's one November itinerary for example:

 

[diver 85]

Be careful with the ABC local air ops------sometimes you can get to(let's say)island "C"---thinking you've got a 3 hour later flight to island "B"---& when you land @ island "C" the %^&*$'ing airline is now 'under'..........happened to us 2 summers ago when heading to "B"......good luck.....

 

[Bas Harts]

Just skip Bonaire and stay and dive in Curacao.

 

[Lorenzoid]

You're almost always going to pay more when departing from an airline's hub city, such as with Delta flights originating in Atlanta. Thus the term "hub captive" to describe travellers who live in hub cities.

You can fly Delta from Jacksonville to Bonaire, connecting in Atlanta, for almost half of the Delta price you mentioned. Heck, you can fly first class from Jacksonville on Delta for less than $1000.

Here's one November itinerary for example:
View attachment 214891

Yep. I envy you people who are not "hub captives." That same flight would be $960 for us from Atlanta.

Last year, we were desperate enough to save money that we drove two hours from Atlanta to Birmingham, Alabama, so that we could route ourselves on Delta from Birmingham back through Atlanta to Bonaire. We stayed overnight with friends in Birmingham, but even if we had had to pay hotel we would have come out ahead. Between my wife and I, we saved around $600 over flying the nonstop from Atlanta. That's enough to pay for our diving in Bonaire.

A few years ago, we drove from Atlanta to Charlotte, NC (3.5 hours) so we could take advantage of Insel's inaugural fares from that city. Again, it saved us a lot over Delta's robber-baron fares.

This year I finally have enough airmiles accumulated to take the nonstop. It's going to be difficult to feel grateful to Delta for the opportunity.

 

[boat sju]

Mike,

If you're going to drive to MIA it might be worth the risk to fly Insel. Since we connect with a domestic airline in MIA we decided it wasn't worth the risk of missing a flight because Insel got us there late. We'd have no recourse.

Also, a supposedly direct MIA to BON flight on Insel's big jet ended up taking us to Curacao first and then on to BON on a 1940's vintage Fokker prop plane. (That flew BELOW a nice thunderstorm I might add.)

boat

 

[diversteve]

Also, a supposedly direct MIA to BON flight on Insel's big jet ended up taking us to Curacao first and then on to BON on a 1940's vintage Fokker prop plane. (That flew BELOW a nice thunderstorm I might add.)

All their flights do in November - MD80 to Curacao, Fokker 50 to Bonaire. Vintage 1985 or newer.

Just skip Bonaire and stay and dive in Curacao.

That's what I'd do also...

 

[boat sju]

All their flights do in November - MD80 to Curacao, Fokker 50 to Bonaire. Vintage 1985 or newer.

View attachment 214898

That's what I'd do also...

I'm talking 5 years ago. The Fokker we flew on sure didn't look like that one.

I did some research. I think my dive buddy was messing with me on the age of the plane, but I do think it was an older F-27.

 

[MikeT73]

Thanks for the replies and help. Since we were able to shift our vacation time, we actually booked the Delta flight from JAX-BON from 11/14-11/21! This will be our first trip there; we are staying at Buddy Dive.

Now, I'm off to "tips and advice" in the Search function....

 

[boat sju]

Mike,

Caribbean Club is a sister property of Buddy Dive so you can get tanks up there too. By Oilslick.

boat