Trying to get form NYC to Curacao and suddenly its impossible.
June 18, 2015 12:13 PM Subscribe
So I’m trying to get from NYC to Curacao in mid August and I’m having trouble finding reasonable flights. Is there something I’m not thinking of? We do not want to use a travel agent.
We wanted to go from Thursday to Sunday, give or take a day on either side. Unfortunately the flights suddenly jumped up to over $600. To get into the more reasonable range of $400-500, we have to do crazy things like switch planes so much it ends up being 19 hours of flying or have a 9 hour layover.
Is there anything I’m not considering? What if we drove to Albany or Philly and flew from there? Is it at all feasible to fly onto a neighboring island and then…um… get to Curacao somehow from there? I wouldn’t even know how. A commuter plane? A boat? Help! I know nothing about traveling to a place that isn't a major metropolis with a billion flights a day.
We wanted to go from Thursday to Sunday, give or take a day on either side. Unfortunately the flights suddenly jumped up to over $600. To get into the more reasonable range of $400-500, we have to do crazy things like switch planes so much it ends up being 19 hours of flying or have a 9 hour layover.
Is there anything I’m not considering? What if we drove to Albany or Philly and flew from there? Is it at all feasible to fly onto a neighboring island and then…um… get to Curacao somehow from there? I wouldn’t even know how. A commuter plane? A boat? Help! I know nothing about traveling to a place that isn't a major metropolis with a billion flights a day.
Response by poster: Alas, we can only go around the weekend of August 14-16. And we're specifically going to visit a friend who lives in Curacao. So we can't budge on destination and dates can only wiggle a couple days or so in either direction.
It sounds impossible but just last week, flights were like $350! Now suddenly they're double that.
posted by silverstatue at 12:42 PM on June 18, 2015
It sounds impossible but just last week, flights were like $350! Now suddenly they're double that.
posted by silverstatue at 12:42 PM on June 18, 2015
Can you get to Toronto? Air Canada has direct YYZ-CUR flights and you might be able to find a deal from there. I'm seeing certain dates in August for CAD$576 ($470 USD). Not seeing the same prices out of Montreal.
Only reason I know this is because I tried to book a trip for November and got shut out of flights hard. No idea what's going on.
posted by JoeZydeco at 12:54 PM on June 18, 2015
Only reason I know this is because I tried to book a trip for November and got shut out of flights hard. No idea what's going on.
posted by JoeZydeco at 12:54 PM on June 18, 2015
Yeah, looks like you're in the $700s now for a non-crazy itinerary. I'd guess there was some AA flight that was undersold, which gave you the $350 numbers, and then just enough people have purchased tickets to jack up the prices.
Since there aren't that many flights in and out of your destination, you can case a bit of a wide net when it comes to your departure cities (Allentown, Philadelphia, etc. are within reach) but you still have a finite number of flights that will work, especially since you aren't flexible on dates.
If you're willing to sacrifice a ton of time and some of your credit rating to save a couple hundred bucks on this endeavor, you could try churning credit cards for miles in the off chance that you could book one of these tickets on frequent flier miles, or book through a credit card miles portal (e.g. Chase Ultimate Rewards). But the approach would require time, a good credit history, and some luck, since if those tickets are in high demand now it may be tough to book them as award travel. Flyertalk.com has a lot of good information from points/mileage nerds if that's a route you're interested in, but given the short notice and sub-thousand dollar ticket prices, you may be better off just eating the price hike.
That, or wait until 45 days out from your trip, at 1am in the time zone your airline is based in (here, likely AA). Though if you take that route you run the risk of loosing out on these flights altogether, or the price getting hiked up even more. Bird in the hand and all that...
posted by craven_morhead at 2:06 PM on June 18, 2015
Since there aren't that many flights in and out of your destination, you can case a bit of a wide net when it comes to your departure cities (Allentown, Philadelphia, etc. are within reach) but you still have a finite number of flights that will work, especially since you aren't flexible on dates.
If you're willing to sacrifice a ton of time and some of your credit rating to save a couple hundred bucks on this endeavor, you could try churning credit cards for miles in the off chance that you could book one of these tickets on frequent flier miles, or book through a credit card miles portal (e.g. Chase Ultimate Rewards). But the approach would require time, a good credit history, and some luck, since if those tickets are in high demand now it may be tough to book them as award travel. Flyertalk.com has a lot of good information from points/mileage nerds if that's a route you're interested in, but given the short notice and sub-thousand dollar ticket prices, you may be better off just eating the price hike.
That, or wait until 45 days out from your trip, at 1am in the time zone your airline is based in (here, likely AA). Though if you take that route you run the risk of loosing out on these flights altogether, or the price getting hiked up even more. Bird in the hand and all that...
posted by craven_morhead at 2:06 PM on June 18, 2015
I think it would be hard to do this on credit card miles at this point, considering that the miles earned don't post until after the billing period ends. So even if you got a credit card with a billing period ending exactly one month from today, at the earliest you'd be looking at booking it under 4 weeks out, and you'd need some serious spend and sign-up bonuses to get enough. I've never tried going to Curacao, but I wouldn't have high hopes for award ticket availability on that route on one specific weekend three weeks out...
posted by primethyme at 2:21 PM on June 18, 2015
posted by primethyme at 2:21 PM on June 18, 2015
« Older Techniques for improving memory in older people | A Meaningful Thank You Gift for a Wedding Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
If money is critical, consider other Caribbean destinations.
posted by craven_morhead at 12:22 PM on June 18, 2015