Tuesday, February 08, 2011

Two Weekly Flights from Newark to Bonaire again

I had my fill of flying in 2010 and am hoping to stay put here on Bonaire for a while. But it is good to learn that my options have increased, should I suddenly have to head to New Jersey for some reason. (stop laughing, I like NJ)

Starting next week, Continental airlines will be flying direct to Bonaire twice a week. One flight leaves Newark just before midnight on Friday nights, and the second one leaves Newark just before midnight on Saturday nights. These flights arrive on Bonaire on Sat. and Sun. mornings respectively.

Meeting incoming friends at the airport can get a little crazy. When they say the are on "the Saturday Continental flight", do they mean the Conti. flight that arrives here on Sat? OR do they mean the one that leaves the USA on Sat. and arrives here on Sunday. Yes, I'll admit it. I have indeed gone to the airport at o'dark hundred and fed the mosquitos for an hour or more, only to find that my person wasn't on that flight. And then had the joy of repeating the experience the next morning.

I did some snooping on the Conti. Web site, and because the Friday/Saturday flights aren't that booked up yet, you can occasionally save some money.
For example, a trip to Bonaire on March 5 which returns on March 20 costs 900+ dollars.
But if you fly on March 4 (or 5) and return on the new flight on March 19, it costs 700+ dollars. What a deal.

The Sunday return flights from Bonaire seem to be fairly heavily booked. I looked at a couple weekends in May and found them sold out, but the Saturday return flights those weeks still had seats.

And of course, for you New Jersey-phobes, there are other direct flights to Bonaire from which to choose: like two Continental flights from Houston each weekend, a Delta flight from Atlanta, and an Insel air flight from Miami.

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