Airfare??

[Anyislandwilldo]

Booked our air fare to PR for our Feb cruise on Southwest (best deal) and have been watching the air fare for return flight over the last few weeks. Yesterday I checked and the flight back at the 2:00 time slot was all sold out! Really! Last time I checked there seemed to be plenty of seats available. Thought is was a glitch so I checked again today and still sold out. The 7:30 am flight is really cheap but there is no way we are going to make that flight. Has anyone had any luck with booking closer to the cruise for cheaper airfare. We knew going into this cruise that airfare would be a factor.

[alfaeric]

Have you been and/or cruised out of San Juan before?

 

We've gone a lot, before discovering cruising.

 

Saturday and Sundays are zoos at the airport. Crazy. Most of the time we fly home on those days, our airline (was NW, now Delta, have done Conti) asks for volunteers to take a later flight.

 

That, and the only times we've found cheap flights were in July. February should not nearly be as bad as Christmas (when we normally go to Puerto Rico), but cruise days will still be very heavy.

 

I don't think it's going to get much cheaper, probably more expensive.

 

It may be very cost effective to stay the night and fly the next morning at 7:30am. If that is an option. We mostly do that.

 

Mondays and Fridays are much more calm.

[Anyislandwilldo]

Hi alfaeric,

 

We've flown out of PR many times. Did the Victory out of PR years ago and knew the cost of air would be a big factor. I'm surprised that the Southwest flight is already sold out. They just started to release the Feb flights a few weeks ago. I will continue to hunt down low fares. thanks for your input.

[alfaeric]

So you do know how crazy it is, then...

 

It does seem unusual for an airline to sell out almost the same time as the seats are released. But I'm not a SW customer, so I have no reference on how they may change...

 

Most of the time, we try to get the flights as soon as they are available from Delta- which is 300 days. most of the time, that gets us a good price.

 

Anyway- hope you find a economic way down this time! :)

[Loving My Life]

I second the recommendation to stay an extra night and fly out on Monday. It gave us time to visit El Yunque, the airport was dead on Monday, and the flight was cheaper than the Sunday flight we were considering.

Edited August 27, 2014 by Loving My Life

[poppadevan]

I was on the Valor in June. We got off the ship at 7:00 AM on Sunday June 29. We were at the Airport before 8:00 AM. I booked a connecting flight at 10:10 through Orlando, FL. Then on to BWI. We were home by 4:30 in the Baltimore area. Do not be afraid to book an early flight out of San Juan. And, Orlando is a great connecting airport because of the popularity of Disney World. You should be able to make a convenient connection to most anywhere in the US. Hope this helps.