Chicago to San Juan Air

[domer95]

Anyone have much experience with Chicago to San Juan airfares. I have found a couple (AA and ATA) that are around $350/person including taxes. I was going to look at Spirit Air, but their flight schedules aren't out yet for April '05 when our cruise is. I'm torn between going with the current price which seems like an acceptable price or waiting a little while to see if they can hopefully come down. Any thoughts or suggestions? Also, we're going down a few days early so flight delays won't be a headache (hopefully).

[donnajo]

I am flying out of O'Hare to SJU in November and I paid 348 r/t non-stop on American. I had some frequent flier miles, so my husband is flying for free.

The prices have been a little steep! Spirit has a stopover in Orlando and the flight time is very long. This is my second time flying to San Juan and I highly recommend a non stop flight.

We are going in one day early and staying two nights after our cruise at the Intercontinental which is very beautiful.

Good Luck with whatever you choose. I would wait a little while before booking my flight on the off chance there is a fare war in the next couple of months! Happy sailing!

 

Donna

[WiscCruiser]

Airfare to San Juan is always an adventure. There aren't as many flights coming into San Juan as other popular cruise ports, such as Miami. If you figure that on each cruise departure day there are probably at least 3 or 4 ships leaving that evening, that means that the majority of 6-8000 passengers are all trying to fly in that day and get to their ship. The cruise lines will block off a lot of the available seats for the air booked through the cruise line. That leaves a limited number of seats available to the general public. All of that adds up to a good situation for the airlines and a bad situation for anyone trying to book a flight on their own.

 

Keep in mind that the airlines release the seats for sale on all their flights 330 days before departure. So, just count back 330 days from the day you are planning to fly back from your cruise. That should be the first day you can purchase tickets on your own. I would suggest having a price in mind, i.e less than $350 roundtrip, than start looking and be ready to buy at that 330 day out date.

 

We're sailing on The Golden Princess next February and were able to get that kind of price out of O'Hare on American. Good luck with your airfare search. Just remember, the cruise line is going to charge you $500 or $600 if you book the air through them, so anything you can find on your own should be less expensive than that.