Flights between Europe and the DR

[tht]

Europe to SDQ via JFK any day. Just make sure you have three hrs on connection. Cons only immigration and custom.. pros plenty of flights in to JFK from all major European airports, both Delta and Jet Blue do JFK to SDQ several times a day. KLM in from AMS arrive at T4 Delta depart from T4. Alternative to JFK is EWR. Europe to MIA is for me a no go MIA is crowded.

I used to fly AMS to CUR with KLM and Aeropstal CUR to SDQ twenty years ago. I went through immigration at CUR and flew next day I´m not going to do that these days even on Arajet.

 

[MariaRubia]

Europe to SDQ via JFK any day. Just make sure you have three hrs on connection. Cons only immigration and custom.. pros plenty of flights in to JFK from all major European airports, both Delta and Jet Blue do JFK to SDQ several times a day. KLM in from AMS arrive at T4 Delta depart from T4. Alternative to JFK is EWR. Europe to MIA is for me a no go MIA is crowded.

I used to fly AMS to CUR with KLM and Aeropstal CUR to SDQ twenty years ago. I went through immigration at CUR and flew next day I´m not going to do that these days even on Arajet.

I hate flying from JFK to Europe because the flight is normally overnight but not long enough. From JFK to London is about 6 hours, so by the time you're in the air and they have served a meal you get about 10 mins sleep. At least on a Miami you get maybe 3 or 4 hours to sleep. I guess it also depends if you're in Economy or Business, in Economy you probably want the shortest flight possible and don't expect much sleep.

 

[tht]

I hate flying from JFK to Europe because the flight is normally overnight but not long enough. From JFK to London is about 6 hours, so by the time you're in the air and they have served a meal you get about 10 mins sleep. At least on a Miami you get maybe 3 or 4 hours to sleep. I guess it also depends if you're in Economy or Business, in Economy you probably want the shortest flight possible and don't expect much

I like overnight flights because I can sleep. I don't like flights longer than nine hrs I can sleep on a six hrs flight. The main reason I prefer JFK is flight options.

 

[DrNoob]

I recently flew via JFK on Virgin/Delta to LHR and it was quite ok. I almost had the row entirely to myself LHR-JFK (8.20 on Virgin) and JFK-LHR had the full row to myself and most of the back of Economy was empty (Delta). JFK-STI and STI-JFK were full. Immigration was ok (45 min queuing on inbound) but no queue on outbound as it was around Sunday 5.45 PM. TSA on the other hand did take time. I like this route as I was able to sleep on the return flight, landed early and got home to start work on Monday.

That said, finding flights to Puerto Plata (or Samana) from Europe is very annoying. Only Jetblue have decent connections but for me at least the tickets dont show up on their website. BA/American via Miami have ridiculuously long layovers.

Edelweiss/Swiss do a weekly run but they have this weird process where everyone gets outs in both POP and MBJ and then board back in. They also do a very strict check on carryon-luggage on ZRH-LHR leg. Plus leaving POP on a Thursday evening means I lose all Friday and then have the entire weekend to start missing the life in the DR.

Condor seem check from FRA but from London they tend to go northwards of £800 and their schedule is wednesdays/sundays with a stopover in SDQ

Air Europa have seasonal flights from LGW to STI but for me, going to LGW is a bit of a trek.

So far LHR-JFK-STI+taxi to POP/Cabarete seems cheaper and less time consuming plus max time spent in the DR. I will try Jetblue for LHR-JFK-POP and see how that works.

If anyone knows a better route, please post !

 

[josh2203]

TUIFLY.BE from brussels to PUJ

Has anyone by any chance used this connection recently? Anything negative? Asking as we've started planning an upcoming trip and I was surprised due to the price difference compared to Condor FRA-POP/PUJ, it's close to 1000 EUR difference two-ways 4 people depending on the day. So I got very interested but thought if there is a catch... So Condor runs at about 3200 EUR while TUI from Brussels as low as 2300 EUR... I wasn't able to spot anything odd so checking here...

I also like the fact that TUI lets you choose exactly how many pieces of luggage you take with you without hassle, Condor has no such option...

Thanks!

 

[Notengo]

Has anyone by any chance used this connection recently? Anything negative? Asking as we've started planning an upcoming trip and I was surprised due to the price difference compared to Condor FRA-POP/PUJ, it's close to 1000 EUR difference two-ways 4 people depending on the day. So I got very interested but thought if there is a catch... So Condor runs at about 3200 EUR while TUI from Brussels as low as 2300 EUR... I wasn't able to spot anything odd so checking here...

I also like the fact that TUI lets you choose exactly how many pieces of luggage you take with you without hassle, Condor has no such option...

Thanks!

We flew this route in the past. Tui prices are good when you check the cheaper days. The catch in the past was they were using old 767’s that were grounded a lot and caused severe delays. Not anymore. Many expat Dominicans on these flights. We stopped using BRU because AMS is closer and has more options than it had in the past.

We tried Jetblue this year, AMS-JFK-SDQ a return ticket with luggage was 630€. We are staying almost 4 months. Good flights and on time to DR.

 

[Father Guido]

I am traveling now Hamburg to Madrid to Santo Domingo with Iberia. Nice but not particularly practical. First I was on the train from Aarhus in Denmark to Hamburg. What other options are there from Europe ?

I have been in recent years on BA from London Gatwick to Punta Cana. I am hearing about Condor and Bruxelles Airlines.

the fewer the better

 

[Fulano2]

Has anyone by any chance used this connection recently? Anything negative? Asking as we've started planning an upcoming trip and I was surprised due to the price difference compared to Condor FRA-POP/PUJ, it's close to 1000 EUR difference two-ways 4 people depending on the day. So I got very interested but thought if there is a catch... So Condor runs at about 3200 EUR while TUI from Brussels as low as 2300 EUR... I wasn't able to spot anything odd so checking here...

I also like the fact that TUI lets you choose exactly how many pieces of luggage you take with you without hassle, Condor has no such option...

Thanks!

Yes we did last month.
I had a direct flight PUJ to Brussels, less than nine hours. No delay. Train to Antwerp, 30 minutes. Less than nine hours, under €300.
My wife who travelled two weeks later had a stop at Curacao on the same route, total 12 hours.
Our problem is the trip RSJ to PUJ. Horrible, five hours.

 

[DrNoob]

Yes we did last month.
I had a direct flight PUJ to Brussels, less than nine hours. No delay. Train to Antwerp, 30 minutes. Less than nine hours, under €300.
My wife who travelled two weeks later had a stop at Curacao on the same route, total 12 hours.
Our problem is the trip RSJ to PUJ. Horrible, five hours.

This is why I avoid PUJ even though there are more flights to Punta Cana from Europe (and direct from London Gatwick), getting to Puerto Plata/Cabarete looked too much of a hassle and would eat a day each at either side of the trip. The road trip is an easy 5.30 hours + stops + traffic.

 

[josh2203]

Thanks very much for the comments, looks like TUI Fly it is - we would be facing PUJ-POP land transport obviously, but thankfully we have a trusted driver, my mother-in-law would be organizing everything locally and the savings would be enough for us at the moment to warrant the about 6 hour car ride... There would be hardly any traffic at that time of the day...

 

[josh2203]

We flew this route in the past. Tui prices are good when you check the cheaper days. The catch in the past was they were using old 767’s that were grounded a lot and caused severe delays. Not anymore. Many expat Dominicans on these flights. We stopped using BRU because AMS is closer and has more options than it had in the past.

We tried Jetblue this year, AMS-JFK-SDQ a return ticket with luggage was 630€. We are staying almost 4 months. Good flights and on time to DR.

Following up on this with short "review", so we came down with TUI last week AMS-PUJ. The price difference between TUI and Condor from Frankfurt was almost 1000 EUR for four people, so I admit I was a bit nervous on what's coming. As an end result, unfortunately, Condor may well lose us as customers as the only kind of negative thing I was able to figure was the fact that TUI does not offer even the option to modify or cancel flights past purchase unless you have this insurance. The flight departed AMS for some reason almost with an hour delay (the captain did mention that they needed to wait for de-icing, so I assume that was it), but the pilots took that time back during the flight and the flight arrived 7 minutes before scheduled arrival. Interesting was that I don't recall ever before having flown as high as at an altitude of 40,000 ft, which they did as there was some rather heavy clear air turbulance. They market this as a 10 h 10 minute flight, but the actual time in the air was around 8 hours 45 minutes. The plane was a 787 Dreamliner and I could not find anything negative. Food/servings, everything was just fine.

Yes, we faced an exactly 6 hour taxi ride from PUJ to POP but thanks to our awesome driver, that was nothing. Same driver we've been using for like 15 years now... He actually resigned from the taxi company and put up his own business. Now he has a nice small fleet of own vehicles and he's as busy as could be...

 

[jfk66]

TUI fly Belgium has just announced that they will stop long haul flights as of November 2025. So no more flights to the DR.

Source (in french): https://www.sudinfo.be/id949733/art...idi-loperateur-ne-proposera-plus-de-vols-long

 

[drstock]

TUI fly Belgium has just announced that they will stop long haul flights as of November 2025. So no more flights to the DR.

Source (in french): https://www.sudinfo.be/id949733/art...idi-loperateur-ne-proposera-plus-de-vols-long

It's getting more and more difficult to fly between the DR and Europe. I am going to England soon and have decided the best way is to go to Punta Cana all the way from the North Coast, like Josh 2033. When I first came here in about 2008 there were at least four flights a week between POP and the UK.

 

[aarhus]

It's getting more and more difficult to fly between the DR and Europe. I am going to England soon and have decided the best way is to go to Punta Cana all the way from the North Coast, like Josh 2033. When I first came here in about 2008 there were at least four flights a week between POP and the UK.

There is BA Gatwick to Punta Cana. I think from Manchester too.

 

[aarhus]

I have been switching between going Iberia Madrid to Santo Domingo and BA Gatwick to Punta Cana. I then either stay some nights in Spain or England.

 

[josh2203]

It's getting more and more difficult to fly between the DR and Europe. I am going to England soon and have decided the best way is to go to Punta Cana all the way from the North Coast, like Josh 2033. When I first came here in about 2008 there were at least four flights a week between POP and the UK.

Yep, that is exactly the case. I started traveling to the DR in 2009 and we traveled as a family many times much before the pandemic, and the situation was completely different than now. Back then, PUJ was an unknown word for me. Ever since 2021 we haven't even entered POP airport anymore. Always via PUJ. There used to be also seasonal (winter) direct flights from my country in Scandinavia directly to POP years ago, they stopped that a long time ago.

Interesting point I noted on our flight last week: The plane continued from PUJ to Curacao. At PUJ, all passengers were required to exit the aircraft, so that those that continued from PUJ to Curacao left the plane first, those who stayed in PUJ were required to remain seated. The plane was full to the last seat. Once the Curacao people had left, the plane was practically empty, so more than 90 % of the passengers were not staying in PUJ. I was expecting like 50/50 but nothing that extreme... I just thought that apparently for them, PUJ is not that attractive destination...

 

[aarhus]

Yep, that is exactly the case. I started traveling to the DR in 2009 and we traveled as a family many times much before the pandemic, and the situation was completely different than now. Back then, PUJ was an unknown word for me. Ever since 2021 we haven't even entered POP airport anymore. Always via PUJ. There used to be also seasonal (winter) direct flights from my country in Scandinavia directly to POP years ago, they stopped that a long time ago.

Interesting point I noted on our flight last week: The plane continued from PUJ to Curacao. At PUJ, all passengers were required to exit the aircraft, so that those that continued from PUJ to Curacao left the plane first, those who stayed in PUJ were required to remain seated. The plane was full to the last seat. Once the Curacao people had left, the plane was practically empty, so more than 90 % of the passengers were not staying in PUJ. I was expecting like 50/50 but nothing that extreme... I just thought that apparently for them, PUJ is not that attractive destination...

I also travel from Scandinavia and I have made Madrid and Gatwick my two stops to travel to the DR. Both places I feel comfortable and I like to stay a few days.

 

[Ecoman1949]

It's getting more and more difficult to fly between the DR and Europe. I am going to England soon and have decided the best way is to go to Punta Cana all the way from the North Coast, like Josh 2033. When I first came here in about 2008 there were at least four flights a week between POP and the UK.

Might be worth your while to check out flights from POP to Toronto and Montréal. Many flights daily from those two to the UK and the EU. Many leave late at night which means no over nights. Plus prices are in Canadian dollars and our dollar is really low right now against the US dollar, the Pound, and the Euro. Toronto flights go to a Heathrow, Prestwick, and Gatwick daily.

 

[CristoRey]

Worldwide routes and flights from all airports - FlightsFrom.com

www.flightsfrom.com

Then enter an airport/ airport code.

 

[slowmo]

It's getting more and more difficult to fly between the DR and Europe. I am going to England soon and have decided the best way is to go to Punta Cana all the way from the North Coast, like Josh 2033. When I first came here in about 2008 there were at least four flights a week between POP and the UK.

Swiss Air has a direct flight from Zurich to Puerto Plata on Thursdays which is popular with a British friend of mine.