strange airfare phenomena - ewr or jfk -> sdq

[knitsafghans]

We have a family wedding in August. Was looking at flights from Newark. There was a Continental afternoon non-stop and fare was quite reasonable, about a week or so ago. JetBlue from JFK was a bit more but still ok. A week later, the flight from EWR seems to be gone - only flight left is a terrible 7:20am (requires rising at 3am - sigh) at a ridiculous price - about $700 (previously $400).
(I had to wait the week because one family member wasn't sure he was coming).

Folks who have more experience than I, should I wait for a drop? Is there a routing starting from EWR, even if it requires an overnight hotel stay, that is less expensive?

Anyone else notice the disappearing CO flight?

 

[RacerX]

that is it bro. I was looking for a ticket to send my son to see his family in Jarabacoa once school is out. And anything after the last week in June is like 800/person. So I would have to drop like $1500-1700 to fly from JFK to STI for 2 people. Too much. I did this back in 2009 and it was like $799 for 2 people from JFK to SDQ. And I m not talking Continental, I am talking everybody else, Delta, American, JetBlue. You can try Spirit if you want to sit in Fort LAuderdale for 12 hours and get to Santiago at 3 in the morning. Nuts!

 

[bigbird]

..............Folks who have more experience than I, should I wait for a drop? Is there a routing starting from EWR, even if it requires an overnight hotel stay, that is less expensive?

Anyone else notice the disappearing CO flight?

Continental only has the afternoon flights to the DR during certain weeks of the year. The 7ish flight is year round. As previously mentioned the summer months are the most expensive times to fly to the DR along with Christmas season.

I hope this link works. If not you can play around on the Continental website until you get the page where you can do a monthly price search. Changing length of stay, departure day, and return day can play a major part in the final price. Keep in mind the prices shown in the monthly chart do not include taxes and fees which is about another $130.

Continental Airlines - Error

 

[edluv1]

Copa Airlines has flights from JFK/EWR to SDQ range from $400 to $440 for the month of August. The downside is you have to go through Panana

 

[edluv1]

sorry I meant Panama

 

[ccarabella]

Flexibility is key in order to get the best fare.
Punch in a combination of dates and see if the price improves any.
I randomly tried Aug 4-Aug 11, JFK-SDQ and I got a total of $487.20.





*I am not endorsing any carrier. I am not a travel agent.

 

[knitsafghans]

thank you everyone

It looks as though they recently made the decision not to offer the PM flight at that time. Perhaps they want to sell out the 7:20am first, then see if they can justify the PM. The 7:20 looks pretty empty (imagine that!).
Fares have been bumping up and down a bit for the 7:20, but I'm pretty convinced that, for me, getting up at 3:30am or even 4 will pretty much wipe out the day (not a morning person to say the least).
Wedding dates are set, so my date flexibility is limited. All involved are working, so taking extra days off has its own cost x3. Ideally we're talking Thu-Mon or Wed-Sun, possibly Thu-Tue.
EWR is strongly preferred: about 45 minutes away; JFK is at least 1.5 hours or so. PHL is about the same.
Copa is about $526 including tax, but connecting through Panama and elongating the elapsed time to 14-17 hours to save $70 doesn't appeal. And both are JFK, less than optimal.
I may gamble on a sale.

 

[bigbird]

It looks as though they recently made the decision not to offer the PM flight at that time...............

I may gamble on a sale.

I do the EWR-SDQ flight on Continental quite often. I seriously doubt Continental will offer an afternoon flight in August. I would ride it out and wait for a drop in fare. Do a price check quite often and on different days. Use the weekly search option checking available dates convient for you.

Like you, JFK is out of the question for me. The additional time and expense going and coming from JFK is not worth saving a few dollars on a ticket only to spend it on ground transportation.

I have always found the lowest price will be booking directly with Continental online.

 

[knitsafghans]

Biggest issue isn't price; Continental dropped back to mid- 500's and is actually a bit cheaper than JFK Jet Blue right now. But 7:20am is a non-starter for me ... 90% of the time if I have to wake up much before 5am I will have a migraine by the afternoon ... Are there any decent connections out of Newark you've had experience with?

 

[bigbird]

Biggest issue isn't price; Continental dropped back to mid- 500's and is actually a bit cheaper than JFK Jet Blue right now. But 7:20am is a non-starter for me ... 90% of the time if I have to wake up much before 5am I will have a migraine by the afternoon ... Are there any decent connections out of Newark you've had experience with?

Continental is the only non stop flight out of EWR to SDQ and all their DR flights are 7ish in the morning. The afternoon flights you saw only show up around Christmas time and for a few weeks the early part of the year. I have been checking DR flights to SDQ for six years now and I think I know the trend. I hate the morning flights also but it gives me almost a full day in the DR upon arrival.

You can try AA but their flight either stops in Miami or San Juan before continuing to SDQ. You can also look into the possibility of taking an AA flight going down and a non-stop Continental flight coming back.

 

[bigbird]

Too late to edit previous post but here you go..............

AA going down,

Noon time Continental non-stop coming back.