WOAH!! No Nonstop from MIA to POP,STI,or SDQ?

[THISDRLOVE]

Hola mi gente! Ok, Im in the middle of planning my 2nd trip to the DR when I was totally thrown back by the airline prices and the absence of non stop flights from MCO or MIA to the DR. Last year my flight cost of my trip was less than $300, this year the flights are like starting @ like $1400 and up alone with out hotel etc. Am I missing something here? Does anyone know when or why this is happening? This is really bad because now Ill probably have to stay at a lower priced resort and wont be able to get all the gifts I had planned for mi princessa! This will break her poor little heart for there were so many things that she needs me to bring. (joke...the truth is I probably wont come with those prices...)

 

[LTSteve]

Direct Flight from South Florida

Hi:

Jet Blue from Fort Lauderdale, direct to SDQ $280.80 round trip. I checked this price for the first week in March.

S

 

[Hillbilly]

SPIRIT $9 Dollar Club Members: $44 R/T MCO - STI ( Plus taxes) March 5 return March 14

HB

 

[sweetdbt]

Were you using Expedia, Orbitz or Hotwire to search? None of those list AA flights any more. To my knowledge, AA still has quite a few flights from MIA to all Dominican destinations. The prices have gone up, but not as much as what you posted. Try aa.com.

 

[Deyvi]

Keep in mind; the Dominican taxes are $140.00. When you account for this many of flights are'nt bad at all .

 

[THISDRLOVE]

Whew! Crisis averted! Thanks for all who replied. I was using expedia and like a few of you said, no American Airline option when booking with expedia. So I guess the beat goes on after all! Hey thanks again

 

[Jetblue Flight 811]

Hillbilly can you send me that info or that itinerary? I have a friend who would be traveling those days and im also going the 6th to the 14th but my flights already booked. Id really appreciate it. I dont see spirit airlines on expedia.

 

[SKY]

Hillbilly can you send me that info or that itinerary? I have a friend who would be traveling those days and im also going the 6th to the 14th but my flights already booked. Id really appreciate it. I dont see spirit airlines on expedia.

Spirit Airlines - cheap tickets, cheap flights, discount airfare, cheap hotels, cheap car rentals, cheap travel

 

[Kipling333]

There are many many flights with AA nearly every week with prices at $200 plus taxes ..from MIA to SDQ

 

[Hillbilly]

AA can only compete with Jet Blue and Spirit because of two things: Bags and times.
To travel on Spirit you leave Santiago at 3:30 in the morning and arrive at 5:30 in FLL. You leave FLL at 11:59 p.m. (so they say) and arrive at 2:20 in the morning in STI....Not all travellers will do this. Plus they charge for bags and carry ons. No matter, they are still hundreds cheaper than AA...

HB-> cheapskate

 

[corsair74]

I never use Expedia, Orbitz, or Priceline to look for airline tickets. You'll never see all of the available flights with those services.

I use Kayak almost exclusively now.


Vince.

 

[THISDRLOVE]

Oh ok cool, does kayak search for hotels too or just flights? Also does kayak list AA and spirit flights?

 

[Conchman]

The last three times I flew POP-MIA-POP, I had to pay over US$800 via AA. Granted, I often only had a week or two advance booking, but still, its still price gouging and they should be charged with Racketeering, as they keep other airlines from this route to enjoy the monopoly. I hate this airline so much, I will cheer the day they go out of business. I do try to fly out of Santiago as often as I can, but last time Santiago airport charged me several thousand peso for parking as I didn't park in the unmarked long term parking lot that I didn't telepathically know about.

 

[corsair74]

Oh ok cool, does kayak search for hotels too or just flights? Also does kayak list AA and spirit flights?

Kayak does flights, hotels, and I believe car rentals as well. They list just about every airline except for Southwest.


Vince.

 

[corsair74]

The last three times I flew POP-MIA-POP, I had to pay over US$800 via AA. Granted, I often only had a week or two advance booking, but still, its still price gouging and they should be charged with Racketeering, as they keep other airlines from this route to enjoy the monopoly. I hate this airline so much, I will cheer the day they go out of business. I do try to fly out of Santiago as often as I can, but last time Santiago airport charged me several thousand peso for parking as I didn't park in the unmarked long term parking lot that I didn't telepathically know about.

Well, you have to realize that anytime you buy a ticket only 1-2 weeks in advance, you're probably gonna get gouged pricewise no matter what airline you fly with. And especially with the legacy airlines like American and Delta. I believe that 21 days, or three weeks, is the latest you can wait before ticket prices will start to rise. I realize that you may not always have the privilege of such advance travel notice. But you should expect to pay the price for short notice air travel.

And it actually might be in your best interest to run down to the capital and fly out of SDQ. I just did a quick search on Kayak and came up with AA SDQ-MIA-SDQ itineraries for less than $300. Now these prices are the product of advance purchasing and favorable travel days (thurs.-tues.), but I'm always able to save $200-$300 by flying into SDQ rather than POP.


Vince.

 

[puryear270]

Purchasing flights less than 30 days in advance is a gamble. If a flight is not filled, the price of the seats will go down. As the flight fills up, the prices for the remaining seats go up.

If I think I'm going to be travelling but am not totally sure, I start searching the website. American and Delta both have the possibility of seeing open seats available before purchase, so you can get an idea of what is going to take place.

Another tip: prices change depending on season and days of the week. Tuesday is sometimes cheaper, especially inside the 30-day time period.
Flying in August through mid-October is much cheaper as it is the height of hurricane season.

Another thread on here mentions that for flights originating in the DR, passengers can save money by purchasing two one-way flights rather than a round-trip ticket.

And finally, it is often cheaper to purchase directly from the airline rather than through a travel website.

Tripadvisor.com is a good website for travel questions, articles, and reviews.