Travel Questions--Airlines and Days

HaveToTravel · Post by **HaveToTravel** » Sun Jan 27, 2013 8:55 pm

I'm shopping for our airline tickets from Minneapolis to STT in December. Currently, tickets are much cheaper for the day before we've reserved our villa than the day we planned to arrive. If it stays that way, I may be planning a travel day on St Thomas. Has anyone done this and did it seem more hassle than it was worth? We will not be renting a car on STT as this is our first visit, so wed be taking taxix while on STT. I'd rather rent on STJ this first trip. For the difference in fares as they are now, we could afford an extra night in the villa!

Also, what's your preferred airline when flying to STT and why?

Do you have a connecting airport you find most reliable? Currently, my choices are Miami, Charlotte, or Atlanta.

Thanks!

Caw954s · Post by **Caw954s** » Sun Jan 27, 2013 10:13 pm

We just got back from our first trip to STJ and in KC we had one airline choice to STT...delta. Their hub is Atlanta, so that's where we connected and flew out of to STT. We were really happy with delta, they were on time for every leg of our flight, It all went smoothly. Personally, if I was in the situation you are in...I'd stay at the villa another night!! You don't want to leave STJ once you're there and STT....nope, I would have no desire to stay there.
Good luck!

jimg20 · Post by **jimg20** » Sun Jan 27, 2013 10:33 pm

Our preference is to use Delta through ATL. We used to use AA, but when they quit running a DFW-STT flight, we quit them. We did us AA when they had a flight from our airport to MIA. They cut that flight too. Delta is the only practical way for us to get to STT.

We have stayed away from Saturday arrivals and departures. Those are the worst days in that airport.

There are so many choices for staying on STT for a single night either coming to or leaving the VI. We prefer Best Western's Emerald Beach. We stayed in BW's other hotel the first time we went to STT. We'll never do that again. There are many other choices for a night. I will let those who have stayed there tell you more about them.

Sticking to taxies on STT is a good idea. It's a very busy place and not the best place to learn to drive on the left.

We are considering going down the night before the rest of our group. If we do, we'll probably look at BWEB. We'll check in, swim at the beach at their back door, swim again in the morning and then repack and meet our group to catch the ferry.

In any case, have a great trip,

JIM

dreamshark · Post by **dreamshark** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 6:41 pm

Hey there, fellow Minnesotan! I just booked a trip for mid-July on American. I would prefer to fly Delta, but it costs twice as much. American is not a terribly reliable airline in my experience, but as long as they keep offering fares like the $340 one I just booked, I keep flying them. I don't know about December, but the itinerary they're offering this summer is super-convenient, and with only one 1 stop! The schedule and number of hops is more important than the connecting airport, IMHO, but if I had a choice I would avoid MIA.

As for staying the night in STT, we've done that on 3 out of 4 trips, and I recommend doing so. That way you don't have to fret about your flight getting in too late to pick up your rental car, make the ferry, connect with your greeters, etc. If the worst happens and you get stranded at an intermediate airport overnight you haven't missed a whole day of your villa rental. And even if all the connections work perfectly, why waste an expensive villa-night on a travel day? If you don't get to the villa until evening you aren't going to get much out of it anyway.

We've fallen into a habit of staying at The Galleon B&B in Charlotte Amalie. It's cheap, picturesque, feels safe, and serves a great breakfast on the terrace. But part of the reason we kept staying on STT is that we always end up on flights that arrive in the evening. This time our flight gets in at 2:30pm! So I'm going to look for a hotel in Cruz Bay instead of stopping on STT. I would still prefer to leave the big tasks of picking up the car, shopping, and getting into the villa until the next day, but this will give us an afternoon and evening to hang out in Cruz Bay.

I guess part of your decision depends on the type of vacation you've planned. We tend towards villas in Coral Bay with very little "night life." So it's a real treat to have a nice meal in town at the end of that long travel day, and then just collapse into a hotel bed. The only downside is that you can easily drop $100 on that nice dinner. But if you can actually SAVE a coupla hundred by flying in a day early, no worries there!

If you stay in Charlotte Amalie, I recommend "Tavern on the Waterfront." If you like frozen rum drinks, try the "Harbor Wave," a drink my husband and I have been trying to recreate ever since.

mindehankins · Post by **mindehankins** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 7:14 pm

We booked our flights and rented our jeep today, for April 3, based on the villa we were hoping for. We like to fly Delta through Atlanta, and that's what we got, at an AWESOME price - less than 1/2 of last year's flight. Now our first choice villa is no longer available, and I've just contacted the second choice. It's not available until the day after arrival, so we will stay at BW Emerald Beach. We'll get to explore St. Thomas a little, which is cool.
Now crossing our fingers that villa second choice is not booked, and then on to make a ticker!

mindehankins · Post by **mindehankins** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 7:15 pm

And we too travel midweek, to avoid the Saturday crowds at the airport, and because the rates are lower. The only good thing about arriving on Saturday is a stop at the Lechon truck on STT!

HaveToTravel · Post by **HaveToTravel** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 8:07 pm

Thanks for the helpful feedback! My initial thought was that I would just reserve the villa for an extra night so we only had to unpack once, etc, and with two couples splitting the cost, that helps with the budget considering we get two rooms at the villa.

But, dreamshark, you bring up a really good point about weather delays (it will be Dec. in the midwest, after all) and arrival times. The flight I'm looking at would not arrive in STT until 4:30 pm, so maybe it would be easier and cheaper to just stay in STT that night. One of the big advantages in getting the villa an extra night was just getting there, getting groceries, having the car, etc but maybe with an arrival time in STT of 4:30, we may not be getting groceries or the car until the next day on St. John.

AquaGirl · Post by **AquaGirl** » Tue Jan 29, 2013 12:13 am

We live in the Washington, D.C. area and have recently been flying United. They have a non-stop on Saturdays and Sundays (depending upon the month) and we love the schedule. We leave Dulles airport at 8:30 and arrive in STT at 12:30 - no stops! Its going for $429 rt now for travel in April/May, which is a good price for people living in this area.

We have also flown USAir a couple of times, stopping in Charlotte. Last year, they sent our luggage to Phoenix, rather than STT, so not too happy about that. Quite an inconvenience on arrival day and the next day, to make arrangements to get the bag when it finally came back to STT. Most of the time, USAir has been ok and pretty good airfare.

We usually plan to go all the way to our destination. There are pros and cons, of course, especially since you don't get into STT until 4:30. Even when we get in late, we like to just "tough it out" and get to STJ, hit Starfish for groceries and get to the villa. We just like to get all the travel out of the way on the first day, and be at our final destination. Fortunately, our car rental company has accommodated us on the trips when we arrive late on a Sunday night.

Happy trip planning.

KTinTX · Post by **KTinTX** » Tue Jan 29, 2013 7:08 am

Out of Houston our only realistic options are American, Delta, and USAir. Would love to get a direct United flight since we are a hub, but you can't even get there at a decent time using their service to San Juan.

We have done both AA through MIA and Delta through ATL. We much prefer AA and MIA, despite a nearly missed connection there last June.

KTinTX · Post by **KTinTX** » Tue Jan 29, 2013 7:08 am

Out of Houston our only realistic options are American, Delta, and USAir. Would love to get a direct United flight since we are a hub, but you can't even get there at a decent time using their service to San Juan.

We have done both AA through MIA and Delta through ATL. We much prefer AA and MIA, despite a nearly missed connection there last June.

KTinTX · Post by **KTinTX** » Tue Jan 29, 2013 7:09 am

Out of Houston our only realistic options are American, Delta, and USAir. Would love to get a direct United flight since we are a hub, but you can't even get there at a decent time using their service to San Juan.

We have done both AA through MIA and Delta through ATL. We much prefer AA and MIA, despite a nearly missed connection there last June.

Nanque · Post by **Nanque** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 8:00 am

We are on St. John now. This is my 50th trip, over the years we have taken Sun Country, (when they were available) Delta American or US Air. We did something different this trip that worked well. We took a 5:00 flight in the afternoon stayed overnight in Charlotte, were able to get on the earlier flight out of Charlotte. Got to St. Thomas by noon. May do this more often. This is out of Minneapolis.

HaveToTravel · Post by **HaveToTravel** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 3:27 pm

Nanque wrote:We are on St. John now. This is my 50th trip, over the years we have taken Sun Country, (when they were available) Delta American or US Air. We did something different this trip that worked well. We took a 5:00 flight in the afternoon stayed overnight in Charlotte, were able to get on the earlier flight out of Charlotte. Got to St. Thomas by noon. May do this more often. This is out of Minneapolis.

Nanque, were you able to book those as one continuous itinerary or was it booked as two separate ticket purchases? That schedule would work really well for us.

Nanque · Post by **Nanque** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 3:42 pm

You can try searching Us Air multi city flights. If that doesn't work I ended up using Travelocity and those flights came up. Haven't used Travelocity before, but we had no trouble. Our flight out of Minneapolis was delayed a bit, as they had an ice storm in Charlotte and the flight coming to Mpls was delayed. For the morning flight it was a bit late because of the the way they de ice in Charlotte. Not at the gate like Mpls. They wait in line on the tarmac. It didn't really affect our landing in St. Thomas, as the airlines seem to pad there flight times by so much. We rent our car on St. Thomas at Amalie, and head to Cost U Less.
We really enjoyed doing it this way instead of getting up at 3:00 to get the morning flights. Never sleep well that first night. Plus you get to St. John with plenty of daylight. You can actually go to the beach if you are so inclined. We just spend time at our house getting settled until our friends arrive.

usvi-on-line