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I am researching a trip for 2010 for our 40th anniversary. We want great snorkeling (preferably from the shore) so I've narrowed it down to a few places, so started looking at routes to find out which place is easiest to get to using FF miles (we have Alaska miles who are partners with American but no longer partners with Continental.) I used TripAdvisor, Kayak, and Yapta. Wow, the times are horrific to get to St. Thomas/St. John! Either go to JFK, spend the night and then fly (24 hours in transit) or take a red eye to JFK which doesn't give you enough time to sleep and it is still 12 hours plus the time to get to St. John.
Next choice--Bonaire--can't do it with FF miles since only Continental flies there
Next choice--Belize--7 hr 35 minutes to get there--great! Even though we'd need to then get to the Caye of choice. But 20 hours home with 12 in DFW airport. UGH. No shore snorkeling.
Next choice--Fiji--15 hr 45 min to get there and back, then transportation needed to get to and from the island of choice, but at least that is a long overnight so some sleeping could be done.
Hawaii is closest but we wanted somewhere special for the 40th. Any hints on better routes? Better travel sites to look at? Our DD might be going with us with our DGD from LA so we could fly there with a different ticket and travel from there, but it seems like it isn't easy from LA either to these places.
Thanks for any suggestions! The time to start calling to get the FF seats is coming up fast!
Sally in Seattle
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try looking at sea to mia and go from there. or sea to lax. i did some looking, but only tried making connections to stt. can't figure a way using american.
honestly i'd call a travel agent and let them search routes. there could be some off the wall connection through someplace like kansas city that you'd never think of on your own. or call american directly.
Thanks for looking, virginia, I think that you are right that there must be some way! I will contact Alaska partner desk and see what they say.
Sally in Seattle
For wade-in snorkeling, the beaches on the north shore of St. John can't be beat. We traveled AA to Caribbean from LAX a number of times. Working backwards,if you get to STT mid-day, you get to enjoy the late afternoon on the beach and the evening (you're paying for it). Closest connection is Miami where there are seldom weather issues, esp. in winter. Start from MIA early morning by having stayed overnite next to MIA airport. There is a La Quinta Inn(3200ish N. LeJeune)which is basic but clean, quiet, & inexpensive. Their shuttle 3 min to terminal. So all you have to do is fly to MIA at a reasonable time the day before.
IF there is a way to make it in one day from SEA, at best you'd have to get up at a ridiculous hour in the morning, wind up in STT late evening, in time to go to sleep, having paid for the day.
Alternatively, you could get to STT even earlier by flying to San Juan, PR in one day and staying overnite there. It's a puddle jump to STT.
xkenx, good point about getting to STT-St. John mid-day to enjoy the island before bedtime. Thanks a lot for the info on the MIA hotel, clean, quiet and inexpensive at an airport is so important (especially the quiet part!).
Sally in Seattle
It's sad Alaska isn't partnering with Continental anymore - it doesn't leave many options does it? I ended up opening Continental mileage accounts (they have best flights and more partners). We're going to Jamaica in August - weeeee!
Belize is very nice - going to Ambergris or Caye Caulker doesn't take long at all. We stayed on Amergris and it was beautiful.