What is the best route from Texas to Tortola? Would like to avoid the little planes if at all possible...
Have looked at flying from DFW to Miami, then to St Thomas, and then take the ferry to Tortola..
Other option is fly from DFW to San Juan, then catch small plane to Beef Island, Tortola.
Anyone fly Cape Air?? Is it really scary????
If you can't tell, I'm not a big fan of flying in the first place....But gotta get there somehow...lol

There's a recent and lengthy thread on the BVI forum at Traveltalkonline discussing peoples preferences for flying to Tortola via SJU and taking American Eagle or Cape Air vs. flying into STT and taking the ferry. If you read through it you discover each method has its supporters and detractors and there is no clear cut answer to your question. It's sort of like asking if Coke is better than Pepsi. The concensus seems to be you take the routing that is best for you in terms of timing between flights and ferry scheduls or, as in your case, the types of planes you fly.

From Texas if you go through Mimai and connect to STT you'll be on large jet planes for each leg. You'll then have to decide which ferry you can take to Tortola (If memory serves me correctly there are 2 - one leaves from Charlotte Amalie and the other leaves from Red Hook). The decision about which ferry is usually driven by what time your flight to STT arrives.

Now for the hard part - deciding what makes you comfortable. If you route yourself through SJU you be able to get there non-stop from DFW. You then have one connecting flight to Tortola. If you route yourself through MIA to STT you then will still have to take a ferry to reach your destination. My basic rule of thumb is to choose the routing with the least amount of connections (in your case 2 planes for the SJU route vs. 2 planes and 1 ferry going thru STT).

One thing you should know is that if you connect through SJU, you will have the option of flying on American Eagle which uses a fairly large ATR-72 propjet that carries 64 passengers and flys at an altitude of between 15,000 and 18,000 feet or Cape Air which flys much smaller planes (perhaps 6 to 9 passengers) and flys at an altitude of 3,000 to 5,000 feet. Cape Air is a well run small regional airlines and it consistently gets high makes for both service and on time reliability from those who fly it (many on a regular basis). I for one, enjoy flying in the small planes like Cape Air uses - you fly low enough so you get fabulous views of all the islands and cays between SJU and Tortola. For a short trip like the one from SJU to Tortola (about 30 minutes) I'd rather fly on Cape Air than American Eagle. It's much more fun and no, it's not scary at all. From your comments though I'm not sure that aspect will appeal to you.

Traveltalkonline also has several threads about traveling on Cape Air. Use their search feature to find the posts - almost all the comments are favorable.

Generally speaking, east.

Always one smart *** right?
To the rest of you, thanks so much for the valuable info. I will go check out the other forums..Again, thank you and I appreciate you taking the time to provide me with the info.
I am really leaning towards San Juan and then Cape Air to Tortola...Maybe a little scary, but this whole trip will be one heck of an adventure, so I have to cowgirl up!!! lol ; )

Cape Air is fine. With any luck, you might get to sit in the Co-pilot's seat.

Ok one more question...Can anyone tell me about how many seats are on a Cape Air flight from San Juan to Beef Island? Thanks!!! 121 days whoop whoop!!!

I think there are 9 seats plus the co-pilot's seat and that equals 10.

10 are you serious?? That is S-M-A-L-L!!!!
Oh my...might have to get the Dr. to prescribe me something for this trip..lol

I don't like to fly, but I felt more safe in the Cessna than in the 737. My son has his pilot's license and he reassured me that these are among the safest planes made. They only fly at about 5000 feet and the views are spectacular. Just have your camera ready, relax and enjoy the flight. Remember, you'll be on island time!

Thanks so much for the reassurance! ; ) I am soooo ready to be "on island time..."

My wife and I flew Cape Air from SJU to Vieques. That was our first time on a Cessena and it was fine for us. Since then we had taken similar planes to Tortola as well (we flew Air Flamenco). During that trip one of the passengers got really nervous so your worries are not unfounded.

I would prefer the Cessenas to a ferry because I belive in getting to my destination with the fewest connections and in the shortest period of time. And Cape Air is perfectly safe and they are well run.

Be mindful that these regional carriers have very strict weight limits on lugguage. Pack light!

For the last 15 years, we've taken the route on American Airlines: Dallas to San Juan, then American Eagle to Tortola. As was mentioned, the Eagles are large prop planes... the same as we used to fly (before they brought in "baby jets" from Corpus Christi to Dallas to make all these connections.

We've done the ferry from STT and believe me, one time was enough... it was a very long day and is much easier to fly directly to EIS.

While you may hear stories about lost or late luggage, ours always arrived with us.

Have fun!

Thanks again guys! You rock!!!