Crazy cost of St Lucia airfare.. can I plan on a sale?
 

Hi all,

We just came back from a fabulous trip to St Thomas and St John, and I'm already planning next year's trip. :) I have rented a villa in the south part of St Lucia for February, 18-25, but the airfares are ridiculous!!! We are coming from Boston. There are a couple of cheaper flights, $700ish, but the layovers are way too long, overnight in Atlanta or Philadelphia. I know it's President's week so that doesn't help, but it's when I can get away.

Does anyone know if and when a St Lucia sale will occur? Thanks in advance!

Hi Jayneann. Hope you will post a TR from your St John trip! Regarding St. Lucia, I had won a stay at Ladera so was watching airfare for a while. Last February is was $350 from the DC area but the hotel wasn't very flexible with letting me choose the dates I wanted to visit. So we decided to wait until Jan 2012 then the fares went up to $600-$700. They had a sale about a month ago for a fare of $428 but now it's back up to the $680 range. They do have price drops here and there but you need to be diligent and check a site like itasoftware.com every couple of days.

We went in November, 2005 and it cost us $1,800 for 2 round trip tickets with one plane change in Houston and one in PR.

It's hard to say as it depends on which airline your using, the time of year and departure point.

I don't think airlines has sales anymore with the ecomony and cost of fuel. You may have to be diligent to check every day until you find a fare you can live with and then book it. I've seen prices change with the click of the mouse to refresh the page or to go back.

You might also need to be contentious as to which airport you will be arriving in St. Lucia. Check which one is closer to your accomendations and if arriving in one or the other will be less expensive. (UFV) or (SLU)

With high fuel prices - lower capacity - high taxes and fees - and high season - and not a lot of competition (well I live in Michigan) - I wouldn't count on it -and St. Lucia is a harder destination to get to - which airport are you flying in to????? But tsorrhere is no rhyme or reason about these things - you never know...I work in the travel industry - and have for 31 years.....wish there was a solid explanation about such things - you can sign up for a fare watcher - you'll be emailed when air fares go down.....you might try that....

Thanks everyone! Yes, I've been watching the fares daily and am hoping that since it's 9 months away, something will change. I can't imagine most people will pay these rates when there are many other more affordable islands (at least that's what I'm hoping)! I plan to fly into UFV.

Kristen, I do plan to post a trip report! Loved the USVI's!!! Are you going to St Lucia in January? :)

Unfortunately no. With 2 trips this year, airfare being so high and 2012 being a year that we are taking our daughter and my husband's kids on a trip (Ladera doesn't allow kids), we probably won't use it...would end up costing a lot of $$ between air, taxes, food, excursions etc for a 3 night "free" trip. I will probably regret it but the timing just didn't work out since we couldn't use it this past winter.

Looking forward to your TR!

http://www.airfarewatchdog.com/cheap...tries-st-lucia...

Good site to monitor BOS SLU

Sometimes they drop fares in fall or late Jan if bookings

are down... but the econos do not go to SLU usually.

Out of BOS Spirit.com via FLL has best Carib flight values

usually can fly first class for less than the price of

coach on the majors might play around there for a less

expensive island destination like puntacana.com one of my

favs or roundhill.com similar vibe to SL prices a tonne better

Luxurylink.com.

Bookit.com Cheapcaribbean.com good SL packages sometimes also.

Happy Hunting,

you just have to keep watching. I was looking at flights from DC area to St Lucia about a month ago and all flights were around $950. Then all of a sudden they dropped to under $600 a week or so ago. I was monitoring on kayak.com. You can look on their website and see listings of fares that others have gotten to the same destination, and then search your dates and see what pops up. I also spent a lot of time looking at route maps and schedules for all airlines in and out of St Lucia to figure out who flies when and through which airports, and the options were very limited. Good luck. We're hoping we'll see rates drop for Turks/Caicos but there has been no movement in the past month.

Airlines have the monopoly on vacations. They know you will either pay their prices to go to a particular destination or do without. It's a sign of the times. Hope you find what you are looking for. St. Lucia was so worth the extra cost.

Thanks for all the suggestions!! I have been looking about 5 times per day, starting to drive myself crazy! I do check all the websites listed, so glad to read I'm on the right track.

KVR, what made St Lucia worth the extra cost for you?

Kristen, sorry you're not going, but you always have great trips in the works, so I'm sure your next one is going to be just as fabulous!

Jayneann, the absolute beauty of the Island. It is just gorgeous. It has a wonderful vibe and we really enjoyed the day trips/tours we took. It's the exact opposite of St. Thomas/St. John, which we did not care for. If it wasn't so expensive and difficult to get to, we would definatly return.

If your interested I have our pictures posted at:

http://community.webshots.com.user/kvrlvn

KVR..I don't think you can lump St Thomas and St. John in the same category. They are very different islands. I don't care for St. Thomas but love St. John.

I wasn't lumping them together. I agree they they are different from each other, but they are both totally opposite of St. Lucia, which was what I was trying to say. Sorry, I didn't like either St. Thomas or St. John. To us, they are totally over rated. To each their own.

I think that Anguilla or Provo are totally the opposite of St. Lucia because they are flat scrubby islands (with beautiful beaches) but not St. John necessarily, just because it is still hilly and green. And no need to be sorry for not liking an island, I was just questioning you your "totally opposite" statement. I would like to see St. Lucia one day for the beauty of the Pitons and the stunning views but give me a white beach and crystal clear water any day. I think St. John is a good combination of the two. But Jayneanne has just returned from the VIs so I digress :)

I travel from New York to St. Lucia 2 or 3 times a year and usually pay in the $550 to $650 range. The lowest fare that I've ever found is about $425, but that was in the off off season. Unfortunately, Christmas week and Presidents week are the two most popular times for people to travel to the Caribbean so I don't think that you will find anything cheaper than $600-$650, no matter how hard you look. You might find cheaper fares to some other destinations but, once again, because it is Presidents week, my guess is that you aren't going to get below $500 no matter where you go.

Hi John, I am fine with paying 500-600, as long as I can go to and from Bos and St Lucia in the same day. Unfortunately, to do that as of now, it would cost 900-1200!! I will keep watching though as I really want to go! Thanks for the post!!

KVR, thanks, I want to go to St Lucia because it looks like such a beautiful island! Your link wouldn't work for me though.

Kristen, we loved St John! I know, I really need to begin my report!! :)

Sorry about the link. We need an edit button. :) Try this one:

http://community.webshots.com/user/kvrlvn

I live in north east and was just looking into this and the layovers are ridiculous. Then I found direct flights from JFK for $500 with Jetblue. That might be worth the 4 hour drive from Boston

KVR, your pictures are beautiful, thanks for sharing!!

bbnugget, Jetblue is only open until Jan 3, and we're going in February. Hopefully they'll release the February rates soon! Thanks for posting!

You can fly from Boston to JFK on JetBlue, so that's certainly something to look into, but their Caribbean flights usually leave early in the AM. But I think $700 right now (unless fuel prices go down) is awfully good for February. Sales for the winter aren't going to happen until this fall, so just keep an eye on airfares and try to grab a JetBlue flight as soon as it's posted if the fares are good.

But in general, people really have to be more realistic about airfares. These $400 round-trips to the Caribbean just aren't going to happen anymore, I'm afraid, unless you luck into a good sale fare.