easier ways to get to some of the less touristy islands
 

Hi, I am looking at some of the less traveled islands but, am having a hard time finding good flights. I need to use American Airline miles.

Some of the islands I'm looking at are Guadaloupe, Grenada, Dominica. I can usually get to these island with miles but it's a crazy route that takes forever or, it's an overnight stay somewhere while en route.

I thought maybe if I could get to another island easily, maybe there is an inter island flight or boat that will get me to my final destination. Any ideas?

Oh yes, I forgot to mention, we're from the Dallas/Fort Worth area so would be flying out of DFW

We have the same difficulty when flying to Montserrat, we always allow for an extra day coming & going even though we can fly directly into St. Maarten. If you have to fly on Liat or (my personal favorite) Win-air you'll want that extra time anyway just to be on the safe side. St. Maarten & PR are two of the most likely jumping off points, just plan for a little time there as well.

It's island time, just make the most of it...

When travelling from DFW on AA you are really going to be limited on which islands you can reach. AA has reduced flights to the Caribbean from DFW. You'll have to take one or more connecting flights to reach the smaller ones and with the cutback in available flights to Caribbean islands (both out of DFW and AA's Caribbean hub SJU) you may very well have to overnight to reach the smaller islands.

It is getting harder and harder to reach some islands in one day from many places in the US. With the current state of the airline industry and the slow down in the economy the situation won't be imporoving anytime soon.

Ferry service to Guadalupe, Grenada and Dominica from any of the islands you can reach non-stop or direct from DFW is either non-existent or takes much longer than flying so if you are trying to reach your destination quicker taking a ferry is not an option.

You might be able to route yourself from San Juan or other large island to any of those three islands using local carriers such as Winair or Liat but you won't be able to use your AA FF miles for those connecting flights.

It isn't easy getting to paradise.

I feel your pain wug!

Thanks Everyone, I was hoping there was a secret to all this but, knew there probably wasn't. As you said RoamsAround, it isn't easy to get to paradise!

If we had more time, It wouldn't be a problem taking such a long route, however, this is a shorter trip than usual so I'm just not wanting to use all the time traveling.

Maybe next time.

If you're willing to consider the Out Islands of the Bahamas in your quest for less-traveled islands, they are still a little more reachable that some of the less-traveled down-islands. Not as green and lush, but you can get to the Abacos, Eleuthera, Exuma, and Cat Island via MIA or FLL (Abaco and Exuma have daily service on American Eagle). If you're willing to take a puddle-jumper from Florida or Nassau, your options expand even further.

St. Martin is also a good jumping-off point for some remote islands: Statia and Saba, for example.

Don't forget to look at Air Jamaica as a possible means of getting to Grenada. I believe, also, that AA offers service to Grenada via MIA these days. The scheduling is probably brutal, but it's well worth it. (I don't know if the SJU-GND routing is available any more, but when we did it, we simply planning on an overnight in San Juan in one direction or the other. We've really enjoyed those days in San Juan; it's just an extension of our vacation.)