firstlake

I am having trouble trying to find direct flights from Texas to one of the smaller islands or an indirect flight that doesnt take all day.
We are planning a week somewhere warm and beautiful but getting there seems to be a hassle--any Texans out there with recomendations?
Thanks

KVR

Where are you located in Texas and where are you trying to go?

We are in Midland and all packages we've done have routed us through Houston. We can only fly AA or Continental from our airport to the Caribbean or Mexico. The flights on AA, we have always gone Midland, Houston, Miami, Caribbean. We've gotten a few direct flights, once we reached Houston, to Mexico, Jamaica and Aruba when we used Continental.

One problem we have is that Continental doesn't go to as many Caribbean destinations as AA and AA prices are much higher than Continental.

It usually takes 8 to 12 hours for us to get anywhere if we fly AA, so trying to find flights that will get us there and back in one day is difficult. AA always wants us to overnight in Miami. Don't want to do that. We have driven to Dallas once, San Antonio once and flown Southwest and overnighted in Houston twice, but found it really wasn't worth it in price and time, so we just start our pacakges from Midland, which usually costs about $200 - $400 dollars more than if we started at a major airport.

If you start with DFW or IAH, you will have more of a choice in air carriers than we do. I use www.beachdestinations.com for good info on pricing and have booked with them before.

A_Traveller

When you say "one of the smaller islands" what exactly do you mean? You should know that there are only a few islands you can reach non-stop from most US Gateway cities, including Texas, and they are usualy the larger islands (Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Grand Cayman & Aruba. To reach the majority, if not all, of the smaller islands will entail changing planes somewhere "en route". Generally speaking if you fly out of DFW or Houston you will have to take at least 2 flights, and sometimes 3 (and maybe even a ferry) to reach smaller island. Figure at least on one full day (8 to 10) hours of travel and in some cases maybe even overnighting to reach smaller islands.

We travel from Texas to the Caribbean several times a year to small islands and routinely leave early in the AM (between 6:00AM and 7:30AM) and arrive on island anywhere between 3:00PM and 11:00PM (assuimng we don't have to overnight in SJU).

firstlake

I should have given a little more info--we are in Harlingen --so like you from Midalnd we have to connect in Houston or DFW. I really didnt have a particular destination other than somewhere that didnt take me as long as going to Europe to get there!! I probably should look at what is available as a connection from San Juan since it has direct flights. It is ironic that my brother who lives in Canada can fly direct from Toronto to many islands including St Lucia and St Marten.

A_Traveller

Well, there you go - from Harlingen you have to take a "comuter" flight to a "Gateway' airport probably either Houston or DFW then the flight to one of the major islands. From there you'll need another flight or ferry to reach any "smaller" island. I'd say you'd be hard pressed to find a "smaller island" destination that you could get to in under 8 hours - heck it take 4+ to get from DFW or Hiuston to reach San Juan, a bit longer if you connect through one of the major islands further south). Plus figure on one to two hours from Harlingen to the Gateway airport, at least a one hour connection time between flight (you'll have at least two) and another hour for the flight from SJU and you are looking at at least 9 hours - there's no way around that coming from where you live.

Sorry if this isn't what you want to hear but until they perfect the "Star Trek" transporter you are in for a long ride.

KVR

When we went to St. Lucia, we did Midland, Houston, San Juan, St. Lucia. It took 12 hours. We left at 7am and got there at 7pm. Yes, it sucked coming and going, but it sure was worth it in the end. We'll probably never go back though. It was quite expensive.

The problem is AA. One of their hubs is Miami, so they want to go there and get more passengers before going to the Caribbean. Same in San Juan to the smaller Islands.

We had to cancel our trip to Curacao for next month because AA was so expensive it wasn't worth it and Continental doesn't fly there from Texas. That's why we go to Mexico a lot. 1 hour flight to Houston, 2 hour flight to Cancun or Cozumel. Plus it's the cheapest destination from Texas. Great AI hotels for less than any other destination, and it doesn't take all day to get there. We'll be there again in 2 weeks.

We're looking at Barbados for November. It has to be on AA, so we're looking at Midland, Houston, San Juan, Barbados. We won't get there until 9:30pm. We plan on doing day trips to the Grenadines and Grenada. It's going to be pricey, but we'll never do it again.

If you want a direct flight once you reach Houston, look at Continental. We went direct to Mexico, Jamaica, Aruba and Puerta Vallarta. There are a few more destinations, but no out Islands.

Good luck, it's frustrating I know, but that's what happens when you live in the middle of nowhere.

firstlake

Thank you both for the very helpful info.

beckytx

Hi Firstlake, I feel your frustration, although I live in Dallas so have 1 less stop than you. My coworker recently booked a trip from DFW to Turks & Caicos and said there was a non-stop option, so you may want to check on that. My one visit to the Caribbean was Barbados, and we had a long layover in MIA. While I loved it, my next beach trip will likely be an easy 2 hour from from DFW-Cancun airport.

travelerfromtx

AA flies non-stop to Provo on Saturdays only. The rest of the week it is a direct flight, with a stop in Miami (i.e. same plane continues on to Provo after its stop in Miami).

To add to KVR's list of Continental direct flights out of Houston is Grand Cayman.

KVR

When we went to Provo, we did go through Miami.

When we went to Grand Cayman. We had FF miles on Southwest, so we coordinated just right and flew SW to Hobby, took the airport shuttle to IAH and then flew Cayman Air to Grand Cayman. We were able to do that coming and going, so we didn't have to spend the night in Houston. The airport shuttle cost $75 dollars each way and took 2 hours to get there due to the many other stops the shuttle made to various hotels. Luckily, we had 5 hours between the time we landed and when we had to take off again.

TomCayman

Cayman Airways no longer flies from Houston (IAH), but Continental does, and will go to daily service this summer... about 2h 45min non-stop from Houston to Cayman....definitely no-hassle !

witneycat

Delta flies non-stop to many Caribbean islands from Atlanta, so you may want to look at connecting through Atlanta from Houston or DFW. We're in the Phoenix area and have flown Delta connecting through Atlanta to Anguilla, Antigua and the T&C (all non-stop)in the last two years.