Hello all! We'd like to go to the Caribbean in February on a rather limited budget, so airfare is going to be the main factor in our decision. I don't want to fall in love with a location and then realize it costs $1,000 to fly there!

I'm pretty clueless when it comes to the islands, and I'm hoping someone can give a general guideline about what islands are relatively inexpensive to fly to from NYC (or Philly). So far, San Juan is by far the cheapest, and I have looked into the "island hoppers" from there.

Thank you for any suggestions!

You can often find inexpensive airfare direct from JFK to St. Maarten.

Thanks Statia! I'll keep an eye out. Right now they're still a bit high, but I'm hoping the rare winter sale will come along soon

You're welcome, Tarheels. You can also do a bit of island hopping from there....Anguilla, St. Barth's, Saba, Statia, St. Kitts.

I find this website to be pretty good:

http://www.airfarewatchdog.com/new-y...slip-airfares/

Also: Check Spirit Airlines. We lucked out and got a good rate with them to St. Thomas for Xmas vacation. They fly out of laguardia with a change in Ft Lauderdale. They just started flying to the Caribbean.

What rate were you quoted to San Juan. The cheapest we found was Jet Blue from NY and that was over $700/person.

Check out spiritair.com This new airline is offering specials to the Caribbean. I think you may have to book right away though.

A/A to Turks and Caicos nonstop from JFK, $448 towards the end of Feb, and returning in the beginning of March. Pretty good fare. If you want to go during the US Presidents vacation week, cheap air will be tough.

Unfortunately, we are going during President's Week =( My husband is a teacher, so vacation times are set in stone. Luckily, we're flexible about our travel dates, and are willing to go for only part of a week.

I've found flights to San Juan as low as about $300, primarily through Expedia, Orbitz, etc. Some of these may have been from Philadelphia, as I generally search "nearby airports."

You can try a last minute thing with site59.com for cheap airfares. I've been on charter airlines from JFK to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, which were very affordable. These are ususally packages offered by Liberty travel or Apple Vacations. I would not advise to land at the airport in the capital since it was total mayhem. My suggestion is to go straight to Punta Cana.

Thanks! I hadn't heard of site59, so I will keep an eye on that.

Also, to the above post about Puerto Rico airfares...I also use SideStep.com, which is a great tool for comparing fares.