Question about booking flights
 

Ok, I am ready to admit that I have used an agent in the past to book my trips. Well, sadly, he passed away and I am trying to see if I can do this myself, as I think my deal(s) might be better. So, if I want to leave from Richmond, VA or Raleigh, NC and fly into Nevis for a few days, followed by taking the ferry to St. Kitts for a few days and flying back home, how does one book this? I would like to research this option without bothering an agent since we have not 100% decided on these destinations. On line it appears that you can only book it round-trip. Or, would it involve purchasing tickets to Nevis followed by purchasing tickets from St. Kitts back home?
Any thoughts/suggestions for this silly question would be appreciated.

Happy almost Thanksgiving, everyone!!:)

Unless you have a specific Airline you wish to travel on, I would try Travelocity or Expedia to search for airfare with "Multiple destination" and see if you can do what you want with regard to the into Nevis / out of St. Kitts plan. It may allow you and you can get an idea of rates & which airlines go where you're going.

Alternately, you could try American Airlines, which provides service to many Caribbean destinations. You can try their website or call their service agents direct for help with your multiple destination trip.

You can do it yourself!

tpatricco is right - on any of the airline or travel web-sites you can use the "multi-city" option to book this trip. No for the realities, I doubt you'd be able to get a non-stop or even a direct flight to the Caribbean from Raleigh or Richmond. you'll probably first have to get yourself to the nearest international gateway airport that has flights to the Caribbean (probably Washington, DC's Dulles or Charlotte). Regardless of which gateway airport you use your best bet is to fly first into San Juan and then connect to American Eagle for the flight to Nevis. On your way back you take American Eagle out of St. Kitts to San Juan and connect to your flight back to the US. FYI - people fly into Seither St. Kitts or Nevis and depart from the other island all the time - there's not much if any fare difference. Try booking everything through American Airlines (www.aa.com) it might be the easiest for you.

I did a quick search on Travelocity with random dates in December and got a surprisingly reasonable airfare in the $700-800 range. As A_Traveller said it had two connections each way. (That was Richmond to Nevis to St. Kitts to Richmond). They had you connecting through Philly.

You can probably do better on the connections. San Juan is a gateway for many Caribbean Destinations, so if you can get there direct from one of your home airports that might be easiest. Finding a best deal on something like this takes a little searching.

Makes me glad my home airport is Newark EWR!

Thanks for the information! Actually, Dulles is just as close to us as Raleigh is, but the traffic is horrific! Plus, Raleigh is soooo easy to fly out of as compared to Dulles. Our home-base is Richmond, but it is cheaper to fly out of Raleigh and through Charlotte, believe it or not! I do appreciate your help, as I have not done this before on my own.

Another ???....Since we are going during the start of hurricane season, can trip insurance be bought through the airline? We have always bought it before through the agent since the entire trip has been booked through 1 company. Do you get insurance through the hotel, as well????

Sorry to be a nuisance......

For the best rates on travel insurance go to insuremytrip.com. You will be able to see a variety of policies, displayed in a way that is easy to do comparison shopping. But read the fine print, to see the specific differences between the various policies.

Carole

I agree with the recommendation for insuremytrip.com. I have used them before when I put together my own trip, and it generally is cheaper than buying insurance separately from different providers. You should buy insurance for your total costs - air, hotel, etc (anything that is prepaid and is non-refundable or has a cancellation/change penalty).

Thank you for the wonderful information!!