Can anyone share with me what they paid to fly from PHL or EWR to St. Thomas in February or March? I am doing some early research for my birthday trip in Feb. 2008 with friends. I was shocked to find for Feb. 2007 prices of $900-$1200 ea.! I'm trying to pick an island that's easy to get to ( and we're planning on renting a 7 bedroom villa, not too many of those out there! ) so this is one of the possibilities.

We went in January this past year and it was around $400.00

Unfortunately, I think this is going rate at the moment for the islands next February. I've been checking prices, too- all different islands- and everything is running in that same range. I don't think the fuel crisis helps. Maybe try sidestep.com just to recheck and then look at some consolidators.

Personally, I wouldn't dream of booking this early. Even though the rates will probably be higher next year, I doubt they're going to stay that high, that's outrageous!

Try flexible dates if you can. A lot of the airfare sites have a button you can click on for flexible date. And try non- Sat to Sat or Sun to Sun time frames.

We were playing around a couple of months ago, looking for airfare over Christmas to STT and by flying on a Tues and home 10 days later (also mid-week) we found flights of $358 p/p OVER Christmas!!

Now, we are new to flying to the Caribbean, but I feel that is an awesome price, especially given the time frame of when we are going. Did I mention that it is over Christmas?? : ) : )

Good luck!!!

We booked in Jan for early April - PHL to STT, total of $497 a person, however, to get this rate went direct on the way down but had to puddle-jump from STT to San Juan on Caribbean Star and then take USAir SJ to PHL. But the direct return flight was lots more $$. Caribbean Star was 2 hours late departing (thank goodness we had a long layover in SJ) and they charged us $50 extra for golf clubs at check in, a fact that was not disclosed in advance. Avoid Carib Star/Sun if possible. If we had booked two months earlier all direct flights were about $450 pp. We waited and paid the pricein $ and inconvenience.

You pay for certainty. If you are going to book so far in advance, you will pay a premium. I have found my best prices between 8 to 2 weeks prior to a trip. Some flexibility is key to getting the best fares. I have found that prices can be as much as 50% less just by leaving a day earlier or a day later. What you should do is get a sense of how much folks have paid during that time of the year, figure there will be a little bump up next year and that will be your price. The problem with February is that it is high season, kids have vacations then, and holidays will also make prices higher than usual. This will be true for just about anywhere, not just St. Thomas. I would talk to travel agents about February and avoid any of the "hot spots" in the calendar.

Thanks for your replies!! My problem is that I am looking to rent a villa for a week which would probably be Sat.-Sat. I checked those flight's seatplans and they were not even one quarter full so I was amazed that they could be so high already! This is a birthday trip for me ( over Presidents Day week! ) and not a trip I could plan last minute. Why wasn't I born in May? Fortunately, the trip is in Feb. 2008 so I'll watch them all this year and plan accordingly.

Speaking from experience, if you have to fly on the weekends bookending President's Day Week, you're going to pay a lot of money. (We did this twice so our son wouldn't miss school).

I would be shocked to see a fare under $600 for those particular dates. I would probably wait for a number under, say, $800 and then book it.

The strategy of waiting until a month or two prior to departure often does not work well for Christmas Week or President's Day Week.

I fly from Ewr to Stt about 3 times a year. never paid more than 500 for a trip. Just took a flight last week cost 345. Also if you are renting a villa rent a car. Much cheaper than taking taxi cabs around the island.

I recently had this problem. The fares were at around $600. I finally found a fare for 380 for Memorial day weekend. I checked constantly and signed up for Fare Watcher on Travelocity. When I saw they had gone down, I bought them on the spot. An hour later, the fares were back up to $600!

lia b - that is what I have found out where airfare in concerned...when you see those awesome prices you have to be ready to react. Congrats on getting that price!

I just booked my tix for Feb. 2007.
$436 on AA...JFK to STT. They've been this price for awhile, i was surprised they aren't more.

jofus

BTW flying on Mon.- Thurs. is cheaper then Fri-Sun.

jofus