SF to DR? WTH!
 

Any seasoned travelers have any idea why is it so difficult to travel to the Dominican Republic from the West Coast? Particularly in Northern California?

My simple flight search returned travel no less than 16 hours and most of the cheap flights an overnight 24 hour travel just to get there!

Any insight or ideas? Has anyone had to deal with this?

Yup. I went Seattle to Jamaica awhile back and ran into the same thing (and why I go to Hawaii or Mexico usually instead!)

Traveling to anywhere in the Caribbean from SFO/SJC/OAK involves an overnight flight to the midwest, east, or southeast and then a morning flight to your destination OR flying somewhere, spending the night and the flying onward the next day. When we fly to the Virgin Islands or other places in the Caribbean, we leave SFO usually around 10:30 - 11:30 pm and arrive in our destination by 2:00 - 4:00 pm the next day, with a two or three hour layover in IAD, ATL, ORD, or JFK. That's how we do it anyway. It probably has something to do with scheduling, time zones, and economics.

Have you checked hipmunk.com? I see flights from SFO to PUJ for 10-11 hours.

I'm no expert but have you tried jet blue? I know they have direct flights from SFO to Ft. Lauderdale and they also have flights to SDQ. Worth a shot.