TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Airfare for March-April

Just found it a bit strange. For the last couple of years, we have travelled from Ft. Lauderdale to SXM. As we all know by now...JB is no longer flying the route. Have been watching the fares, and within the last week, Spirit has put up their fares. I was shocked to see Spirit's fare currently at $673 per person. That is well over 200 bucks more than we paid last year per person. I guess when the competition stops.....so do the deals. Then for sh/ts and giggles, went onto AA site to check the prices out of Miami. Same dates.........the surprise...the SAME $673 per person....but without a few of the extra add ons that spirit hits one up for!!!!! Personally, I think both fares are out of whack...and will keep an eye out for a better deal since we have plenty of time....but finding AA and Spirit the same price was appalling. If this stays the same the no brainer will be the AA out of Miami. Lots of less chances of getting there on time, with plenty of alternate flights if needed. I REALLY DO HATE ALL AIRLINES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ed, I agree with you that airlines seem to be in cahoots with one another. When you compare airfares they are within a dollar of one another and stay that way. No one airline seems to want to drop prices. You and I both know that the only way they will come down is if no one books with any of them .... but then we both know that will not happen so the waiting game usually prevails for the airlines and all we consumers do is gripe!

I was playing the waiting game for the same time.
AA was over $1100 for JFK to SXM, while Jetblue is over $950 for more room.

I finally booked with Delta for $609.57 Comfort seats. Their customer service is excellent.

Then it was the travel insurance that went up, as it has been doing each year.
We changed from Travelguard, who we have been very happy with--but too expensive, to Travelsafe.

Between booking our rooms more than a year in advance and the airlines--it's getting to be less fun!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/smashpc.gif" alt="" />

The clue is to book as soon as the airline opens up the dates you want. We checked JB every day until our dates (March) opened and got direct BOS SXM $288 one way.

We've found it goes up & up after that until close to the date a dramatic drop but usually only one seat left so you'd end up on separate flights even different days.

No one should complain unless you are flying Feb. school vacation week. Our son just decided yesterday to come and visit us next year. He can fly from either Hartford or Boston. Most AA flights from Hartford say unavailable. Jet Blue from Boston is almost $2,000.00. He ended up fbooking Delta Sun to Sun for $750.00. Lucky we are still there the next week or he would have had to pay for an extra night. Sat to Sat were all over $1000.00.

$2,000 at JB ? When is school vacation for him? I know vacation dates vary from state to state. Our return April flight is higher than going but by $114. not thousands.

I asked which dates because my niece just booked BOS-SXM for Feb 11-18 and it was $347 going. I didn't know the return price so I just checked JB and found from BOS-SXM $347 going $438 ret. From NY 256-485 I didn't check Hartford.

Interesting. This was just on the CBS evening news last night.

http CBS News

Yes, for THIS year but not for 2017. We just booked BOS to Houston on JB for $89

I think the AA-US AIR merger had a huge affect on airfares to SXM. From Houston (IAH) to SXM the fares are ridiculous compared to previous years.

School vacation is 2/18 to 2/25. The problem is all the non refundable tickets are sold out from Boston. The refundable is $892.00 going down and $881.00 coming home. This is ridiculous considering those Jet Blue dates just came up the beginning of the month.

There are 70-80 open seats on both those flights. Price might drop later...only around 40 booked

I did not see any category listed as "sold out"