TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands American Airlines to increase MIA to EIS flights to five daily beginning in December.

I noticed yesterday that, whereas they originally were not flying during this upcoming hurricane season, they now have flights throughout.

Wow! Now 5 MIA-EIS flights per day starting Dec 7 (peak-days.....not sure what that means, thursday -Sunday?). Hoping that means fares will come down as well.

We are going to be heading down in April 2025.

Did a quick check for March 2025.

AA Round trip DCA-MIA-EIS is $692. This is doable!

AA Round trip DCA-STT with 1-stop is $564

UA Round trip IAD-STT nonstop is $509 ( great deal and my preferred route .)

Thank you to OP for sharing, I think this is great news.

Looking at CWoody's list of options, once you factor in $140+ for ferry, plus cab fare, the cost is basically a wash and the EIS route is a significant time saver. It's pretty much a no brainer to me. I very much respect other opinions on this, but am glad that the route seems to be working out and providing additional options for travelers.

We just got AA FF tickets from Tortola to Memphis (through Miami) at the end of March for 8k miles/each!

Ratmanswife--8K miles?? I have to assume that is each way, but still a great deal! That is amazing.

That is incredible! Nice steal!

These tickets are economy one way; business class was well over 60k.

Fraes are $500/ rt from Mia to Eis in Dec I paid $800 for same tickets

Ratmanswife---still a great deal, especially considering I always travel economy!

This is further evidence that eventually, market forces will prevail over the BVI government's relentless desire to undertake huge projects (with their accompanying photo ops) such as the proposed airport expansion that will accommodate larger jets, such as Airbus or Boeing airiliners. AA's five flights per day during peak travel season is a more than sufficient airlift (and this is just one carrier from one major US city directly to Beef Island - others will follow if the route is profitable).

Meanwhile, the math, which none of these politicians care to consider, militates against it. Here's a post that I saw from February after the announcement that KPMG would be "advising" the government on the project's feasibility; talk about "the fix is in," does anybody doubt how that's going to turn out? Upon further scrutiny this rough analysis below has solid numbers - and this announcement from AA demonstrates that such a project is a complete waste of money, given the Territory's infrastructure woes (among others):

"Where is all this wealth of information, paid by the public purse that Mr. Menal refers to? As we saw after the passage of Irma, BVI does not have much in the way of financial resources. So, if it goes ahead, BVI will need financing. It won’t be cheap because of BVI’s record of cost overruns and exceeding budgets. A few years back, bids were received in the $200 million range. At 7% interest rates over 20 years that works out to a monthly note of about $1 million or $12 million per year. Where is that money coming from? Departure tax? In 2020 there were about 100,000 overnight visitors to the BVI. Works out to about $120 each extra, on top of the $20 departure tax, $10 arrival tax. So, $150 extra per person.

Expedia shows round trip tickets Miami to Beef for $1,200 (and up), so basically a 10-15% added tax to pay for airport expansion. Family of 4 would be out close to $6000 just to get here directly. And, that’s based on the last set of bids. You know it will probably be twice that much. Air fares to Beef will be comparable to what it costs to rent a villa for a week!

Meanwhile, it’s not too difficult to get round trip tickets to Miami from STT for $400. Factor in ferry tickets, taxis etc, and a family of four can get here for less than $2,000. So, back to the question: how does the airport pay for itself? KPMG is supposed to tell us this, but how much spin will they put? And, will the public have access to their report?"

We can only hope that common sense will prevail when it comes to a cost/benefit assessment of this project, but I'm not optimistic.

Just a small point on the other airlines will follow. There is only one other aircraft that can fly this route and that is the A220-100. Only Delta operates that aircraft and they have shown no interest. The E175 is operated under contract by AA, Delta and United however it’s quite marginal even flying just EIS to MIA. They are blocking off 16 seats from inventory to make the MIA flight possible leaving only 60 seats. Every mile you add to service airports further away will require more blocked seats. AA with their large connecting opportunities out of MIA is probably the only airline that can fly the route profitably. Now Delta could operate a full A220-100 to ATL but trust me they won’t for reasons I don’t understand.

The articles about the airport expansion, as I recall, referenced airport development rather than airport expansion. Of course contractors and politicians hope for the latter, whether legit work or greased palms.

I'm hoping development could mean basic deferred maintenance as well as improvements to baggage handling, Immigration and Customs. People end up standing outside in long lines with fewer, smaller planes. Go up on the observation deck and you'll see pieces of construction material lying around. The current security screening area is entirely insufficient: adding tables outside the sliding doors doesn't work.

A good airport planner could rectify these problems within the existing footprint.

Fitz: Maybe I am missing your point, but as others on this thread mention there are some very competitive fares incorporating the AA MIA-EIS-MIA leg.....way less than $1,200. The weekend rates are high for sure. Weekdays and purchased way in advance definitely rival the STT + ferry option.

Husker, the fares that are going to be in effect will rise to reflect increased seasonal demand, and I have no basis to disagree with the fares you cite as current offerings.

Again, however, I think that they prove the point that I was trying to make (and apparently failed to do effectively) which is that it is indeed a needless airport expansion that is being contemplated - contrary to Mrs. Ratman's [typically prescient and cogent] post that accurately points out that current inefficiencies could be eliminated by "development" of the existing footprint.

To be clear, the drumbeat is for "expansion" even though it's headlined as "development" and here it is from the proverbial horse's mouth ("da gub mint"): https://bvi.gov.vg/media-centre/bvi-airports-authority-advances-airport-development.

Note the the lead sentence in the PR: "The Government of the Virgin Islands has announced that significant progress is being made in the ongoing airport development project."

Now note this quote (and I'll only insert this portion of the text so that I don't get chided for violating the "fair use" doctrine🙄): "Honourable Rymer said, "We see this as a significant step in realising our vision for the expansion of the Terrance B Lettsome International Airport and the Territory on a whole. The overwhelming responses from reputable firms, both locally and internationally, affirms the importance and potential of this project.""

It's being referred to as "development" precisely the same way US politicians refer to "revenue enhancements" or "investments" instead of "tax increases." Unfortunately, what all of these BVI politicians are salivating over is the prospect of a mega project.

I'm in agreement.

The airport expansion is a pipedream that feels financially and logistically impossible for the BVI to pull off.

IMO - I would like to see the government do everything they can to keep the AA flights in from MIA (which this increased demand seems awesome), the Tradewinds flights direct to VG from San Juan, and then figure out a way to offer more (and specifically later) ferries from STT to Tortola (and even more direct STT to VG than just once a week on Saturdays)

Just making it slightlyyyyyyyy easier to get to the BVI would make a world of difference.

Fitz - Thanks for the reply. I see your main point now....the proposed expansion. I guess my questions is: Politics and grift aside, for what functional purpose? The existing facility seems under utilized currently. Even with the added AA flights next season, its hard to imagine EIS ever being anything like the STT weekend sh_t show. I think Delta could even add a couple flights from the mainland and not overwhelm EIS's capacity. That said, perhaps there are times when EIS is maxed out....I've just never experienced that in my travels. If there are choke points could they be addresses by adding staff and making minor structural improvements?

Agree with VGR, more (later) ferry service options would help.

We are getting ready to book our November flight and would really like to fly into Beef Island. We usually each take a checked luggage and our backpacks so,,,,,, is the luggage actually getting on the plane still a concern?

Right now aa flights from MIa-EIS in dec are $500 r/t a great deal. I paid $800 for the same tickets.

I will wait and watch.I can fly SFO to St Thomas generally from between $600 and $900..add cab ( longer ride from EIS to CRC) and ferry I am still way ahead..and I dont mind the ferry ride and now even spend a night each way in STT and probably still come out ahead of flying to EIS.If the Miamimi EIS segemnt becomes reasonable I may change ..lets see..

Is a layover of one hour and thirty minutes in Mia enough time to get through customs and make connections on the way home from Beef Island?

tpcook--how did you book?? If you book AA MAIN CABIN, as compared to economy, normally you can cancel with no penalty and get AA trip credit, which you can use within a year. If you know you are going to fly with them again within a year, it's a good deal.

Jag - I've done the AA EIS-MIA-EIS several times now and have no issues with checked baggage. For carry on, just be aware the overhead bins on the regional jet AA uses for this route are on the small side. My standard-size roller board barely fits.

Didn't see anyone having issues getting their bags on the plane on our recent trip.

Yes, a 1.5 hour layover should be plenty of time... assuming your original flight gets in on time. Our recent experience, we learned the hard way to leave more time for a layover in case of delay to the original flight. Perhaps with them adding more daily flights MIA-EIS, the issue will improve, but what we found is that if your flight to MIA is delayed, your chances of getting on a later flight to EIS are slim to none (even though there were seats available, they wouldn't let us on the later flight due to weight restrictions, we had to fly to STT instead in order to get there same day).

While less convenient, If there are multiple flight options from your origin point, don't take the closest one to the EIS departure, take the earlier one. That way, if the flight is delayed, you can still hop on the later one, or still get in with enough time to make the connection.

I know I worded that awkwardly, but hope it makes sense.

I just noticed that you were asking about the return and not the outbound. I think the above is still good advice. As for timing, it depends on age and physical condition. If you are able to walk at a reasonably brisk pace for a significant distance, you should not have any trouble. While the route is circuitous and quite long, we found no significant delays or bottlenecks during our recent return EIS-MIA-JAX. It was far less taxing than a hike up Norman, for instance. And we did check a couple of bags on the return, so we had to collect those and then deposit them back with the bag handlers as well.

jagmansr--I would disagree with onlymedication re 1.5 hours in Miami being plenty of time on the way home, UNLESS you have global entry or Mobile Passport Control. If you do not have either, global entry costs money, but MPC does NOT. Often the lines for MPC are shorter than Global Entry. It's just an app that you download on your phone. Miami can be an absolute clusterf*ck on re-entry.

The good news is that the Sky Train is now operational, after having been totally out of service for about a year. One section is still not open, I don't believe. It is a VERY long walk from where the international flights come in, to passport control, so the Sky Train is a huge deal. Miami is our "home" airport when we travel to the Caribbean, as we drive 3.5 hours to Miami for a nonstop flight. Therefore we don't have to connect in Miami. But based on our experience (without either MPC or Global Entry), there is no way we would have made a 1.5 hour connection in Miami, on maybe half of our flights with checked bags. By the time one gets through immigration, retrieve your bags and re-check them, it takes a LOT of time. Most of the time, I would say we would be doing an OJ deal to make it and that makes me very uncomfortable. If it were ME, and I booked a 1.5 hour connection time in Miami, I would only do it if I had either GE or MPC. Your mileage may vary.

We flew back on a Tuesday on the 1:35 flight out of EIS (arriving around 4:45). It was a ridiculous amount of walking, but we never had to wait at any step of the process. We are not global entry or anything else. I am TSA precheck, but my wife is not and that didn't really apply. We may well have just gotten lucky on a quiet afternoon. The small flight from EIS undoubtedly helped as well. I also recall the deplaning process felt very long, then they piled us onto a bus for some reason, which I believe was just to take us further away from our next destination... and that process felt like it took forever.

We had a 2.5 hour layover and we had plenty of time once we got done re-checking bags to wander the airport, get something to eat and drinks and still get bored waiting around for our flights to board while spending $20 a drink on watered down rum and cokes trying to stay awake to make the flight home.

All in, I think we were at our next gate within ~45 minutes of landing, but we may well have just gotten lucky.

The idea of driving to Miami and flying from there is starting to sound really appealing for our next trip, even from Jacksonville!

I booked economy not thinking that the fares would go down so much. Looks like I will eat the fifference.

My son just booked Nashville to Eis for $1500 per person for 32 persons. He is bringing his whole company down to VG for a week. Big perk for the group.

onlymedication--have no idea how long it takes to drive from JAX, but you should check it out. Straight shot down 95?? Dunno. Check it out.

And flying in and out on a weekend is a whole different situation than on a Tuesday.