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British Airways Avios are great awards for short flights and they have a few Caribbean island hopper routes that are useful in a region with expensive airfares and unreliable airlines.
These routes seem to be regularly in flux, here is what I can find as currently operating. One-way Avios prices (economy/premium economy/business) are given with taxes and fees, which are $8 higher for business class across the board. No first class on these routes.
These are typically several times a week so schedules may not always line up for what you need.
There are massive taxes and fees in many parts of the Caribbean, so total cost is not necessarily cheaper than revenue tickets on BA or competitors.
- Nassau (NAS) – Grand Cayman (GCM), 4500/6750/9000 + $108-$116
- Grand Cayman (GCM) – Nassau (NAS), 4500/6750/9000 + $96-$104
- Nassau (NAS) – Providenciales (PLS), 4500/6750/9000 + $108-$116 ends March 22, 2015
- Providenciales (PLS) – Nassau (NAS), 4500/6750/9000 + $102-$110 ends March 22, 2015
- Antigua (ANU) – Providenciales (PLS), begins March 29, 2015, not yet loaded in system for award tickets
- Antigua (ANU) – St Kitts (SKB), 4500/6750 /9000 + $106-$114 (the SKB-ANU return flights exists but is not bookable online and may not be bookable as a standalone at all)
- Grenada (GND) – St Lucia (UVF), 4500/6750/9000 + $76-$84
- St Lucia (UVF) – Grenada (GND), 4500/6750/9000 + $77-$85
- Port of Spain (POS) – St Lucia (UVF), 4500/6750/9000 + $80-$88
- St Lucia (UVF) – Port of Spain (POS), 4500/6750/9000 + $62-$70
Note: Antigua – Punta Cana ends October 24, 2014 so is excluded.
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I have found that the taxes that are shown when searching on the BA site are sometimes much higher than what they are actually. Once I get to the purchase stage, they can drop csignificantly. You need to really drill down to find the actual taxes for a flight.
@ZIPPYPAM – great tip, I had no idea, any particular pattern you see among airlines or is this across the board
This is a really timely post. I just came back from the Caribbean, visiting the French islands and the Guianas. I relied on Air France and Caribbean Airlines and avoided LIAT at all cost. Of course Air France decided to take a two week vacation. However Caribbean Airlines and Air Caraibes were both solid. I also cut out one island because I read that ferries were unreliable. I have to say I am agreeing with you about the Caribbean being pricey without necessarily offering something special. Coincidentally I have been thinking south east Asia as well because once you get… Read more »
@john – now I have to plan the trip back. Good to hear about Air Caraibes. I was booked on a Corsair and never got to fly that, they both shuttle between Guadaloupe and Martinique.
When I was in my last day of trip in St Lucia I just didn’t eat anything until I got to the airport and was desperate because $18 hamburgers and $20+ fish just don’t work for me.
Reward Flight Saver : You just pay the Avios fare + a flat fee. We pay the full taxes fees and charges
Outbound Inbound
Total Price
(Incl. all taxes fees and carrier charges)
18:30 17 Oct GCM
21:00 17 Oct NAS
15:55 7 Nov NAS
17:30 7 Nov GCM
9000 Avios + $ 55.00
@Joel – thank you! This is totally new to me, I need to dig into it more.
Yes there is a way around that – Once you have spent/earned avios it costs 27.50 each way…
@Joel – not sure I follow, I am a not a BA expert, will you elaborate?
Interesting but the taxes and fees are a killer. I’m too lazy to look right this minute but I wonder if there is any tax and/or fee advantage to fly BA from one of the British territories to LHR? Hmmmm. Doubt it and likely the companion tickets wouldn’t work from there either, just guessing.
@DaninMCI – the alternatives are not great either, a lot of these routes are $200 or more on the local carrier which can be less reliable and some have strict weight restrictions. Ferried wouldn’t help either and seem quite unreliable like the ferry I tried yesterday and canceled till Wednesday.
@DaninMCI – or take advantage of routing rules and keep routing back through a place like MIA but that has time and money costs on its own.
Thanks for the helpful post, it is too bad that the taxes and fees on these award flights are so expensive. I guess there’s no way around that is there?
@Grant – Caribbean is really pricey overall, I see why the miles and points community for whom flights are nothing, or are the point of travel, go to Southeast Asia.
Any idea how to connect an island hopping trip involving Grand Cayman, Nassau, Providenciales, with Port of Spain, Grenada, and St. Lucia. Obviously this can be accomplished by adding a leg to the US, but is there any way to connect them without leaving the Carib?
@Brian – I will go a follow on post, I had a beautiful trip I am on that fell apart with a 2-day LIAT delay. Relying on the local airlines is dicey and not cheap. The ones you want to see are in essentially two separate clusters, the bottom half you can do with Caribbean Airlines which is pretty good. The northern you need the tiny local airlines for the parts BA doesn’t work.