I know this has come up before, but the obvious search terms don't help much here.

We're doing our first group trip with 8 adults, possibly 8 adults plus one young child.

Can anyone point me in the right direction regarding researching a private airplane charter from SJU to EIS and back? Any tips or advice appreciated, thanks!

Island Birds or Fly BVI. It will cost more than from STT, if that is an option for you. Also check InterCaribbean, which has good fares and has been getting good reviews.

We're looking at this option in case flights to SJU end up being a lot cheaper. From STT we would probably just take the ferry.

Does anyone have a ballpark figure on the cost?

Because we can fly to SJU at very good prices, chartering from SJU to the bvis is our preferred method.

Both above are great choices. We used Island Birds several times and all trips were very comfortable and stress free.

Air America is based in SJU and we used them on Island Birds recommendation for a trip between SJU and STT. I would use them again.

Your best bet is to contact them directly for pricing. I will tell you, there were some trips it was cheaper for use to use a private charter versus Cape air or seaborne to VG. EIS may have better commercial pricing since it is serviced more frequently.

After chartering for years from SJU to Anegada and trying many of the charter companies, I always recommend Air America for pricing and service. They've been the best for me.

We have used Air sunshine, fly bvi and Island birds over the last twenty years and all a first class operations - not much difference in prices but all solid.

I have used a small outfit called Charter Flights Caribbean for the last several years. For any numbers above 4 it seems to be cheaper and more convenient than Cape Air/Seabourne etc...

http://charterflightscaribbean.com

Thanks for the suggestions, so far have gotten a quote from one outfit that came to about $570 per person. A bit more than we were hoping. We are going to check with a few more.

We used Intercaribbean on this last trip down and they were great. We plan to use them again for our November trip!

What are the approximate baggage weight limits and number of bags per person on the smaller inter island airlines? Don't bring up traveling with carry on only as there is no way that my wife will go for that. Her cosmetics and hair products take up half a suit case. I've been beat down too many times trying to get her to reduce the amount. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" />

Cape air 50lbs plus carry on. Air sunshine 40lbs including carrying.

Thanks, Warren.

The quote we received said that the baggage allowance is calculated once they receive the combined weight of the passengers.

It depends on the specific airline.

It really depends on the aircraft. If you fill every seat the amount of luggage that can be carried is pretty limited for most light twins. Most if not all charter outfits will fuel the aircraft for a round trip due to the high cost of fuel ar EIS. This further restricts load.
If your charter outfit asks your weight but does not actually weigh the passengers they can gain a substantial amount of payload. The airplane probably won't fly on one engine using that method but it's common.
If you expect to bring a lot of luggage it's best to charter a aircraft with more seating than you need. That will give you the baggage weight needed.
G

When traveling with our friends, we always get a larger plane for this reason.

Memory tells me our baggage allowances ranged from 50 - 65 pounds total pp.

We used AirAmerica back in April for 8 adults, we were limited to 1480lbs total. Airfare ran just $300 ea r/t. http://airamericacaribbean.com/

All because of lunch at the McDonalds in SJU airport... everyone's weight takes an unexplained bump-up... fascinating