April 2024 AA & BB

We are in early stages of planning a bareboat charter for next April. I followed the new American flight from MIA to EIS with great excitement. With additional flights being added, it seemed to be popular.

However the AA site wants to route me thru SJU and fly on Silver next April. If that's the case I'll go to STT and take the ferry.

I'm not ready to book a flight yet but I'm wondering if anyone is aware if AA is pulling the plug on the MIA-EIS flight, if my planned trip dates are outside its schedule or it's a case of the flight dates/times not confirmed yet? I recall it was running most of the year except the fall/late hurricane season.

It's my first BVI trip since 2019 (I made the shift to sailing in the Grenadines for my past 2 charters) so we'll be dealing with Boaty Ball as well. There will be newbies with us do the popular stops are a must but I'm wondering if we can skip BB and still get to JVD, Anegada, North Sound (Bitter End or Leverick). We're hoping for a 2-3 boat mini-flotilla and would like to stick together, hence the reluctance to rely on BB.

Th

Don

I cant help but believe AA sees the writing on the wall..lightning labour strikes, only the right conditions to fly and land and high cost.I'm sticking with the ferries..

That is interesting. There have been a lot of issues with that non-stop flight. How far out can you book that AA flight from Miami?

Give it a month or two and I suspect the flights will show up. Right now they are loaded through the first week of April.

George--OK

I would recommend Boaty Ball for Great Harbor on Jost. Very few FCFS balls there now. Cooper gets crowded, but they actually have a decent amount of white FCFS Boaty Balls there. Hasn't really been needed at other places in my opinion. I have used it for piece of mind when going to Anegada, but have never required it.

I have to comment on what I regard as some needless hysteria about AA potentially bailing on the MIA to EIS route, and i feel a need to point out that the over-wrought and dire predictions are baseless - because we don't even know the routes for the 2024 winter season yet. The original announcement from AA itselt (https://news.aa.com/news/news-detai...nd-Latin-America-NET-RTS-06/default.aspx) was quite clear in describing MIA-EIS as a WINTER OF 2023 route, and here's the relevant portion: "this winter passengers] will have more choices as American Airlines announces its winter 2023 schedule for the Caribbean and Latin America... ."

The IATA (International Air Transport Association), which is one of the airlines' major trade association, and by member consent, one of the industry's leading governing bodies, generally defines "seasons" for the purposes of gate slots and capacities needed, and here's the general rule, as well as the "winter season" for 2023:

"IATA Summer schedule - begins on the last Sunday of March and ends on the last Saturday of October.

IATA Winter schedule - begins on the last Sunday of October and ends on the last Saturday of March.

For 2023, the summer season began on March 26th, 2023 and the winter season will begin on 29th October 2023." https://simpleflying.com/iata-summer-winter-schedule/

Thus, while the MIA - EIS flight was a part of the 2023 winter season, we don't know yet what the 2024 winter season will bring. I suggest waiting until the season's schedule is finalized, but note this excerpt from an article just last month: "The airline will increase flights from Miami to Cancun to six daily flights over the holiday period of Dec. 20 through Jan. 7, 2024. Travelers visiting the British Virgin Islands will have more options as American will increase frequency to Tortola to three flights during peak days over the same period." https://www.travelandleisure.com/american-airlines-bahamas-miami-california-winter-7560792.

Best to just give it a bit more time before buying a snorkel and some fins, thinking that you'll likely have to swim for it....

Thanks, Fitzhughlaw, that's the type of info I was looking for/wondering about.

Don

Excellent post. Thank you, Fitz.

Great information, thank you!