Big Sale to the Caribbean From Lots of US Cities On American Airlines and US Airways
I just learned from The Flight Deal Blog that there is currently a BIG sale from many US Cities to different Caribbean islands on American Airlines and US Airways. Everyone knows how much I love the Caribbean and my parents just returned from St. Martin yesterday. They are announcing availability from New York, Dallas, Houston, Charlotte, Philadelphia and Phoenix. The Flight Deal watches sales and deals to different destinations every day all year long and are calling it the “once a year sale”… it’s likely not to last very long.
Available dates for the sale are:
- until June 12
- August 11 – Dec 17
- January – March, 2015
There are prices as low as $300-$400 to St. Lucia, Aruba, St. Martin, Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, Montego Bay, Antigua, Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic and even St. Bart’s!
This is really really really tempting as I am an American Airlines Platinum member now and am hoping to keep it going into next year. I may just end up trying out some dates and see what comes up.
How to Use Miles for The Trip
Great deals don’t always come up with miles and this is a great deal we’ll have to pay for with cash if we decide to book. This is exactly the kind of situation when the Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard comes in handy, which comes with a $440 travel credit as a sign-up bonus (in the form of 40,000 miles that can be redeemed at one cent each). This travel credit can be used on any travel expense by just putting it on your card and then redeeming the miles for a statement credit. In my mind, these miles are as good as cash. The card also earns 2 point per dollar on all spending, amounting to a 2.2% cash back on all spending that is highly flexible to spend on any kind of travel – flights, hotels, taxis, trains, car rentals, etc.
Although there isn’t time to sign up for the card to pay for this deal, those that already have the Barclaycard Arrival and can use those points here are certainly in luck! Regardless, if you were planning a trip to the Caribbean and this fits your plans, it’s a great deal with or without redeeming miles.
Anyone else booking a trip to the Caribbean with this sale?
We were looking very hard for many hours to find the mythical saver economy flights from ORD to Roatan (RTB) next Feb or March. While there wonderful award chart says 15,000 in saver coach (low season for central America supposed to start Jan 16) here is nada to Honduras, nothing at all. In fact there is no saver economy there after Oct-not one date in 6 months. Called AA and they said an analyst may at some point put one or two up, maybe. So unless I am researching wrong we will need a good sales price as AA miles seem increasingly less valuable.