Caribbean Contesting Consortium Flights and Airfares

Return to Home Page

General

Curacao's Hato International Airport has the longest runway in the Caribbean (11,000 feet) and is a modern, safe facility serviced by major airlines. You can get there from the U.S. on American Airlines, Continental, and Air Jamaica. There's a new passenger terminal that opened in August, 2006. Click here for photos. 

Customs and Immigration

Curacao customs is much friendlier and more reasonable than when we started coming in 1999. Click here for details.

Airfares and Booking

American Airlines operates two 737 flights daily from Miami, one departing MIA in late morning and the other in late afternoon. (Curacao is in the same time zone as Miami in summer and an hour later in winter.) It is a three hour comfortable non-stop. Very pleasant. Great views of Haiti. There are also American Eagle flights several evenings a week from San Juan. Click here to see the check-in activity for AA 1880 on 3 October 2006. Click here to see a photo essay of the flight from Miami to Curacao, photographed on 30 December 2002. 

I book my flights using http://www.aa.com .  

Airfares on American from Cleveland to Curacao and return have ranged seasonally (before tax) from $315 to $890. Fall is cheapest and the weeks of Christmas and Easter the most expensive.

Baggage

American Airlines at Cleveland has never given me any trouble with heavy bags or oddly-sized things like antennas. You can check two pieces, 74 inches total girth and less than 70 pounds each, free. I try to stick to the 70 pound limit, but they have never refused anything heavier. If you are overweight there will be an additional charge. The dimensional limit is 74 linear inches each. If you have trouble checking your bags, tell the agent to look under "AN Bag" for Curacao for the current rules. You can NOT check boxes during the summer "box embargo," which is usually May 25 through September 3, nor can you take an extra piece in that time frame. You may wish to read the article "Never Pay Airlines Overweight" by NA7DB. This is not endorsed by CCC, but it's food for thought.

Another alternative for getting gear to Curacao is the small package cargo service offered by the airlines. See, for example, http://aacargo.com. A 51 pound parcel is $75 to Curacao from the States. Heavier is $150. Nobody from CCC has yet tried this method, but it appears to be worth investigating.