DESTINATIONS puerto rico air-travel-19

TRAVEL TIPS

Air Travel

Nonstop flights to San Juan from New York are 3¾ hours; from Miami, 2½ hours; from Atlanta, 3½ hours; from Boston, 3¾ hours; from Chicago, 4½ hours; from Dallas, 4½ hours.

There are dozens of daily flights to Puerto Rico from the United States, and connections are particularly good from the East Coast, although there are a few nonstop flights from the Midwest as well. San Juan's international airport is a major regional hub, so many travelers headed elsewhere in the Caribbean make connections here. Because of the number of flights, fares to San Juan are among the most reasonably priced to the region.

Airlines and Airports

Airline and Airport Links.com. Airline and Airport Links.com has links to many of the world's airlines and airports. www.airlineandairportlinks.com.

Airline Security Issues

Transportation Security Administration. www.tsa.gov.

Airports

The island's main airport is Aeropuerto Internacional Luis Muñoz Marín (SJU), 20 minutes east of Old San Juan in the neighborhood of Isla Verde. San Juan's secondary airport is the small Fernando L. Ribas-Dominicci Airport (SIG), also called Isla Grande, near the city's Miramar section. From either airport you can catch flights to Culebra and Vieques, and from SJU you can also connect to other destinations in Puerto Rico and throughout the Caribbean.

Other Puerto Rican airports include Aeropuerto Internacional Rafael Hernández (BQN) in the northwestern town of Aguadilla, Aeropuerto Eugenio María de Hostos (MAZ) in the west-coast community of Mayagüez, Mercedita (PSE) in the south-coast town of Ponce, José Aponte de la Torre (RVR) in the east-coast town of Ceiba, Antonio Rivera Rodríguez (VQS) on Vieques, and Aeropuerto Benjamin Rivera Noriega (CPX) on Culebra.

Airport Information

Aeropuerto Antonio Rivera Rodríguez. Vieques. 787/741–8358.

Aeropuerto Benjamin Rivera Noriega. Culebra. 787/742–0022.

Aeropuerto Eugenio María de Hostos. Mayagüez, n/a Puerto Rico. 787/833–0148.

Aeropuerto Fernando L. Ribas-Dominicci. Isla Grande, San Juan, n/a Puerto Rico, 00901. 787/729-8751.

Aeropuerto Internacional Luis Muñoz Marín. Isla Verde, n/a Puerto Rico. 787/253–2329; www.aeropuertosju.com.

Aeropuerto José Aponte de la Torre. Ceiba, n/a Puerto Rico. 787/534-4100.

Aeropuerto Mercedita. Ponce, n/a Puerto Rico. 787/842-6292.

Aeropuerto Rafael Hernández. Aguadilla, n/a Puerto Rico. 787/890–6075.

Ground Transportation

Before arriving, check with your hotel about transfers: some hotels and resorts provide transport from the airport—free or for a fee—to their guests; some larger resorts run regular shuttles. Otherwise, your best bets are taxis turísticos (tourist taxis). Uniformed officials at the airport can help you make arrangements. They will give you a slip with your exact fare to hand to the driver. Rates are based on your destination. The base rate for a taxi turístico to Isla Verde is $10. It's $15 to Condado and $19 to Old San Juan. There's a $1 charge for each bag handled by the driver, and other fees, too, including a fuel surcharge (currently at $2 per ride), an "airport fee" (currently $1 per each ride to/from the airport), and fees for rides with more than five passengers ($2 for each additional passenger up to seven passengers), as well as rides taken between 10 pm and 6 am ($1 surcharge per ride).

Flights

San Juan's busy Aeropuerto Internacional Luis Muñoz Marín receives flights from all major American carriers. American Airlines flies nonstop from Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Miami, New York–JFK, and Philadelphia. Delta flies nonstop from Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and New York–JFK. JetBlue flies nonstop from Boston, Chicago O'Hare, Fort Lauderdale, Hartford, Newark, New York–JFK, Orlando, Tampa and Washington National. Southwest flies nonstop from Atlanta, Baltimore/Washington, Chicago-Midway, Fort Lauderdale, Houston–Hobby, Orlando, and Tampa. Spirit Air flies nonstop from Fort Lauderdale. United flies nonstop from Chicago, Cleveland, Houston, Newark, and Washington, D.C.–Reagan National.

It used to be that travelers arriving at San Juan's international airport had to transfer to nearby Aeropuerto Fernando L. Ribas-Dominicci (known as Isla Grande Airport) to take a flight to Vieques or Culebra. These days, all the carriers servicing the islands also have flights from the international airport. (That said, if you don’t mind changing airports, flights to Vieques and Culebra are much cheaper from Isla Grande than they are from SJU. They are even cheaper–by as much as half–from Ceiba, which is about a 90-minute drive from San Juan.) Air Flamenco and Vieques Air Link offer daily flights from both airports in San Juan, as well as Ceiba, to Vieques and Culebra. Cape Air flies between the international airport and Culebra, Mayagüez, and Vieques.

Puerto Rico is also a good spot from which to hop to other Caribbean islands. American Eagle serves many islands in the Caribbean from San Juan; Cape Air connects San Juan to St. Thomas, St. Croix, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda. Seaborne Airlines departs from San Juan International to Anguilla, Antigua, Dominica, La Romana (Dominican Republic), Martinique, Nevis, Pointe a Pitre, Punta Cana (Dominican Republic), Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), St. Croix, St. Kitts, St. Maarten, St. Thomas, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda. JetBlue now flies to St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. Maarten, Punta Cana, Santo Domingo, and Santiago from SJU.

San Juan is no longer the only gateway into Puerto Rico. If you're headed to the western part of the island, you can fly directly into Aguadilla. United flies here from Newark, JetBlue flies here from Ft. Lauderdale, New York-JFK, and Orlando, and Spirit Air flies nonstop from Fort Lauderdale. If the southern coast is your goal, JetBlue flies to Ponce from New York–JFK and Orlando.

Airline Contacts

American Airlines. 800/433–7300; www.aa.com.

Delta Airlines. 800/221–1212; 800/241–4141; www.delta.com.

JetBlue. 800/538–2583; www.jetblue.com.

Southwest Airlines. 800/435–9792; www.southwest.com.

Spirit Airlines. 801/401–2222; www.spirit.com.

United Airlines. 800/864–8331; www.united.com.

Regional Airlines

Air Flamenco. 787/724–1818; www.airflamenco.net.

Cape Air. 800/227–3247; www.capeair.com.

Vieques Air Link. 787/741–8331; 888/901–9247; www.viequesairlink.com.

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