US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - Costa Rica Flights

I just was curious if anyone had flown US to San Jose, Costa Rica yet. They have flights now from philly and charlotte, and a decent amount of award availability. Has anyone flown these yet from Flyertalk? I'm interested in any feedback..ie food in First or Coach..in flight entertainment..etc.

They have a sale from DCA-SJO for $300 including taxes, or I could go on United from philly (where i live) PHL-IAD-SJO on united for $300.

Any thoughts?

After this fare went from $300 to $500, i cashed in some miles. Has anyone flown on US to SJO yet?

I've wanted to. Does that count?

Guys-

I'm going there next Thurs. (Apr. 29) in F and will post a report when I'm able to.

Thanks. I just used a coach award, I will be curious for your report. The flight appeared to be wide open when I brought up a seating chart.

catwood-

Actually, my ticket was a premium coach award (no regular coach award availability), but the CP desk was able to upgrade me to F for all segments.
:D

I'll let you know what the loads look like in F and Y for my flights.

Got back from my SJO trip late last night due to a weather and a mechanical problem on the CLT-PHL flight, which is why I'm responding late.

I used a kiosk at the airport to check-in/print boarding passes for my flights. If you haven't used the kiosks for an international flight yet, there are only a few extra steps. You will be asked your first and last name, as well as your passport number. It will also ask if you want to leave an emergency contact.

The PHL-CLT leg on a 767 was fine. F was completely full and I'm sure Y was as well. The only downside of this segment was having seat 2C, so I couldn't look out the window.

Although the kiosk had noted that the right side of the plane in F was empty, all the seats were almost full at departure. There were 15 people in F and 75 in Y. A couple of the people in F were with US Airways and involved in Latin American planning. The meal choices included a fajita-type meal and I believe a beef meal. I settled on the fajita meal in order to get in the mood for SJO and I thought it was fine. Both included a salad with olive oil-vinaigrette dressing and a roll. Dessert was an XOXO bar. I thought we'd get a chocolate chip cookie after the meal service, but this did not happen on the outbound nor return legs. The aircraft was an A320 EOW.

San Jose's airport is pretty much centralized into what appears to be a brand-new terminal. There are only 6 gates, I believe, and US Airways uses gate 5. When we arrived there were a lot of TACA jets, as well as jets from American and Copa. The customs forms we were given on the plane seemed a little confusing, especially because it the wording seems to indicate that you must keep the completed form with you in your passport for the length of the stay. This didn't happen- the customs agent collected the forms and we were on our way. By the way, they had a number of agents manning the windows at the customs area and clearance couldn't have taken more than 10 min.

After clearing customs, you take an escalator down the baggage claim area to collect your bags. As you leave the baggage area, they run all of your belongings through an x-ray machine.

Rather than make this into a complete trip report, I'll just skip to the departure from SJO.

Upon arriving at the airport, we were instructed to turn right when we entered the terminal to pay a $27 departure tax. The tax can be paid with dollars, colones (the Costa Rican currency), a mix of the two currencies, or credit cards. I would advise against using a credit card, as I learned after the fact that it will be treated as a cash advance. For convenience, there is an ATM right next door to the payment area, so you could get dollars or colones as required.

Although we received a recommendation of returning to the airport 2 hours before departure for economy customers and 1.5 hours for first class customers, there was no line at the US Airways counters. Air Canada's counters are nearby, though I didn't see United's counters. Perhaps the two of them share and maybe US Airways will also share with those two. I arrived at the airport an hour ahead of departure and was in good shape. There was a very short line for security leading into their two x-ray machines/magnetometers.

On the concourse there are a couple of gift shops that you can visit to occupy your time, as well as a Church's Chicken and Burger King.

The outbound SJO-CLT segment on an A320 EOW was full again in F and probably equally packed in Y. I didn't hear the headcount this time because I was next to the window. The meal choices included chicken and rice and a ravioli meal. I took the former, as that is a fairly standard meal in Costa Rica (arroz con pollo). Dessert was what tasted like a peach pie/cake. Again, no chocolate chip cookie. We had a lot of turbulence over Florida as a storm was developing around TPA/RSW. The flight got to CLT on time and customs was a breeze.

The final CLT-PHL segment on an A321 was full in both F and Y. We departed late (originally scheduled for 7:55 PM, then moved to 8:25 PM, though we took off after 9:15 PM) due to weather in PHL and a mechanical on the plane. The snack basket was available for munchies. We got into PHL at around 10:15 PM and had to wait before moving to our gate due to construction on the apron between concourses B and C.

Would I go back?- I think I would. The weather was fine and it was nice seeing somewhere new. Everyone in Costa Rica is really friendly and the prices were reasonable. For a meal immediately upon arrival, I recommend going to RostiPollo's near the airport, next to the Hampton Inn.