Which airline to Cosat Rica?
 

I am about to plan a free trip in business class to Costa Rica from DC. The trip will be take place months from now.

I have enough miles for two tickets on Continental and on Delta. I also can do this on UAL (but will need to wait until 4/1 because for one ticket I will need my USAirways miles. Delta has the virtue of serving Liberia in addition to San Jose and seemingly the most direct route. Continental has the virtue of having flights in the morning (via Houston) or in the afternoon (via EWR). I'm leary of United because by the time I fly there's a chance they will have either terminated the service or gone totally belly up. Any recommendations on which airline?

[This message has been edited by prh (edited 02-16-2003).]

As you mentioned, DL is really the only choice into LIR, so if the NW portion of the country is your destination, that would probably be the wise choice.

Last time that I flew to Costa Rica on Continental (from IAH to SJC in January 2001), I got an upgrade to first class at the airport due to elite status. I was really excited since CO never provides international upgrades. Sadly I got on the plane and found out that Costa Rica is considered a "domestic" destination so the first class product was the exact same that I had been flying between Austin and Houston every weekend.

I'm not sure if Delta or United treat Costa Rica as domestic or international.

Have a great time in Costa Rica. We never made it to Liberia, but we had a great time in San Jose, Monteverde, and the Osa Peninsula. If you end up having to fly to San Jose instead of Liberia and you need a place to stay, I couldn't recommend Xandari (xandari.com) any more highly.


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My ex and I flew to Costa Rica in 1992, 1993, and 1995, all on free reward tickets on CO, back in the days when CO was a major player in Colorado. From what I recall, all three trips required only a 40,000 mile redemption for TWO reward tickets.

Back then, even with such low miles for redemption, SJO was not considered a "domestic" destination, so how can it be now, with normal fares always in the $500+ range?

During my last visit in 1995, I drove out
to the airport in Liberia, which was essentially completed, but was not in operation. It had a very small terminal building, which was being guarded by a single person. Was told something about the control tower having been built too close to the runway. Anyone have any info on the history of this airport?

DL treats Mexico and Canada as domestic, but C.R. is definately international upgrade rules. And FC is considered Business Class.

Don't have any info on the history of the airport, but I was there about a month ago. It's a very small, but efficient, international airport. Customs and baggage were handled very well, although they only had to deal with one plane. The airport will probably grow in size and flight activity as the pacific coast really booms with tourists in the near future.

Is Delta the only US airline that flies to Liberia? We are going to Playa Conchal next Feb. We were going to fly into San Jose and then drive the rest of the way. I understand it's about a 5 hr drive. Is that a bad idea?

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Pat

The DL flights were from ATL-LIR, and I believe on weekends only. I also think that NW had a 1x/week flight from MSP.
Tough to say who will be flying to LIR next February, but if I were staying at Playa Conchal, I'd definitely fly into LIR. LIR is less than an hour from the Pacific coast beaches, vs. 4+ hours from San Jose.


[This message has been edited by dave_261 (edited 02-17-2003).]

Do you know if you can rent a car at LIR?

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Pat

Yes. I think several of the majors (and some local rental companies) will rent from LIR. They don't actually have offices at the airport, but if you book in advance, they'll pick you up and shuttle you to the office. FYI, we rented from Dollar, and they were about 8 minutes from LIR. A Nissan Pathfinder for 8 full days, including the mandatory and optional insurance was $744 in high season. But if you're just driving from LIR to the beaches, you probably don't need a 4x4 vehicle, so you'd save some $$.

Thanks, Dave.

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Pat

We rented a car in San Jose to drive to Monteverde on the major highway that runs through Costa Rica (Interamericana 1 I think), which should be the same one that you'll be taking to Peninsula de Nicoya. About an hour outside of San Jose there was a bus wreck that stopped both directions of traffic. Everyone just parked their cars, got out, and mingled. After about 2 hours of waiting we decided to drive back to San Jose and spend the night. There may have been some smaller roads that we could have taken, but we were afraid of getting lost and being stuck in the middle of nowhere at night.

The drive to Monteverde ended up being exhilarating (the last hour or so was on unpaved road teetering on the edge of a mountain with occasional buses zooming by), but if your trip is short, you might want to consider alternate transportation...


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