Last week Air France revealed that it would add a couple of cool new routes this winter, which I’d sure love to fly as an avgeek. These routes are now on sale, so we have more details, including the schedules and how many miles are required for a ticket.
Continue reading: Air France’s Intriguing New Guadeloupe Routes
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Hello I believe they fly to/from MIAMI from POINTE A PITRE (AF616/617)
The plane based there is the F-HEPC
A thousand years ago (1973), I worked for the ground service company that handled the AF Island hopper at MIA. Flown daily with a Caravelle. Now, that’s a flight I would have loved to take…
Will be very curious as to pricing. I'm sure it won't be cheap, and that is when you will really miss Norwegian and their $140 RT fares down there from NY. The competition was great.
AF's island hopper is so fun! Be sure to sit on right hand side of the plane to have a great view of Port Au Prince + the Haitian mountainous regions.
@Bob yes Norwegian operated flights out of Guadeloupe and Martinique to New-York, Montréal and Boston. I always wondered how on earth AF or KLM did not operate these routes in winter since they probably have some spare planes during this season. Since there are open skies agreement between the EU and US/Canada, all European airlines could operate these routes. I'm sure KLM could find some with their Carabean overseas territories!
Hope that's a quick turnaround in Cayenne. I have not personally been, but I have heard it pretty rough there.
Bare in Mind YUL has a special area to link various flights ‘within’ France. The passenger do not enter Canada nor are they in transit
It allows the link for St Pierre and Migalon to CDG
Likely this will be the same.
The flight from Mia has existed for many years and we have done it often. The Airbus is not the most comfortable aircraft but at 6 hours to FDF It was ok. Typical AF the meals were better than most. Breakfast and lunch to Fort de France - pré covid.
AA from Miami is direct and just over 3 hours. Hopefully this option returns but was always more expensive than AF
The island-hopper reminds me of the old TACA "Central America hopper' which operated between Panama and Miami via San Jose, Managua, San Salvador, and Guatemala City in the early 1970's. What better way to spend a day! Unfortunately, airlines don't plan flights for avgeeks anymore.
I really hope the flight times are a lot better than Norwegian's were. I also wish the flight back to JFK returned on Sunday instead of Saturday. Better for a weekend away.
This may be good news for economy travelers but for those who fly business what kind of competition does Air France give here?
European-style business seats are a joke, certainly compared to Air Canada and even more jet blue which have excellent business seats
AF has two A320 (F-HEPB and F-HEPC) based in Guadeloupe (PTP) to operate its Caribbean regional routes. Service between PTP and ATL was a commercial failure has been terminated after few months. Air France has been operating these routes for decades.
Most jetblue aircraft do not have a business class / mint cabin. Those airplanes fly on very few selected routes. What makes you think they would fly it on that route?
Here is the issue why you may be holding off on the Milk Run to CAY.
1) Other than the Milk Run, the only other flights from CAY are to ORY and domestic within FG.
2) Yellow Fever vaccination is required. Not sure if you have already.
3) There does not seem to be any points options in FG.
For a route that's clearly leisure focused (regarding JFK), these times aren't really conducive to a weekend trip. The return to NYC would only be on Saturday or Wednesdays?
Cayenne is a delightful little French outpost in the tropics. I had a wonderful visit in 2012 - I traveled overland the lengths of the Guyanas from Macapá, Brazil to Georgetown, Guyana.
I have flown the AF A320's from Miami to PTP and back.
The aircraft were impeccably clan and well-maintained and the service was professional (if not effusive) from AF's Caribbean-based crews.
On my return trip, the island hopper made a stop in Port-au-Prince, Haiti where, although we were not allowed to get off the plane, we were inspected and questioned by local authorities (this was pre-pandemic).
On these two flights, almost all the passengers were Guadeloupeans.
Ben, can you please update the info for the Island Hopper in 2023? Does it still run?