Sky High Tickets on American Airlines

By Deandrea Hamilton & Dana Malcolm

Editorial Staff

#TurksandCaicos, October 13, 2022 – An astronomical surge in the cost of airline travel during October on American Airlines has Turks and Caicos residents looking to other carriers for a more reasonable rate.  But there is more about which to be concerned than just switching airlines in order to get the US… firstly there is a confidence the Turks and Caicos as a tourism destination can feel about the high demand for a TCI Vacation but on the flip side, the price of the airline ticket could be off-putting to travelers signally the islands are simply out of reach financially.

On American Airlines, it is thousands more dollars to travel to Providenciales than the other hotspots in the Caribbean region.  Our newsroom ran the comparison ourselves and found, travel in early October to the Turks and Caicos costs as much as $2,000 to $6,000 plus round trip – and that’s for seating in the main cabin.  When we crosschecked the cost on American to Nassau, Bahamas – the price was under $500; flying to Montego Bay in Jamaica on American bottoms out at $430; going to Barbados on American Airlines, that flight is steep at just over $900 but still far less than the $6,135 we were fed in flight search last night if you wanted to fly American to Providenciales during mid-October.

Tourism officials are aware and have reached out to American Airlines about the unsettlingly high airline ticket prices.  Josephine Connolly, Minister of Tourism for the Turks and Caicos Islands informed AA had agreed to adjust the ticket costs.  It was the same comment from Executive Director of the TCHTA Stacy Cox.

A more recent check on the ticketing from American Airlines website showed rates still in the thousands of dollars.

A passenger seeking a round trip ticket on American from Miami this Friday October 14 in the main cabin would have to pay $4,138 for a 15 hour journey with one layover.

The prices fluctuated significantly but most of them were above the $4,000 dollar mark.

Demand and sold out flights have been listed as the reason for the astronomical spike in airline tickets to Providenciales.

TCI Tourism officials are unhappy about the rates but seem helpless to do anything about it.

Travel Pulse on Wednesday reported international airfares are expected to average $795 for a roundtrip flight during the upcoming holiday season. That’s up 25 percent from 2019 and due largely to inflation.  Thankfully, American Airlines tickets begin to plummet in pricing once you get to November; air travel to Provo via AA in early November ranges from $300 to $700 and by December, the cost of roundtrip tickets is between $600 and $1000.  Still if you book on October 1^st… you would have to pay around $2,469 for the nonstop 1 hour 54-minute flight linking Providenciales to Miami, Florida.