Countries continue to reopen to U.S. travelers, including several Caribbean and Central American destinations within a four-hour flight of the United States: Costa Rica, Panama and Grenada.
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We’ve published multiple reopening guides for these destinations in recent weeks, and these airfares are priced to entice through the 2020 holidays and beyond.
Most airlines are flexible with booking right now, such as waived change fees. However, you’ll want to keep track of the airline cancellation policies and any coronavirus-related updates, and keep in mind that most waived fees don’t apply to basic economy.
Related: How to defeat basic economy
To search, head to Google Flights and enter your origin and destination cities. Scroll through the calendar function to find dates and prices that work for you. Finally, click through to book directly with the airline or through an OTA like Priceline or Expedia.
Airlines: Spirit, COPA, JetBlue, Delta
Routes: Various U.S. mainland airports to GND/SJO/LIR/PTY/PAC
Cost: from $171 round trip in basic economy
Travel Dates: October 2020 to April 2021
Pay With: The Platinum Card® from American Express (5x on flights booked directly with airlines or American Express Travel; on up to $500,000 on these purchases per calendar year, starting Jan. 1, 2021), Citi Prestige® Card (5x on airfare), Citi Premier® Card (3x on airfare), Chase Sapphire Reserve (3x on travel), American Express® Gold Card (3x on airfare booked directly with the airline or amextravel.com) or the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card (2x on travel)
The information for the Citi Prestige and Citi Premier card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Here’s an example of what you can book:
Chicago (ORD) to Panama City (PTY) for $171 round trip on Spirit:
San Francisco (SFO) to San José, Costa Rica (SJO) for $220 round trip on COPA:
Newark (EWR) to San José, Costa Rica (SJO) for $239 round trip on JetBlue:
Miami (MIA) to Panama City, Panama (PTY) for $243 round trip on Star Alliance carriers:
New York (JFK) to Grenada (GND) for $287 round trip on JetBlue:
Dallas (DFW) to Liberia, Costa Rica (LIR) for $365 round trip on Delta:
Maximize your purchase
Don’t forget to use a credit card that earns additional points on airfare purchases, such as The Platinum Card® from American Express (5x on flights booked directly with airlines or American Express Travel) (5x on flights up to $500,000 beginning Jan. 1, 2021), Citi Prestige® Card (5x on airfare), Chase Sapphire Reserve, American Express® Gold Card, Citi Premier® Card (3x on airfare) or the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card (2x on all travel purchases). Check out this post for more on maximizing airfare purchases.
Stay Safe!!