The United States Embassy in Costa Rica has coordinated with Spirit Airlines to offer a repatriation flight from Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO) near San José to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (FLL) on Wednesday, June 24.
According to the U.S. Embassy, Spirit will offer same-day connections from its Florida hub to New York City (LaGuardia) and Atlantic City, New Jersey.
United Airlines also continues its regular repatriation flights from Costa Rica to Houston.
Below is the alert from the U.S. Embassy:
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The U.S. Embassy in San José and the U.S. State Department have coordinated with Spirit Airlines to offer a commercial repatriation flight from Juan Santamaria Airport (SJO), Costa Rica, to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida (IAH) on Wednesday, June 24, 2020. The flight will depart SJO at 12:55pm and arrive at FLL at 5:46pm.
United also continues to offer commercial repatriation flights from Juan Santamaria Airport (SJO), Costa Rica to Houston, Texas (IAH) through June 30.
The U.S. Embassy is not able to assist with arranging onward travel from Ft. Lauderdale or Houston. Please visit www.spirit.com or www.united.com for further information regarding availability and connections.
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Aeris, which operated Juan Santamaría Airport, says Spirit will also offer a repatriation flight on June 29, though that has not been confirmed by the U.S. Embassy or the airline.
As of press time, tickets for the June 24 flight to Fort Lauderdale start at $310 for the one-way trip. Full-size carry-on bags, checked bags and seat selection all cost extra on Spirit.
Spirit’s website does not show tickets available for the outbound flight from the U.S. to Costa Rica.
Passengers taking the repatriation flight will be required to wear face masks. The airline is waiving change and cancellation fees for all flights booked through June 29, 2020.
Other than the repatriation flights, regular commercial offerings between the United States and Costa Rica have ceased. No U.S. based airline plans to offer service to Costa Rica until at least July.