Nassau or Miami for flight back to the UK

[omniflow]

For the final leg of our holiday to celebrate my Wife's 60th Birthday, we have settled on the Bahamas. I'm aware of the current US and UK govt warnings, but we'll be staying on one of the "Out Islands" (I may be using incorrect terminology here - apologies if I am), so I am relatively unconcerned by this.

However, staying on either Exuma or Eleuthera means that we will need to take an internal flight (or ferry) to an international airport. Also, being me, this means that we're not catching that internal flight on the same day as our homeward flight - just too much uncertainty - not the way I want to end a holiday.

I'm assuming that having started our trip in the US, and flown to the Bahamas from New Orleans (via either Miami or Ft. Lauderdale), we will already be "in the US" from an immigration perspective, however this is currently just a massive assumption on my part.

Now, on to the question. Do we fly home from Miami or from Nassau? We will be flying Upper Class with Virgin, but the tickets will be booked with Airmiles, so I am assuming zero flexibility - we have to catch the flight that we originally booked (unless they make changes).

Virgin fly from Nassau 3 times a week, but I can make the timings work. We would probably fly into Nassau on the Friday, spend 2 nights there and then fly home on the Sunday night. The lounge at Nassau looks really basic and the plane leaves at 8:30pm, which means it's a bit late to have dinner after take-off.

There are 2 flights a day from Miami, one of which is early evening (around 6pm), which would mean we could enjoy an evening on the plane before grabbing a few hours sleep. We are both retired and quite happy to spend a few days recovering once we get home, so maximising sleep on the flight isn't a priority.

My current thinking is that I would prefer to take the early evening flight from Miami, but I would also prefer to have a couple of days in Nassau before we leave, rather than a couple of days in Miami. In theory we could fly from the "Out Islands" to Nassau, spend a couple of days in Nassau, then fly to Miami on the day we fly home. The logic being that flights from Nassau to the US are much more frequent and less likely to be disrupted than flights from the "Out Islands" - however I would need to dig a lot deeper into this to convince myself that nothing will go wrong.

Is there anything I haven't considered, or should I just flip a coin?

[recordman]

Before thinking about it much further, have you checked to see if there's likely to be seats available for miles redemptions?

[omniflow]

recordman said:

Before thinking about it much further, have you checked to see if there's likely to be seats available for miles redemptions?

I will be booking them on the day they're released - so 331 days in advance. I know that this doesn't guarantee availability, but it does maximise my chances.

[captain_cynic]

Going via Miami means entering and leaving the US. Prepare for a long line to leave and an even longer line to enter.

Chances are your baggage won't be interlined meaning you'll need to pick it up and recheck it. AFAIK only American Airlines does international baggage transfer at MIA and only to/from some destinations (LHR is one of).

I'd plan about 4 hours if going via miami or give Miami a miss.

[Bonefish Blues]

NAS all day long, as long as you don't expect to be entertained at the airport (although it's a lot better than it used to be!) MIA is always a bunfight and Immigration is legendary for all the wrong reasons.

ETA
Good choice to swing into the Bahamas by the way - my favourite part of the world.

[recordman]

omniflow said:

recordman said:

Before thinking about it much further, have you checked to see if there's likely to be seats available for miles redemptions?

I will be booking them on the day they're released - so 331 days in advance. I know that this doesn't guarantee availability, but it does maximise my chances.

You're much more highly organised than me!

Whatever you decide, have a great time and many congratulations to Mrs omniflow in advance!

[Saleen836]

omniflow said:

recordman said:

Before thinking about it much further, have you checked to see if there's likely to be seats available for miles redemptions?

I will be booking them on the day they're released - so 331 days in advance. I know that this doesn't guarantee availability, but it does maximise my chances.

You are aware Virgn changed how many reward seats are available for each flight?

They also now have this... https://travelplus.virginatlantic.com/reward-fligh... (if you didn't already know)

It can be hit and miss though and some days show no flights but a call to Virgin and they will say there are reward flights on that day

[omniflow]

Saleen836 said:

You are aware Virgn changed how many reward seats are available for each flight?

They also now have this... https://travelplus.virginatlantic.com/reward-fligh... (if you didn't already know)

It can be hit and miss though and some days show no flights but a call to Virgin and they will say there are reward flights on that day

Yup - using a companion voucher, so will need to call them anyway. Also flying out to one airport and back from another. I've called them and checked exactly what the process is (as far as I can) and also checked exactly how many miles I will need. If you're basic level (Red) then the companion voucher only gives 50% of the miles needed for an Upper Class companion ticket. I need to book the outbound when they're released, and then a month later call them again and add the inbound flights to the same transaction.

The helpline is staffed 24 hours a day, and appears to be based in the UK (Wales probably from the accents). The people I've spoken to have be massively helpful. I also learned that each destination is released at a random time every day. Looking at the reward seat checker for early Jan 2025 for Las Vegas, most days that have been released already have 2 Upper Class reward seats available, so I am pretty hopeful that I'll be able to grab what I need.