St. Martin deals available this summer and fall

It’s home to what some consider the world’s best place for plane-spotting, but it has so much more to offer. The Caribbean island of St. Martin is full of wonderful beaches and great resorts, and in a year where great airfare deals are harder to come by, you can get there affordably over the coming months.

While the top of your trip bucket list might well include sitting on Maho Beach watching large jets fly right overhead just before landing at Princess Juliana International Airport (SXM), the island is full of reasons to visit.

Despite warnings that inflation could make airfare deals harder to come by, we found opportunities to not just visit this Caribbean destination affordably – but to do it right away. In fact, depending on where you live, you can start packing.

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Looking to spend miles instead of cash? There are some great deals to be had on that front, too.

Scott’s Cheap flights was first to point out the great airfares to the island from several U.S. cities, some of which can be found in the early part of summer, with more options this fall and beyond. The site offers a premium membership alerting readers on discounted fares, with subscriptions starting at $49 per year for economy deals and $199 for an elite membership, which also includes first, business and premium economy deals.

Related: How to fly between St. Maarten and Anguilla

Deal basics

Airlines: American, JetBlue, Delta, United, Spirit, Frontier

Routes: JFK/LGA/EWR/BDL/MIA/BOS/BNA to SXM

How to book: Directly through the airlines or Google Flights

Travel dates: June 2022 for some cities, plus August through November 2022, and January 2023 and beyond

Sample flights

The deals that caught our eyes involved round trips to St. Martin in the $250 to $350 range. However, if your departure city isn’t included in this story, it’s worth noting that there are a number of cities with round trips in the $400 to $450 range, which of course isn’t as good a deal, but is far better than you might find for much of 2022, when prices can often be $500 or more for a round trip.

One of the best parts about this deal is that for some of these cities, it gives you the chance to fill out your summer travel schedule with affordable airfare leaving within the next couple of weeks. In some cases, you might be able to get the trip for a good miles redemption, too.

Nearly all the cities involved, though, had options as we got into the fall months – September, October, early November, and then after the holiday season.

Here are just a few of the itinerary options we found:

• Newark (EWR) to St. Martin (SXM) for $298 on JetBlue
• New Yok-LaGuardia (LGA) to St. Martin (SXM) for $310 or 20,000 AAdvantage miles on American
• Boston (BOS) to St. Martin (SXM) for $318 on American
• Fort Lauderdale (FLL) to St. Martin (SXM) for $225 on Spirit
• Nashville (BNA) to St. Martin (SXM) for $278 on American
• Hartford (BDL) to St. Martin (SXM) for $319 or 11,000 SkyMiles on Delta

Let’s start with an option out of the New York area you might want to book right away since it’s both a good deal in 2022 and a trip that’s right – and we mean right – around the corner. You’d leave next weekend on JetBlue , departing out of Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR). The four-hour, nonstop flight gets you to St. Martin mid day, with the whole round trip going for just under $300.

Prices appear to be going up as the summer goes on, so while conventional wisdom tells you that you won’t save money by booking a flight just a week out, in this case it appears you can.

Travelers leaving from Nashville (BNA) can get some of the best deals on legacy U.S. carriers. You can fly round trip to St. Martin for $278 on American, making a stop each way in Charlotte (CLT).

You won’t find fares at the lower end of this deal spectrum departing from Boston (BOS) but you can still find round trips in the $300 to $350 range out of Logan International. Google Flights suggested the cheapest option for this particularly fall week included separate bookings for the outbound and return flights – American on the way to St. Martin (with a layover in Charlotte) and Delta (through Atlanta) on the way home.

We also tracked down some decent mileage options for those looking to save the cash and spend miles this year.

Out of New York, for instance, while many of the options to St. Martin this year involved round trip fares in the 40,000 to 50,000-mile range, there are quite a few options this fall to get round trips for 20,000 AAdvantage miles – 10,000 miles each way, as shown on this American award calendar.

That’s not the most earth-shattering fare ever – it’s worth about $354, according to TPG’s valuations. At the same time, it's a web special that gets you well below American's award chart standard mileage rate for flight to the Caribbean.

One of the better mileage deals to St. Martin this year involved flightsmout of Nashville, but on Delta Air Lines. You can get to the island and back for 12,000 SkyMiles in September.

Related: How to use Google Flights to plan your next trip

Maximize your purchase

Paying with The Platinum Card from American Express gets you 5 points per dollar on flights booked through the airline or American Express Travel (capped at $500,000 in purchases per calendar). You can also get 3 points per dollar with the American Express Gold Card on flights booked directly with the carrier or Amex Travel. The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card gets you 5 points per dollar on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards. The If you’re flying Delta and staying at a major hotel on the island, you might consider the DeltaSkyMiles Platinum American Express Card, which gets you 3 points per dollar on Delta purchases, and those made directly with hotels.

Bottom line

Finding affordable summer travel at this stage in the season isn’t an easy undertaking, which makes this deal all the more intriguing. Whether you’re looking to get cheap cash fares or find a worthy redemption, booking a getaway to St. Martin this summer or fall might be the right trip for you in 2022 or early 2023.