With New Ways to Get to Palm Springs, Vail, the Caribbean, and More — Here Are the Airline Routes We're Most Excited About in December

03.12.2024 - 16:51 / travelandleisure.com

‘Tis the season for holiday escapes. Airlines are lining up new flights for sun and snow lovers alike just in time for Christmas.

In Travel + Leisure’s latest highlights of the most exciting new routes, December has carriers big and small kicking off dozens of new routes to the Caribbean, the South Pacific, desert abodes, and snowy mountains.

Delta Air Lines and Fiji Airways are debuting two new nonstop options to the South Pacific and Australia. Delta is the latest U.S. airline (after American Airlines in October) to land in Brisbane, the sunny capital of Queensland. The SkyTeam Alliance member will connect Los Angeles and Brisbane on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays with its flagship Airbus A350 beginning Dec. 4. The nearly 15-hour flight departs Los Angeles at 11:05 p.m. and lands in Brisbane just before 8 a.m. two days later. Economy fares start at around $1,000 one way.

Fiji Airways, a new member of the Oneworld airline confab, will connect the alliance’s largest hub, Dallas-Fort Worth, to the airline’s namesake island beginning Dec. 10. That gives anyone flying American’s broad domestic network easy access to the South Pacific island — and some of the best resorts in the region. The nearly 14-hour flight departs DFW at 9:55 p.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, and lands in Fiji at 5:20 a.m. two days later. Economy fares start at $529 one way.

American, Delta, and United Airlines are adding multiple new routes for beachgoers this holiday season. Some highlights include American’s expansion to Saint Vincent in the Caribbean with new Saturday-only nonstops from its Charlotte and New York JFK hubs beginning Dec. 7. Flights depart Charlotte around 9 a.m. and New York around 8 a.m. for the several-hour trip to the Caribbean island. Economy fares on the New York route begin at $198 one way.

And that’s not all from American. The airline will connect La Romana in the Dominican Republic to its Miami hub with daily flights from Dec. 5. Flights depart Miami around 10:30 a.m. and land on the island two-hours-and-forty-minutes later. Economy fares start as low as $129 one way.

Delta returns to the Mexican beach town of Mazatlan after an extended pandemic hiatus. The airline will connect the Pacific-coast city with Minneapolis-St. Paul on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from Dec. 19, and with Los Angeles on Saturdays from Dec. 21. Flights depart Minneapolis a little after 10 a.m. and land in Mazatlan just over four hours later; and Los Angeles at 11:05 a.m. and land nearly three hours later.

And United will link Port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago to its Newark hub beginning Dec. 19. The daily flights will depart Newark at 7 p.m. and land in Port of Spain five hours later just after 1 a.m.

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