Dominican Republic-based low cost carrier Arajet has finally started accepting bookings to a number of destinations out of Santo Domingo (SDQ).
To celebrate its booking launch, the airline is offering significant discounts on all its routes during the introductory period with some base fares as low as US $1 each way if you book the airline’s cheapest “Smart” fare (taxes and other fees still apply separately). Round trip tickets with the bottom tier class between Santo Domingo and Cancun or Aruba for instance run for just $150, but at the expense of flying with just a personal item only. Let’s get into the route network first and then break down the fare options.
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Arajet route network from September 2022
Bookings have now opened, with the first batch of scheduled flights expected to depart Santo Domingo from September 15, 2022.
- Santo Domingo – Aruba (AUA) – effective September 16, 2022 – 2 times weekly
- Santo Domingo – Barranquilla (BAQ) – effective September 15, 2022 – 3 times weekly
- Santo Domingo – Cali (CLO) – effective September 15, 2022 – 3 times weekly
- Santo Domingo – Cancun (CUN) – effective September 30, 2022 – 3 times weekly
- Santo Domingo – Cartagena (CTG) – effective September 18, 2022 – 2 times weekly
- Santo Domingo – Curacao (CUR) – effective September 18, 2022 – 2 times weekly
- Santo Domingo – Guatemala City (GUA) – effective September 28, 2022 – 2 times weekly
- Santo Domingo – Lima (LIM) – effective September 18, 2022 – 2 times weekly
- Santo Domingo – Mexico City Santa Lucia (NLU) – effective September 22, 2022 – 3 times weekly
- Santo Domingo – Monterrey (MTY) – effective September 30, 2022 – 2 times weekly
- Santo Domingo – St. Maarten (SXM) – effective September 17, 2022 – 2 times weekly
- Santo Domingo – San Jose, Costa Rica (SJO) – effective October 8, 2022- 5 time weekly
- Santo Domingo – San Salvador (SAL) – effective September 17, 2022 – 2 times weekly
Bogota was also expected to be part of the initial batch of destinations, but was not available at the time of publication. Flights to North America, Jamaica, Costa Rica and addition cities in Colombia are expected to be added to the schedule in October 2022. Initial plans also included routes to Cuba, Trinidad, Guadeloupe and Haiti, but it is unclear if and when those will come on stream, or if they will remain as charter destinations.
Arajet fare class explained
Like other low cost carriers such as Easyjet, Ryanair, Spirit and other names, Arajet offers plans to suit various low cost budgets. The airline will offer three options: Smart, Comfort and Extra.
Smart fare
- One personal item
- Online check in – Opens 48 hours before and not applicable if you are checking a bag (same for all three fares).
Comfort fare
- One personal item
- Online check in
- 1x checked bag up to 20kg
- Flight changes – one free change allowed, with expectation to pay fare difference. Further changes will incur additional penalties.
- Seat selection – for rows 16 through 32
Extra fare
- One personal item
- Online check in
- 1x checked bag up to 20kg
- 1x carry-on bag
- Flight changes – three free changes allowed, with expectation to pay fare difference. Further changes will incur additional penalties.
- Seat selection – for rows 3 through 32
- Priority access – Separate check in lines and priority boarding at the gate
If you travel low cost, the categories seem all too familiar. Annoyingly the Comfort fare favors checked bags over carry-on bags, which only come free if you book the Extra fare. Once the discounted period is over, we will truly see what Smart fares are like compared to the two higher tiers. After a bit of playing around, Extra fares were about US $100 more than Comfort (so far).
The allowed carry-on bag size seems to be more generous than major U.S. airlines, sizing up at 22 x 18 x 10 inches, thanks to the larger overhead bins on their 737 MAX 8s. For comparison, American carry-on bags are limited to 22 x 14 x 9 inches due to varying overhead bin allowances across its fleet.
[Featured Photo: Arajet/Facebook]
