Cost of a flight to the Caribbean over the peak Christmas travelling season compared.

The question is how practical is it to use an alternate carrier who will first fly you to their hub airport (KLM/Amsterdam; Lufthansa/Munich; Aer Lingus/Dublin etc) with their much longer in-transit times.  Surprisingly, it could be worth considering expecially if you have to factor in journey times to Heathrow/Gatwick.

Consider the following itenerary

For a party of 3 as part of the above booking the basic flight is £3,033.00. The total with taxes and charges as itemised below come to £4,197.24

Charges applied to a typical flight on BA

Now consider one example of the xml returned from an api call using Amadeus' flight search service.

(amadeus) [ec2-user@ip-172-31-12-162 amadeus-flight-booking-django]$ python api/flight_offers_search.py | sed  s/\'\/\"\/g | sed s/False/\"False\"/g | sed s/True/\"True\"/g |jq . |more

[

  {

    "type": "flight-offer",

    "id": "1",

    "source": "GDS",

    "instantTicketingRequired": "False",

    "nonHomogeneous": "False",

    "oneWay": "False",

    "isUpsellOffer": "False",

    "lastTicketingDate": "2025-12-19",

    "lastTicketingDateTime": "2025-12-19",

    "numberOfBookableSeats": 4,

    "itineraries": [

      {

        "duration": "PT25H10M",

        "segments": [

          {

            "departure": {

              "iataCode": "BHX",

              "at": "2025-12-19T20:45:00"

            },

            "arrival": {

              "iataCode": "AMS",

              "at": "2025-12-19T23:00:00"

            },

            "carrierCode": "KL",

            "number": "1050",

            "aircraft": {

              "code": "E7W"

            },

            "operating": {

              "carrierName": "KLM CITYHOPPER"

            },

            "duration": "PT1H15M",

            "id": "1",

            "numberOfStops": 0,

            "blacklistedInEU": "False"

          },

          {

            "departure": {

              "iataCode": "AMS",

              "at": "2025-12-20T10:40:00"

            },

            "arrival": {

              "iataCode": "POS",

              "at": "2025-12-20T17:55:00"

            },

            "carrierCode": "KL",

            "number": "775",

            "aircraft": {

              "code": "332"

            },

            "operating": {

              "carrierCode": "KL"

            },

            "duration": "PT12H15M",

            "stops": [

              {

                "iataCode": "SXM",

                "duration": "PT1H20M",

                "arrivalAt": "2025-12-20T14:55:00",

                "departureAt": "2025-12-20T16:15:00"

              }

            ],

            "id": "2",

            "numberOfStops": 1,

            "blacklistedInEU": "False"

          }

        ]

      },

    "price": {

      "currency": "GBP",

      "total": "3430.56",

      "base": "2238.00",

      "fees": [

        {

          "amount": "0.00",

          "type": "SUPPLIER"

        },

        {

          "amount": "0.00",

          "type": "TICKETING"

        }

      ],

      "grandTotal": "3430.56",

      "additionalServices": [

        {

          "amount": "129.60",

          "type": "CHECKED_BAGS"

        }

      ]

    },

    "travelerPricings": [

      {

        "travelerId": "1",

        "fareOption": "STANDARD",

        "travelerType": "ADULT",

        "price": {

          "currency": "GBP",

          "total": "1143.52",

          "base": "746.00"

        },

        "fareDetailsBySegment": [

          {

            "segmentId": "1",

            "cabin": "ECONOMY",

            "fareBasis": "KGQ0ABLA",

            "brandedFare": "LIGHT",

            "brandedFareLabel": "ECONOMY LIGHT",

            "class": "K",

            "includedCheckedBags": {

              "quantity": 0

            },

            "includedCabinBags": {

              "quantity": 1

            },

            "amenities": [

              {

                "description": "CHECKED BAG 1PC OF 23KG 158CM",

                "isChargeable": "True",

                "amenityType": "BAGGAGE",

                "amenityProvider": {

                  "name": "BrandedFare"

                }

              },