luggage restrictions | ticketing | airports | flights worth taking | charters | recommended
Prices have definitely increased on average since the lengthy competition between Sansa and Nature Air ended. You can still find flights worth taking in Costa Rica but it may take more looking.
Puddle Jumper Flights In Costa Rica
SANSA has been in service since 1978 as part of the TACA Airlines regional airline system. It is owned by the national carrier Avianca Costa Rica (formerly and aka LACSA).
SANSA uses versions of the 14 passenger single engine Cessna 208 Grand Caravan.
Generally flights range from $40-$180 each way (there may be additional fees). All airlines also offer charter services to all of the airports they normally serve plus others lacking scheduled flights. The “national” airline, SANSA is consistently a couple dollars cheaper, but probably not enough to influence a choice between the two.
Note: The premium tourist airline, NatureAir, ceased operations in January 2018 and a pack of newcomers arrived for the 2019 travel season just in time to be devastated by Covid. Only Green Airways has survived. Aerobell, SkyWay, and TAC all suspended scheduled flights indefinitely in 2020 and show no signs of revival by the end of 2023.
luggage restrictions | ticketing | airports | flights worth taking | charters
There are Two San José Domestic Airports
Depending on which airline your domestic flight is on it will depart from one of San José’s two airports.
Aerobell & TAG fly out of Tobias Bolaños airport north of Pavas. SANSA, Green and SkyWay fly out of a new domestic terminal at Juan Santamaría (SJO) International Airport south of Alajuela.
SJO is more convenient if you’re connecting with a international carrier but we like some things at Tobias Bolaños.
Bigger isn’t necessarily better. Tobias Bolaños is tiny – one room and you breeze through ticketing, check in and security.
Last time we landed at SJO on a regional flight from Panama the 10 passengers from our plane were stuck in immigration for a couple of hours since jumbo jets carrying 250 passengers each from Miami, Houston, L.A. and New York had arrived a few minutes earlier.
There are no rental cars at either airport; all agencies are at satellite locations between the two airports. There are information desks and regular shuttles from SJO to the rental agency lots but you’ll either need to arrange a pickup or take a taxi from Tobias Bolaños
Check your airports carefully. A taxi ride between the two airports costs around $20 and takes about 20 minutes without traffic which could stretch it to well over an hour some times of day.
luggage restrictions | ticketing | airports | flights worth taking | charters
Ticketing & Reservations
All of Costa Rica’s domestic flights require payment in full to reserve a seat. There are no refunds and most flights are sold out. If you miss a flight you’ll probably have to find your own alternative transportation (rental car, public bus, or shuttle).
If a flight is cancelled due to weather, mechanical problems, or regulatory issues passengers will often be transported by shuttle van instead. If ground transportation or a later flight cannot be arranged passengers will be offered credit towards future flights but most tourists won’t be around to use the credit.
luggage restrictions | ticketing | airports | flights worth taking | charters
Luggage Restrictions on Costa Rican Airlines
In the past the domestic luggage restrictions were pretty straightforward. Each passenger was limited to 25 lbs total…no sneaking on a personal item, no wardrobe sized carry-on.
Now there’s a spectrum of rules depending on which airline you fly and how much you spend on your ticket. The basic assumption that you’ll need a significantly trimmed down packing list compared to the allowances for an international flight is still valid but you may be able to buy more bag space.
All passengers are also required to step on a scale before boarding the plane. Accurate weights are required in order to safely balance the payload and to ensure the plane has enough power to take off and land. You will not be excused.
If the total payload exceeds safe limits all of the airlines reserve the right to leave any or all of the luggage behind. It will be transported by van or on a later flight and will catch up with you in a day or two.
luggage restrictions | ticketing | airports | flights worth taking | charters
Our Recommendations
Unfortunately our go to local airline for reliability and high quality service, NatureAir, went out of business.
There’s not enough data yet to make a judgement on the other four airlines. They are all trying to ramp up during peak travel season starting in December 2018 which could prove a challenging time to be getting a new business off the ground. None of them will be fully operational on all their planned routes before mid to late 2019. Once there’s some info and we’ve taken a flight or two we’ll update our personal recommendation but for now all we can say is cross your fingers and if things go sideways remember it’s all Pura Vida!
SANSA
Operating a full schedule from SJO to Golfito, Puerto Jiménez (Osa) Quepos (Manuel Antonio), Drake (Corcovado), Tambor (Santa Teresa), Nosara, Tamarindo, Liberia, Limón, Tortuguero and Arenal (La Fortuna).
All flights either originate or terminate at SJO. There are no flights between any of the destinations.
We have worked with SANSA for over a decade and flown them a few times. As long as nothing unexpected comes up SANSA is great. However if a situation arises that requires communication or consideration their quality score plummets. Customer service is not their strong suit and until Nature Air went out of business we avoided SANSA.
Green Airways
Green Airways is the scheduled carrier arm of Carmon Air a longtime charter operator. The Green reservation calendar has been reduced due to Covid and currently Tambor and Quepos are the only destinations offered.
For several years they have announced then delayed plans to offer daily flights from SJO to Nosara, Puerto Jimenez (Osa Peninsula), Golfito, Liberia (LIR international airport) and Tamarindo. We’re not holding our breath for the 2024 high season.
If you are headed to Tambor (gateway to Santa Teresa) it may be a good choice. Flights priced from $85-$150 are on the expensive side, however the luggage allowance is extremely liberal with the first 40 lb bag and one surfboard included for free.
Definitely the winner in the “best website” category if that counts for anything.
Adventure Air Charters
Adventure air doesn’t have scheduled flights but focuses on an extensive list of charters. Sample pricing for a few flights is shown in the table below
| 5 passengers | 12 passengers | ||
| San Jose | La Fortuna | $840.00 | $1,866.00 |
| San Jose | Drake | $1,250.00 | $2,562.00 |
| San Jose | Tamarindo | $1,414.00 | $2,912.00 |
| Fortuna | Quepos | $1,312.00 | $2,614.00 |
| Fortuna | Liberia | $1,674.00 | $3,260.00 |
| Fortuna | Tortuguero | $1,579.00 | $2,614.00 |
| Fortuna | Drake | $1,682.00 | $3,661.00 |
Some of the most attractive charter options are flights that aren’t on regular schedules like La Fortuna (Arenal Volcano) to Drake Bay (Corcovado) or directly to Quepos (Manuel Antonio). Scheduled flights all go through San Jose where you change planes. See other charter flight options for Costa Rica.
Adventure Air contacted us to announce that they’re planning to begin service directly to Sirena Station in the heart of Corcovado National Park late in 2022. It’s definitely an adventure. We landed on the grass strip after making a low pass to scare off the iguanas and other wildlife and it was one of the highlights of our most recent trek across the Osa.
Aerobell Airline – AKA Macaw Airline
2023 – All scheduled flights remain suspended with no resumption date. Limited charters are available
Started in 1988 with small plane and helicopter charters they were first to jump into the gap opened by NatureAir’s demise. Aerobell has a good head start on the competition successfully operating flights to their core destinations since July 2018.
They had the most restrictive weight limit charging $2 per pound for anything over 20lbs on their economy tickets. Visit their website or call (560) 4000-2030 for information on charter flights.
Aerobell/Macaw has long promised scheduled flights to Liberia, Golfito, Bocas del Toro Panama would be added “in the near future.” No actual dates or information is available.
SkyWay
2023 – All flights remain suspended with no resumption date.
Operations began in late August 2018 when SkyWay began taking reservations for flights commencing late November to the Osa, La Fortuna, Quepos and Tamarindo. They also list service to Bocas del Toro Panama but the reservations systems showed “no flights available” for each date we checked through July 2019…you may have to call.
At $200-$300 round trip from San José to the Osa, Skyway has similar prices to the other carriers but promises a 40lb baggage allowance rather than the standard 20-30lbs. SkyWay informed us that they will operate out of SJO joining SANSA in the new domestic terminal. Visit their website for reservations SkyWay
Sky Way made it through their first high season with flying colors. We talked with a couple of people who took advantage of their $40 introductory fares and said the equipment and service was great.
Below is a video we shot of a SkyWay plane taking off from the “new” Quepos/Manuel Antonio airport. The dirt runway is a result of some questionable accounting that left the airport in worse condition than it was before remaining closed for almost a year for a million dollar renovation.
TAG/TAC Airlines
2023 – All flights remain suspended with no resumption date.
TAC Airlines Costa Rica will be the local branch of TAGuatemala which has provided scheduled domestic flight service in that country for fifty years. They look to serve Liberia (from $135), Tambor (from $91), Quepos (Manuel Antonio, from $64), Drake (Corcovado, from $144) and Puerto Jimenez (Osa, from $144). They operate from Tobias Bolaños Airport in Pavas instead of Juan Santamaría in Alajuela.
No flight schedule or reservations were available on the website. There is simply an e-mail address info@tac.cr where you can submit requests and a notice (over one year old) that says “Very soon on line reservations will be available.”
Nature Air
February 2020 – The hoped for rebirth never materialized. Nature Air is gone.
Update June 2019 – One and a half years after shutting down Nature Air has made a financial settlement with Lloyd’s of London and announced that they are seeking financing and accepting job applications for all positions in hopes of eventually resuming operations. No new information was provided about refunds for flights canceled in 2018.
The government prosecutor dropped the criminal negligence case against the airline. The Guanacaste Public Ministry stated that the accused person died [the pilot] and the investigation into the criminal case is extinguished. There was no comment concerning allegations that administrative, training and maintenance issues may have played a role.