I know most families are still recovering from this year’s spring break trips and are focused on getting through the rest of the school year. But, now is the perfect time to start booking award flights for Spring Break 2026. Sure, it seems early. But, the early bird catches the worm, right? Most international airlines release flight schedules ~12 months in advance, and US domestic airlines release around ~11 months in advance.
Booking Award Flights from DFW to St. Maarten (Caribbean island)
My family decided to spend Spring Break 2026 in St. Maarten. The beaches have clear, beautiful water, and the accommodations are more affordable than some other Caribbean islands. I booked a condo on vrbo that is fully refundable up until a few weeks prior to our trip. Unlike our cruise vacation from last month, we have more flexibility in our travel dates with this vacation. That makes booking award flights a bit easier.
There are no nonstop flights between DFW and SXM (SXM is the famous airport in St. Maarten where jets fly directly over a public beach right before landing). So, I knew we’d have at least one stopover.
After looking at award availability every day for the past week, I was amazed to find flights on AA.com for just 10k miles per person:
That is a great deal! We have a layover in Charlotte, and we will need to spend the night in a hotel there before flying to St. Maarten the next morning. But, I’m good with that. The Charlotte Airport has two nearby Category 1 Hyatt hotels for 5000 points/night.
Unfortunately, we only had enough AA miles to book 3 out of the 5 of us. No problem. I was able to book two of us using Alaska miles for 15k miles each.
Return Flights
I don’t have our return flights booked yet. I’m not seeing low award flight prices yet, but it’s still very early. Plus, we are a bit flexible on our return date within the window of a few days. If I can’t find decent award flights for the full flight home, I’m open to booking award flights from Miami or Charlotte to DFW and paying cash for the leg from St. Maarten to the USA. Two discount airlines, Spirit and Frontier, also fly to SXM, so we could combine a cheap cash flight for one leg with an award flight the rest of the way home.
Are you looking for Spring Break 2026 flights yet?? Where are you going?
Author: Nancy
Nancy lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three kids. Her favorite vacations include the beach, cruising and everything Disney.
That’s an incredible deal for high season! AA miles can be so valuable under the right circumstances. We were planning to go to Maho beach near SXM during our last cruise, but I wasn’t feeling well that day. Hopefully next time.
We were planning on visiting the Galapagos with our kids for next years Spring Break, but with all the economic volatility, we’re holding off for a while and coming up with a backup plan, in case it doesn’t work out.
As a backup we’re looking at some Caribbean islands as well. From the East Coast, AA miles can be a great deal.