San Juan is a primary connecting hub for the Caribbean.

Very few direct flights to the VI except from the east coast. More direct flights on weekends and during the winter tourist season

Another problem you have is that there aren't many flights in the evening into the VI so to get from the west coast you need to get a very early start.

However you can check for connections through, Miami, Orlando and Atlanta directly to the VI. Certainly sounds like this would be quicker than flying through Chicago.

Also check into flying to San Juan then booking your own connecting flight to STX or STT on any of the commuter airlines that fly these routes. Even can take the seaplane, but they only fly during daylight.

Jim

I didn't do much research on what else is available since we used frequent flyer miles, but we have done Continental out of Seattle in about 12 1/2 hours.

10:15pm flt arrive Newark, NJ 6:06am (4 hrs 51 mins)
3 1/2 hour lay over in Newark
9:30am flt to St Thomas (4hrs 10 mins)

American has flights fom Portland through Dallas (DFW) to STT that take about 12 hours.

US Airways has flights through Chicago and Charlotte to STT that take about 11 hours

Sometimes you need to take longer connections for lower fares. Yes Portland and much of the west coast is NOT well served by the Airlines when you want to go to the USVI.

From Portland, I really don't there is a way of getting to STT with only one connection. Also, there are no direct flights from Portland to San Juan. The only cities you can fly directly to St. Thomas are from Miami(AA), Atlanta(Delta), Charlotte(US Airways), Washington Dulles (United - wknds), Chicago Ohare (United - wknds), New York/Newark (AA, Continental, US Airways - all three airports), Boston (AA - tourist season), and Philadelphia (US Airways). Now if there is a direct flight from Portland to any of these cities AND it arrives in enough time to catch a connecting flight to St. Thomas, then yes in theory, you can fly to St. Thomas on only one conection. Now I'm quite sure there aren't any direct flights from Portland to Miami, New York LaGuardia, Charlotte, and Philadelphia. There might be direct flights from Portland to the other cities, BUT all the flights to St. Thomas leave in the morning, making it hard to make the connection, and the flights from St. Thomas (except the Miami flight) arrive in the states in the evening, and you won't be able to catch a connecting flight to Portland. To prove this, I checked Orbitz, and the only one-connection trip I could find was through Atlanta on Delta, but it had a six-hour lay over coming into St. Thomas (which is longer than making 2 connections), and had an overnight returning to Portland.

My verdict: There aren't really any better ways of getting to St. Thomas. Your routing through Chicago and San Juan was a common route of getting from west coast to VI, and all the other 2-stop routes usually take the same amount of time as going thru Chicago/San Juan. There isn't any better way..

og,

being a native of vancouver, washington, i know how crappy that flight from portland can be. right now i work for an airline in st croix, so i've had some experience getting back and forth to visit with family. for me, the best route i came up with wouldn't be possible for non-airline employees. the connections were too tight for them to be considered 'legal' connections. but, for some decent connections i've had to take most of my routes through seattle (unfortunately there's few flights directly into portland from connecting flights from here). also, as people have already mentioned, san juan, new york/newark, atlanta, dc, or miami are the typical cities people fly from to get to the vi. some of the better flights i've taken were jet blue from seattle/jfk/san juan/st croix (or in your case st thomas). or ata from seattle/chicago midway/san jan/virgin islands. or american, portland/dfw/sju/vi or portland/mia/vi. my favorite was continental... pdx/houston/san juan/vi. many people hate san juan airport with a passion. i don't mind it myself, but that's cause i know the layout.... and being an airline employee sure helps speed up the process through security. if you have any questions, feel free to contact me.

-adam
stx resident