{
  "response": {
    "Key": "US-CR",
    "orig": {
      "code": "US",
      "type": "country",
      "country": "United States"
    },
    "dest": {
      "code": "CR",
      "type": "country",
      "country": "Costa Rica"
    },
    "faq": {
      "q0": {
        "question": "Which U.S. cities can I fly from to reach Costa Rica?",
        "answer": "You can fly nonstop to Costa Rica from major US hubs like Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Houston, Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York (JFK and Newark), Denver, Orlando, and Charlotte. If you're departing from smaller cities, you'll typically connect through one of these hubs. Miami and Fort Lauderdale offer the most frequent and often cheapest flights, while West Coast airports like Los Angeles provide direct access to Liberia in Guanacaste. Choose based on your proximity to a hub, as nonstop routes save time and often cost less than connecting itineraries."
      },
      "q1": {
        "question": "Which airports in Costa Rica are the best to fly into?",
        "answer": "The two main international gateways from the United States are Juan Santamaría International Airport in San José and Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport in Liberia. San José is ideal for reaching the capital, the central highlands, and the Pacific coast, while Liberia serves the Guanacaste beaches and northern resorts directly."
      },
      "q2": {
        "question": "How long is the flight to Costa Rica?",
        "answer": "Non-stop flights from major U.S. hubs like Miami, Atlanta, or Houston to San José typically take 3 to 4 hours. From Los Angeles or New York, non-stop flights range from 5 to 6 hours. Return times are similar, with little difference due to the short distance and relatively direct routing. One-stop itineraries from smaller U.S. cities add 1 to 3 hours depending on the connection."
      },
      "q3": {
        "question": "Are there direct flights to Costa Rica?",
        "answer": "Yes, direct flights from the United States to Costa Rica are common. Major non-stop routes include Los Angeles to San José on Alaska Airlines, Miami to San José on American Airlines, and Houston to San José and Liberia on United Airlines. Other U.S. cities like Atlanta, Dallas, New York, and Fort Lauderdale also offer non-stop service. Flight times range from about 3 to 6 hours depending on the departure city."
      },
      "q4": {
        "question": "Which U.S. airports are usually cheapest for flying to Costa Rica?",
        "answer": "Miami and Fort Lauderdale typically offer the cheapest and most frequent flights to Costa Rica, especially to San José and Liberia. Houston and Atlanta also provide competitive options. Travellers from smaller US cities often save by connecting through these hubs rather than flying direct from a nearby regional airport."
      },
      "q5": {
        "question": "Which airlines fly to Costa Rica?",
        "answer": "American, Delta, United, Southwest, JetBlue, Spirit and Alaska fly nonstop from the U.S. to Costa Rica."
      },
      "q7": {
        "question": "How far in advance should I book flights to Costa Rica?",
        "answer": "For flights from the United States to Costa Rica, the optimal booking window is 9 to 12 weeks before departure, when average fares drop to around $611, though peak travel months like December and March often require booking even earlier to secure reasonable prices.",
        "methodology": "This booking-window guidance is built from the same real flight prices found by Priceline users searching this route, re-grouped by how many days before departure each price was seen (from the departure day out to about 180 days ahead) across the route's price history. At each booking lead time we report the 25th-percentile price — the cheaper end of what travelers were quoted, rather than the rock-bottom minimum (which can be a fluke) or the average (which is pulled up by expensive last-minute fares). The buy-or-wait advice then applies a risk premium that grows as departure approaches, since seat availability shrinks and prices become less predictable; using that adjusted curve we flag windows where waiting is likely to save a meaningful amount (at least $20 or 5%) versus windows where booking now is the better call. Isolated single-day recommendations are filtered out, so the advice only reflects a window that holds for several days in a row. This 'good deal' estimate shows a representative best price for each departure date across roughly a 12-month window (about 3 months back and 9 months forward). It is built from real flight prices found by Priceline users searching this route, accumulated into a price history for each departure date. Rather than weighting all of that history equally, we apply exponential time decay so recent prices dominate — a price seen yesterday counts almost in full, one from about a month ago roughly a third, and prices from a few months back very little — giving a figure that tracks today's market instead of a stale long-run average. Clear price outliers are removed before any calculation, departure dates with no observations are filled in from nearby dates, and the resulting curve is lightly smoothed so it reads as a clean seasonal trend rather than day-to-day noise."
      },
      "q8": {
        "question": "Do I need a visa to travel to Costa Rica?",
        "answer": "United States citizens do not need a visa for short tourist visits to Costa Rica. They are permitted to stay up to 180 days.\n\nThis is general guidance to help you plan, not official immigration advice — entry rules can change and can depend on your nationality and circumstances, so please confirm the current requirements with the relevant embassy or official government source before you travel.",
        "toolsUsed": [
          "article_lookup"
        ],
        "references": [
          {
            "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_policy_of_Costa_Rica",
            "title": "Visa policy of Costa Rica",
            "favicon": "https://en.wikipedia.org/static/favicon/wikipedia.ico"
          },
          {
            "url": "https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/costa-rica/entry-requirements",
            "title": "Costa Rica entry requirements — GOV.UK",
            "favicon": "https://www.gov.uk/favicon.ico"
          }
        ],
        "preopenedReferences": true,
        "stageOnly": true
      },
      "q10": {
        "question": "How easy is it to travel within Costa Rica after I arrive?",
        "answer": "Domestic flights connect San José to coastal and remote areas, while buses and rental cars are common for shorter trips. Arriving in Liberia gives quicker access to northwest beaches, while San José offers more connections countrywide."
      }
    }
  }
}