We have flown United from Chicago to St Maarten in February (non-stop on Saturdays) for a number of years. I had put off booking this year as the airfare was over $1,000, and it typically has cost us around $700. Post-Irma United held those prices high until a few weeks ago. A couple of weeks ago the price suddenly dropped to about $500, flying on Feb 10 to Feb 17.

I booked the flight, secured a room, rented a car, etc. I knew that United hadn't yet resumed flights to SXM so I called yesterday to see when they might resume. I was informed that oh, BTW, our flight had been cancelled. No email, no phone call. At this point United will fly you to San Juan, then you get to SXM on Seaborne Aviation. According to the United website that whole trip could take 24-48 hours.

So if you have anything booked on United, be advised that they have no intention of actually landing one of their own planes on the island for the foreseeable future. And they may not have any inclination to actually inform you that your flight was cancelled. We rebooked Delta through Atlanta.