On Monday 6/29 we had reservations on the 2:25 flight from SXM to CLT. During an extensive delay at the gate, a representative of US Air (American) circulated the waiting area offering an incentive for eight (!) passengers to get off the flight: $625 pp toward a future flight plus a fully paid night at Sonesta Maho with all food and drinks: "You won't have to open your wallet." There were a few takers; we were not among them, though tempting. My wife and I silently expressed contempt about overbooking, but it wasn't that at all. After the doors to the plane were closed, the pilot explained that the plane was overweight and they needed to lighten the plane by expelling passengers. He said that under normal circumstances, they could take off "the wrong way", west over Maho, but the easterly tailwinds over 20 knots prevented that this day and that the current weight prevented the plane from clearing the mountains to the east on takeoff! At that point, more than one passenger pressed the flight attendant assistance button in an attempt to get off the plane, to no avail. Note: we cleared the mountains, as usual with room to spare. That, however, was not the worst part of the trip. The customs backlog in Charlotte was worse than it has been in the ten years we've returned from SXM. We missed our connecting flight (as did dozens if not hundreds of others) and are considering the Global Entry option for the future.