TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin VIP arrival services at SXM

Any information on VIP arrival services at SXM.
Specially what it covers such as the immigration/ custom fast lane? the cost associated with it?

Is there more than one company offering it?

We did a similar thing in Barbados last year. They met us as we enter the building, took us to a dedicated immigration line (we were the next to be served), waited with us until luggage arrived and escorted us to the front of custom (we were waived through). Cost in Barbados was $100 for a family of 4 ( 2 adults+ 2 kids ages 11&10). For a mid Saturday high season arrival, I felt it was a decent deal. This was serviced by barbados airport authority, but sold through different vendors such as Viator,...

Thanks
Nick

I'm aware of a firm that does that, but haven't yet used them for a trip to SXM. I know that some use them as an expediter for in-transit transfers to St Barth.

Check out Halley Aviation Services. They're the only firm that I know of, but several companies re-market their services.

http://www.halleyaviationservices.com

Signature Flight is the local FBO operator. They meet all of the private aircraft and coordinate with the Master Ski Pilout for seamless transfer to St Barth.

Halley will do escort through the security but I don't know if they get you through any quicker without handicap or special needs.

Getting through immigrations is no big deal in ST Maarten. In our 20 or so visits, we never have had to wait more than 5-10 minutes. I'm not sure it's needed.

You have been very lucky. It's all about timing and the day of the week. But I will say it has gotten much better in the last 4 years. Back in the 80's you could have over an hour wait in the hot sun!!

Really? Wow.. As Kim says, it's gotten better lately, but it's not been at all unusual for us to wait 30-40 minutes, and a few years ago, 45 minutes was the norm.

Nick,

Like so many others have said, the SXM arrival is pretty easy these days so if it was me, I'd save my money for an arrival piña colada or something similar. Kim is right - there was a time back in the day when you might wait as long as 45-60 minutes (and it wasn't in an air-conditioned arrival hall) for your arrival line to clear immigration but today it's usually painless. I don't think we've had to stand in line for more than ten minutes over all of our last 10 to 15 trips and with each successive trip it seems to go faster. If only they could find a way to speed up the luggage to carousel service to match......

That's exactly it. The luggage time was slow last Christmas, but there was zero wait time in immigration. They made me take off my baseball cap, which added a few seconds but that was it.

Right! No sunglasses or hats through immigration and then hurry up and wait seemingly forever by comparison for your bags to arrive. For our brief January trip we did carry-on bags only and we were on the sidewalk and into our rental car in no time at all. God bless Lesley Bruce! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

Thanks Pat.
The only reason I was concerned is that it appears atleast 5 large aircraft will arrive within 30 minutes of each other Saturdays around Noon time
AA (CLT), AA (JFK), UA (EWR), Delta (ATL), JB (JFK)

They could all arrive within 30 minutes but you also have to factor in the larger planes of Air France and KLM, although they are usually a little later.

There is also the possibility of a delay of one or more of the planes. For example, the Delta flight from ALT today is running about 40 minutes behind for some reason.

Typically the immigration part is pretty efficient unless they are on some kind of work slow down but I have not seen that mentioned for some time now. Luggage is usually the bigger hold up but I doubt you would have more than a hour total at most even if all 5 planes did arrive at close times.

Okay, then - five full flights all within a half hour will certainly make for a longer wait but it shouldn't be all that long. With all the changes in the timmigration process plus the additional lines to service the crowds, it still moves well. Our Jan. trip was a Friday arrival and we were nicely spaced but typically we arrive in that Saturday time slot of 1 or 2 JBs, 1 or 2 AAs and a Delta or United thrown in for good measure along with an Insel or a Liat on occasion and we still manage to make good time. For us the hold up typically seems to be the luggage and we play the game of one bag off early and the other one in the last group of luggage onto the carousel. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" />

Dear Milo,

We use Easyway for our VIP services at SXM but those are usually used for our St Barts clients. I don't think there would be a worth while cost benefit for this service since the customs lines tend to move along well in SXM.

We also offer that Barbados VIP service that you mentioned for our Barbados clients since that custom experience in BGI is a disaster.

However, there are no custom expeditors for SXM. The lines at SXM go much faster than BGI. A quick tip: look for the line that is serviced by two agents rather than one agent.

Rob

Wow we must have been lucky because no way did we wait over an hour back in 1980. The grueling wait came when departing. Too many people crowded into a small room with no A/C . God forbid a flight was delayed. The room became a sardine can.