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.

Did you have "email notification" enabled on your United account?

Airlines are something, eh?? Anybody who has any flights booked now or in the near future, check and double-check them!!

In years past, they always sent me itinerary updates when they changed arrival/departure times by 5 or 10 minutes. So yes. That had no explanation for why they had not sent an email. They actually did send an email while I was on the phone with them. They resent the confirmation notice from 2 weeks ago.

Same problem. Had my daughter on a flight bos-EWR-sxm. Received zero notification. Just happened to see something on fb so I called (yes they had hers and my email). They only cancelled the EWR-sxm legs! But kept her going from Boston to Newark!!!! I’m supposed to receive full credit. Now have her on Delta and JB. It will be interesting. Because it’s the New Years holiday I just went ahead and booked. By the time this trip is over she may have been booked on every commercial airline out of Boston!!

Posted on the BVI board, supposedly United has suspended all flights to SXM and STT through April 8.

Gee just booked jet blue for Nov.6th. they are flying twice weekly, starting Nov.2. Very concerned they will cancel, and if they do!!! Have to pray they give some notice, as I am over 2 hours to airport, so have to leave in the wee hours for flight... I guess if they do not get the people they will not fly... this is going to be pretty bad for a long while, as I would assume they want to fill the planes, and without vacationers that may not happen... Yikes

I had checked a couple of days ago and our March flights were still scheduled and reservations intact. Got an email this morning that they are now cancelled and that United will not be flying to SXM until April 9. I'll call later but I assume we'll be getting refund.

We were told yesterday by A United rep who I had a problem understanding. I had them send me notification via email. Can't understand how you manage a major company with total disregard for your customers.

It doesn't matter what company you're dealing with, it seems that "John" always has an accent so thick you have to ask them to repeat half of what they say.

I tweeted them. United said they cancelled all flights due to the damage to PJIA. That was it.
April 9th.

I’m getting a refund, but haven’t seen it yet!!!!

Call that number they gave me!

After reading the customer 'service' person the riot act for not sending out email notices to their Mileage Plus members, I did receive a notice that the flights were cancelled.

I booked with Chase points, so I called them and had them get the credit from United and they rebooked me on a Delta flight. We are traveling February 3.

United's costs on Sat to Sat round trips from Chicago to the Caribbean have been over priced for a long time. Just because they fly non-stop to most destinations there, they charge a premium of 30-50% over their competitors.

For the $1000 United was asking you could fly in First on American. We usually fly on American out on a Friday evening, over night in Charlotte and get the first flight to SXM the next day. Coming back, we usually connect thru MIA or CLT. With Global Entry, it's easy to clear customs at either location. You could also connect through PHL, but I dislike connecting at northern airports in the winter.

Take a look around. There are definitely other options to United.

Eh, not necessarily true. My wife and I booked the non-stop from ORD to SXM for $223/pp, one way. If the price was $500/pp one way, we'd find a different flight.

We paid $172.90 per person, one way from Chicago to SXM on United last April. Not really overpriced at all!

We had flown that ORD-SXM saturday non-stop for years and it was great. Last year, we got it for $650.

Currently, 1-stop flights on other carriers are $700. We always go down for the kids college breaks in March. We usually rent a villa in Orient but are thinking BSV on the dutch side. We can always drive to visit a few our the restaurants we know will be open by then on the french side.

The airlines suck.

Going to support the island with some tourist $$$ and just deal with it.

Mbrott

Last February we flew for just over $500 round trip. For this one, they had the money credited back to our card in 3 days.