TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Ramps at PJIA

Our friends flew out yesterday on the afternoon AA flight to MIA and said they used the ramps instead of the stairs to board. Hope it's that way on this Saturday. I'll let you know if it is.

Big difference in the number of plane movements on a Tuesday vs Saturday.

Thanks for that info. We're on Delta next month, coming in on a Wednesday, so maybe there is hope for me.

Fingers crossed.

Are we talking ramps to the door or the jetways?

Ramps. It will be a long, long time before you see any jetways.

That’s what I thought. Every flight I have taken on Jetblue has had a ramp next to the stairs at the first door, just not the second.

Jet Blue appears to have them, and no one else, prior to this report.

They are kind of like switchbacks.

Makes it nice with roller carry on bags instead of the stairs.

Exactly, and for those not very mobile, MUCH easier to navigate than having to climb up and down stairs.

The only set of movable ramps which I recall are on the extreme left as aircraft approach the terminal building. I don’t know whether JetBlue owns them, or is just lucky enough to get that “gate” position based on their arrival time.

For what it’s worth, when we arrived on an AA n/s in mid April we deplaned via the roll-up stairs - you know - the ones that give those of us with height issues tremors due to their height and steepness.

When we departed the island in early May on a JB n/s into JFK we were able to use the ramps - a much easier way to board. Perhaps they do belong to JB for their specific flights?

Pat--that seems to be the case, prior to Scubaman's post in this thread. Since it is going to be a LONG time until the jetways are in place, it would be nice if they would have them available for most flights. Anyone have an email address for PJIA, that one could express that sentiment to?

Stairs today on AA to MIA but was able to walk to plane instead of bused which was nice.

Scuba, are departures in the terminal now or still tent like last year?

The tents are long gone. All done in the terminal now. A little piece of it.

So I should enter the building like before? Just trying to figure out where to go after parking and returning rental.

I wondered if you were going home yesterday, Scuba. Hopefully you are home by now? Or perhaps you had an overnight..

In April we entered the new departure area which I believe was the area where you used to exit from arrivals.
George

The two doors that used to be marked Taxi' and rental cars are used to enter and exit the building.Far left of the building

Yes. Had to overnight in MIA. Checked bags all the way to SEA but bags didn't make it to SEA after rechecking in MIA after customs and immigration caused by a blatant bggage handlers slowdown in Dallas that caused our flight to be delayed 1:45. Waited around airport for next flight for our bags to arrive as we couldn't risk them being delivered on time as we are leaving today to another destination. Ours were marked prioriy but did no good.

OK, sounds complicated. Travel is such sweet sorrow.

I now have a 3 hour drive to pick up our dog my daughter dog sit for us and then return back home tomorrow. All said SXM is worth it.