TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin U S LATE AIRWAYS

Going to SXM via BOS to CLT to SXM.
Arrive BOS at 3 am. About 300 people there trying to check in. No one at check in, have to use Kiosk only. Many, many people confused and it was a mess. Had to check your own bags also, and pay for doing their job. Some that had 5 am departures missed their flight because it was hard to get your bags with the destination slip on it. Made it CLT, found our gate and was on time. Boarding time went by as well as departure time. Were told we had to wait for a flight attendant. Left CLT 40 minutes late, The pilot did say that we thank you for your patience. Arrived SXM 45 minutes late.
Back to BOS via SXM to PHL to BOS.
Checked in fine at SXM got to the gate and flight was on time. Boarding time passéd as well as flight time. Were not told why they were delayed. Concerned now about connecting flight in PHL. Finally made our way out to the end of runway but had to taxi down to the other end to depart towards the ocean and over Sunset Bar and Grill. Left SXM 45 minutes late, and thank you for your patience. Got to PHL went through Immigration and Customs fairly well, good job PHL. Found our gate for connecting flight and were about to board but now we have a one hour delay because they had to wait for the pilot. Thank you for your patience again. Once the hour went by, the pilot seemed to give us a tour of the airport, it took so long. Got to the runway and still waited another 20 minutes. Leave PHL an hour and 20 minutes late arrive BOS late, get to gate and had to wait again. Thank you for your patience. My patience was running real thin. Now we get to baggage and one of our bags was already there? How did that happen? The second bag came with the flight we were on. There was much confusion at the baggage area, long line to get baggage desk, many bags missing.
U S LATE AIRWAYS can kiss my a$$. Nothing went smooth at all going to SXM and returning.

Sincerely hoping the trip itself was considerably better than the flights. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

The stay in SXM was GREAT.......... It was U S LATE AIRWAYS that was completely awful. I guess I'm still venting.

Hey! I get the venting - go for it!

We have had consistently crummy JB departure experiences from SXM and it does tend to take some of the glow off the memories of the rest of the trip, but thank goodness, as the days pass, I tend to put the negatives away and think of all the great moments only. I'm sure this will happen for you, too, once you're done venting!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

Maybe they were trying to be late on purpose in hopes that they would get you home when the snow was gone! I think they were being very considerate

Historically we have had good luck with US Airways but I suspect some of the current chaos is due to the merger with AA.

We will try Air Canada YYZ/SXM direct on Tuesday. Hopefully we will have better luck and it will not be my turn to vent.

Good to see you guys again and sorry for your travel issues.

I flew Delta this year and was very pleased. While I have had travel issues on both USAir and Delta in the past, I would very much lean hard towards Delta. I that is an option for you guys, consider it in the future.

I agree about Delta (for now). We have varied between US Airways and Delta for all of our SXM trips and have found Delta easier and more consistent. Last trip in January of this year was US Airways. June will be Delta. We'll see.....

Sounds like our USAir trip to/from Hell and why we no longer fly USAir

One repeated problem seems to be their planes not in place. Another is doors not locking or not opening once arrive. Also, don't know if it USAir or SXM airport but board always reads "on Time" when there isn't even a plane at the gate or nearby.

Our flight from Bangor ME to Philadelphia to SXM went fine. Upon our return yesterday however, we were 45 minutes late getting off the ground in SXM and we had to take off west over the beach as well to get to Philly so now we only have just under an hour to go through customs, pick up luggage and recheck them (others had only half hour) go through security, cross to 3 different gates on a dead power walk as it said it was on time only to get there with 5 minutes to spare to then be told our pilot wasn't there yet. He showed up 2 hours later but we made it home at 1 am WITH our luggage! Yes Philadelphia sucks just like the rest of the major hubs, all a part of the convenience of flying. I'm toast today but at least I don't have to work until Monday. There's always a positive to a negative, hope you had a fabulous vacation as much we did! I'd still rather have good flights down, then on the way back as I'm soooo ready to trade snow and cold for paradise!

Honestly, you probably might want to lower your expectations just a little, to reduce your aggravation. Sum total was that you arrived 45 minutes late on your outbound and 1 1/2 hours late on your return, bags made it there and back. Honestly if that was me and someone asked me how my flights were, I'd say "pretty good"!

If it wasn't such a repetitive problem with US Airways, I would totally agree with you. Problem is, it's become more or less routine with them; actually has been a ongoing problem for a long time. On a brighter, more optimistic note, Ed & I initially met on US Airways Concourse 'C' in Charlotte during a 7-hour flight delay (yep, SEVEN hours) to LGA. Flight was initially delayed, then cancelled. We had to wait around all day to get on new flights. We spent the time talking and remained friends over the course of several years. The rest is history. When we got married in 2006, we joked about doing so on Concourse 'C', but opted for a lovely beach in Hawaii at sunrise instead -- via Delta. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" /> Every cloud has a silver lining if you look hard enough for it. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/circle.gif" alt="" />

Oh, the joy of modern air travel.
It's an industry that has lost so much over the years. Living in PA, we don't have many convenient options so we have spent a lot of USAir time.
We can relate and sympathize.

try flights that are more direct and maybe allow more connection time. (makes trip longer of course).
get seats in front of plane if u can.
a travel agent will book u ,not allowing incoming customs time or will book you with a short layover in a place like atlanta, then if plane is 20 min late it all comes apart

While good in theory, many of us do not have that option. Unless you live on the East coast or are near a hub, often there is only one choice. If you are lucky, you might have two choices and both will likely require a connection.

That's why when we fly down we try to always take JB's Sat n/s flight both ways. BH won't do connections on the way home, as she hates the C&I turn around at the first stop. It's not only USAir, but the others too. Worst trip we've had problems with was with AA to Antigua. We fondly call our trip from h*ll!! We were going to Sandals Antigua for our daughters wedding with 20 others. Labor issues kept us on the ramp in BOS after boarding..to "fuel the plane" (which had sat at the gate for an hour prior to T/O). Got to MIA as our connection was going wheels up. NP says AA we'll route you thru SJU. Got stuck in SJU as ANU had a plane crash on landing. Finally get on a puddle jumper that bounced all the way there. BH wasn't happy !! 9 1/2 later finally made it there. The next day our Daughter, soon to be husband and their friends had the same experience down, but got laid over in MIA. On the way back it was even worse, got stuck in MIAs C&I, finally had it thru and we had 20 minutes before our connection, but they wouldn't take our bags or let us board. They made us get in the darn rebook line which had 300+ from an Intrl flight that was late. Ended up getting put up over night to catch a 6am flight home, not much sleep that night. Needless to say, not one of the best memories from our daughters beautiful destination wedding.

Such a cute story Robin! You are so right, every negative has a positive and it is up to us to find the silver lining! I totally believe everything happens for a reason.

Thanks, Elizabeth! Whenever I find myself getting frustrated with air travel now, I often remind myself that I wouldn't be where I am today if it weren't for that delay. It's all good! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" />

We have pretty much flown USAir every year since the 90's from SYR and the only problems have been on the way home. I can live with that.

What a lovely story!! For sure, what a silver lining to that cloud!!!

I have found that every airline will eventually disappoint me at some point. I took USAirways to SXM and back this past week. All flights were on time or early and the ground service was efficient.

It isn't always the airline's fault. A delay in one aspect of the system starts a domino effect. I pretty much plan on airlines being an hour late...cuts down my stress. The whole system is running with so little excess capacity, delays happen frequently. If I said I will never fly xxxx airline every time I was delayed, I'd be out of airline choices.

Our only alternative is Pittsburgh Airport and our only option is USAir at this point. After 20 years I have to say DO NOT take USAir from SXM thru Philly. It always arrives late and you are stuck in Philly until the next morning. Charlotte is way better for a return flight. Unfortunately this year b/c of pricing we are returning home through Philly...wish us luck we won't miss our connecting flight to Pittsburgh.

We're also from Pittsburgh and we try to avoid PHL too.
When we can't book through CLT, we make sure we take an early afternoon flight back arriving in PHL early enough to have at least 2 flights to PIT left. So far, it worked out well.
We also return on Saturday and the flights from PHL to PIT have never been full that day.
Hope you won't have any problem this year. Enjoy the trip!

You folks are scaring me!
Next trip will be the first time we travel through Philly, we have 1 1/2 hours on the return - a Saturday in April.
Now I am worried we will not make our connection.
Ellen

Hi Ellen,

Not meant to scare you but PHL Intl. is a very busy airport so clearing immigration and customs + going through security again takes time.
This being said, 1 1/2 hr should be ok, unless of course your flight leaves SXM later than expected.
Good luck!

I've connected through Philly 3 times. All european flights. Each one late.

I would assume that they will be late leaving SXM ,as they usually are , but if you can get get to your gate upon landing and Immigration isn't crowded , then you should make your connection. If you have carry-ons only, you can zip right through. We find the biggest delay is waiting for bags so we can clear customs. Take a deep breath because we just can't control any of it.

We have Global Entry and that speeds the process, but getting the bags and rechecking takes some time, hope we make it, but if not, I have always wanted to see the Liberty Bell. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

I've been forever banned from routing us through PHL. As a result, due to my delay in booking flights for our next trip, I'll be forced into an unusual routing. An overnight in SJU is now in the picture. There are pluses and minuses in doing so, but the dread PHL is the deciding factor. I'm just one click short of having to live in fear of having PHL Never Again branded on the inside of my eyelids.