Huhm, this is not good...

We're supposed to fly into Miami tomorrow evening.. Huhm... Tropical storm warnings out for a good part of Florida and Miami will be on the east side of the storm, with some of the worst weather.. Huhm..

Then the flight will be cancelled and you get to stay an extra day!

Maybe look at changing your flight now?

I don't know, when we get back from dinner, maybe will check the AA site... With it being weather, we'd be on our own nickel, for sure..

For a nickel, I'd stay an extra day in St. Maarten and give you and Eric a nickel so you could stay an extra day also.

A tropical storm warning has just been issued. We had almost an 1 1/2 inch of rain already today. Posting high wind warnings. Hunker down where you are.

all of florida is calling for this tropical depression. time will tell.

Just got home from a lovely dinner with friends at Le Moulin Fu. We have see what tomorrow brings.

We love, love, love Le Moulin Fou in Maho! The service, presentation and overall deliciousness makes this one of our favorites.

I've enjoyed your daily updates, sad the journey has to end. Safe travels today if you are heading home.

We enjoyed it, especially the company!

I see that AA is waiving the change fee....but MIA isn't on the list.

Yes, but the incoming flight is delayed coming in here, and our flight is delayed two hours leaving, as of now. We're trying to decide what to do.

Whatever you do, don't stress over it and have the safest of travels home. Thank you so much for sharing your trip.

Hard not to stress, and end up on a really bad note from a really nice vacation. When we land in Miami, scheduled now to be 9 PM, in the car by maybe 10 PM, we have a 3 1/2 hour drive, in pouring rain in the dark...

The main weather is in the Gulf and north of Florida so the origination of your flight would be the issue...MIA looks reasonably fine. IF it was CLT to SXM then there might be issues....but...your incoming flight seems to be DCA to MIA to SXM so that's good

Good luck, Carol and Eric. Stress at the end of the trip is never a good thing. Hope it works out to your satisfaction......safe travels either way! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

Wishing you safe travels.

Don't forget that there are webcam sites for the port of Miami and Ft Lauderdale.

Hope it works out okay for you.
I've enjoyed reading your posts and all the photos. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" />
Have a safe trip home.

Think you have the flights wrong. They are leaving SXM.

Carol......the weather is supposed to be ''crap'' the next entire day. Here on the east coast of Florida, they are saying very heavy rain tonight. So far, nothing is going on. It sounds as most is expected tonight...and tropical storm warnings have been issued for the west coast. Sounds like you probably wont have too much trouble getting back to mia later today...the trouble can be heading west in the dark with super heavy rains. Maybe an overnight in Miami may not be a bad idea. Be safe.

Hope all works out---As Ed said--maybe spend the night in Miami. It should be fine getting into Miami.

Sorry your trip has to end with worries..

We weren't sure what was going to happen, whether the inbound flight would even arrive when they said. We are on frequent flyer tickets, so we were able to switch to the 8 AM flight tomorrow morning for free. Hopefully the flight from Miami to here that is supposed to arrive at 9:30 PM will arrive here ok. So, we will have a good day today and don't have to face driving in heavy rain at night tonight. If the flight arrives here tonight, we should be fine.

So I am 10 miles south of MIA. Grey and overcast. No rain so far. Giant blob on radar coming right at us. Soon.
Stay in SXM an extra day if you can. We will have lots of flooding etc. Better staying the overnight down there.
Safe
irina
irina

Irina--I hope that evening flight leaves there tonight. If so, we'll be good. We knew there was a possibility that wouldn't happen. We'll see.

Sounds like you made the right decision! No reason to have to stress and worry after a great relaxing vacation! Safe travels home!

So long as that plane leaves Miami tonight, we're good, but hopefully we made the right decision.

Wonderful! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

Enjoy your day...AND that means another report. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" />

In order to leave SXM they would need a plane to arrive in SXM from somewhere. That is what incoming flight means to me...outbound would be SXM to MIA

Since you changed flights to the next day did AA compensate lodging for tonight? I was going to use miles to return next May and buy tickets for the return home but I think I'll do what I did this last trip and buy on the way down and use miles to come home on. AA's policy of no charge to change flights with FF miles is a good benefit if there are issues.

No way. I didn't think for a minute they would pay me for tonight's lodging. As of when we changed, our flight was still scheduled to leave tonight, although 3 hours late.

I agree that is a good strategy, so LONG AS there are still FF seats. Tomorrow's 8 AM flight was basically half empty, so I assume that's why there was no problem. Technically there have to be FF seats available. Actually, in our case, there were FF seats available for less miles. But! We would have had to cancel, redeposit the miles and pay some kind of expedite fee to do so, which would have cost much more money than it was worth. Re booking for free for FF miles only works if there are FF seats..

Will you stay put at BSV?

Make the most of your bonus day! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Groovin.gif" alt="" />

Glad it worked out for you. I remember when I was stuck in Miami with passport issues over a weekend and had to rebook my flights after the issue was taken care of. Thank God I was on a FF trip. No fees at all. And yes, I realize there has to be open FF seats available to do this but I have always had great service from AA and their willingness to work with patrons.

Yes we are still staying at BSV.... checked nobody coming in the room until tomorrow afternoon ... so with us getting out at 6am, not a problem.
Made the changes with rental car and cell phone already, so all is done at this point in time... Keeping the cell until late today in case something happens with the evening flight from MIA to SXM, then we still have communications. Do not expect a problem at this point, just playing safe.

Driving home at midnight in pouring 5 inches of rain ... generally not a very good idea! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" />

Also called the dog sitter and arrange for that.. we are good to go at this point.

http://www.accuweather.com/en/us/miami-fl/33128/hourly-weather-forecast/347936

Accuweather is not generally very "accu". But. Our local mets are all over the place. Some say no rain till tomorrow!
Have fun in SXM tonight.
i

I agree...storm is Tampa and North bound. MIA will be fine today...storms later tomorrow

We'll see what happens!!

...and you have a great place to see what happens <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />

It shouldn't be a problem. The storm still hasn't even hit the west coast....and now they are calling for most of the rain to be going north towards jacksonville.

Ummm..I just talked with my friend in Fort Myers and he is getting creamed...heavy rain and thunder

Wishing you safe travels home,never fun to be stresssed at the end of a vacation.... thanx for the reports and photos!!

So far I think we made the right decision. Just checking to see that plane arrives here this evening!

We just waved bye to our original flight, which despite what it says on AA's site, lifted off at 6:15, almost three hours late. We'll go have a nice dinner somewhere tonight, early to bed, VERY early to rise, and hopefully will be home in good shape tomorrow..

Safe travels Carol and Eric and thanks so much for all of your wonderful posts of this trip!

Good luck this morning. Safe trip. Enjoyed your stay almost as much as you did. Felt like we were there with you.

We're sitting at the gate. Should be ok going out, I hope.

Clear all morning. Now getting overcast. They should be here soon.
Cheers
irina

Hopefully you are there now <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" /> after running into problems at the end of a wonderful trip. I cannot thank you enough for the fantastic daily trip reports, almost made me feel like I was there with you. My stomach is still rumbling from those pics taken at some of my favorite restaurants. Welcome home! Thanks again! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />

Tuesday am on TV saw lots of damage in Orlando area. Our son in Sarasota had minor flooding.

We're home, no problems. No damage here at the house, not sure how much rain here, but a fair amount.

Glad you made it ok.

Ditto what JD said..... <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" />

thanks to both of you!

<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" />

good to hear that you're home safely

We definitely made the right decision. It was a much more relaxing time, coming home and getting home during the daylight, and not having to drive 3 1/2 hours in driving rain at night, to get home around 2:30 AM. We never would have considered it before, but we may well book that 8 AM AA flight coming home in future. I am NOT a morning person in the slightest and it hurt getting up at 5:15 AM yesterday, but I really think we'll consider it in future. If we lived 30 minutes from the airport at home, it would be a different situation.

I often take that 8 AM AA flight, but for different reasons. Depending upon the schedule, if I take that flight, I can get home (to the West Coast) in one day. I, too, hate leaving that early; but, for me, it eliminates the need for an overnight on the way home.

Glad you made it safely.

That makes sense. The flight yesterday was only about half full. Not sure how full it normally is.

Glad that you Eric made it back to the "real" world safely. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Joy.gif" alt="" />

If this is the real world, I wish I was still in fantasy land!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

This place is so not the real world!
irina

Wait, are we talking about Miami?? <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Laugh.gif" alt="" />

Most of Florida in general. But yes. Miami in particular!

<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

Back when we were driving 4 1/2 hours to Charlotte to get a nonstop flight, we always spent the night there before driving home the next morning. No way I'd want to drive that distance late at night!

We have done it several times before and it stunk, but we still got home around 11 or 11:30. This time, we weren't going to get home until after 2 am, and just didn't want to deal with 3 1/2 hours of driving rain.

I will tell you though that we are now seriously considering the flight leaving at 8 am in future, as it didn't hurt nearly as badly as I thought it would!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Laugh.gif" alt="" />

Does the 8AM AA overnight in SXM?

Yes

Yes, it arrives around 9:30 PM or so, this time of year. On Monday, we waited until the flight left Miami at something like 6:30 PM, headed toward SXM, to turn in our SXM phone, figuring so long as that flight left Miami, we were good to go the next morning from SXM..

Good to know for future reference. Delays and cancellations tend to increase as the day goes on, I would rather do an early bird sometimes. Thanks

Agreed. Makes sense!

I was stuck there after Betsy 20 years ago. I stupidly left and went to SJU to get home. Shoulda stayed in SXM....

Too many crazies on roads down here to make that drive at night.
Bad enough in the day time!
i

We were on the delayed (AA) MIA-SXM flight on June 6th. This was the plane you were originally scheduled to take to MIA on that same day. I received a text from AA that morning at 4:03 AM saying our flight from Miami was delayed from 11:30 to 2:15. We did leave around 2:15 and landed SXM around 5:15. AA knew at 4:03 that the flight was going to be delayed. Still not sure why.

Our biggest concern that morning was the approaching storm and if we would get out of Orlando on schedule. As it turned out we left MCO on schedule but ended up delayed out of MIA. While you were stressed getting out of SXM we were stressed getting there. All because of the same plane.

Yes, that never did make sense, why that plane was delayed. All the other flights out of Miami that day seemed to be leaving on time. And the inbound flight that was the physical plane that was to go from Miami on down, that flight was on time. I think it was a crew issue. According to the people in SXM, that flight from Miami is often delayed. I do not know why that would be.