Hotels for Charlotte connections

I can't even think of the word(s) I want to call American Airlines. My travel agent just called and says AA has changed our return flight from SXM to St Louis so that now we leave SXM around 4 pm, fly to Miami, 2 hours for Customs, onto Charlotte arriving around midnight. Then waiting someplace till our 8am flight to St Louis. So I'm looking for an place to stay in Charlotte. Any thoughts?

Norm

I have been in a similar situation. Not sure timing for a hotel is warranted. You will have to be at the airport in CLT by 6 AM, plus taxi trave ( about 30 minutes each way)l , room check in check out., minutes to relax before sleeping. I feel it would be less stress to just stay at the airport. What ever you do it is going to be a loooog trip back home. I would just keep calling AA for hopefully some better options will pop up.

OR

Stay an extra day in MIA, sight see there and catch a 2 1/2 flight back to STL direct.

Wendell

We have a 9.00am flight from SXM to MIA in November, can you get changed to that one?

There's a Hampton Inn near the airport, and they have a shuttle to get you to and from. That's where we usually stay when our flight schedule warrants it.

That said, when our May flights were changed, routing us through Miami, we were able to cancel them and are now flying Delta through Atlanta. The schedule is much better, and the tickets were actually cheaper.

I agree....I would research ALL other possible airlines for a flight that is reasonable in cost AND figure in the cost of the hotel/food/PIA of the original flight. ANYWHERE close to that price I would jump on it. Even returning a day later would work.....

Norm--as others have said, research what your other options are first, before you accept that routing. Since they changed your flight so significantly, you can CANCEL and get all your money back. Therefore you have a lot of leverage with AA. If you can find something else that would work better for you, even on a different day, call AA and ask to be switched. Or, if you can find something that works better for you on another airline, at a price you can live with, call and cancel. Don't accept that routing unless you literally have no other choice. ...Edited to add, just noticed you have a travel agent. They should have been the FIRST one to suggest that you don't accept that routing, but see what you can do to get a different flight. If they didn't explore that possibility, I think you should look for a different travel agent.

There is currently only one AA flight in and out of SXM from MIA. We had the morning flight out of SXM to CLT and that was changed to MIA at 4:00 in June.

The above person is talking about November, so presumably the early morning flight is in place by then. According to his ticker, Norm's return is in November.

I just checked our late November flights, which were supposed to be direct from CLT, and they have us going through MIA. And of course, the connections don't work. It seems they're not resuming the direct flights.

It seems about the only flights you can depend on with AA are the Miami ones..

When AA changed our flight they had us going to Mia to CLT then to SEA. Problem was the CLT flight left before the Mia flight arrived. Now we overnight in Mia then to Dallas to SEA. But who knows that could change too.

Here is some flight info if this is for your trip returning on Nov. 2nd.
It appears there is only one flight on AA leaving SXM a day and it is at 4:08pm arriving in MIA at 7:37pm, flight number AA2219.
Delta leaves earlier with a stop in SJU and there aren't direct flights to STL from there.
So you're going to have to overnight somewhere. Best to avoid a 3rd flight through CLT.
There are 2 flight options from MIA nonstop to STL on Nov. 3rd.
Flight #AA4408 departs 8:30am MIA to STL or
Flight #AA2226 departs 1:50pm MIA to STL
These flights are available on AA's website and there are a fair number of seats on all flights in 1st and coach.
If this ins't for your Nov. trip, never-mind. It was a good exercise for me.

Similar situation here except our two legs into our regional airport became three with an overnight because our third leg departs before our second one arrives! I’m going to wait it out for a while and see if they add flights back and if not, I’ll check out the other airlines as we get closer. Irritating to say the least.......

So Norm, any update on your situation?

Pat, I don't know how close in CT you are to JFK, but can you not fly JetBlue non-stop to and from SXM?

Nothing definite yet, Carol. There is a Miami -St Louis flight approx. 12 hours after we land in Miami. Thinking about changing to that so I at least have a complete flight. Haven't decided what to do in Miami after Customs.Then hoping AA will change their schedule and I can get back to my original times. A lot of hoping!

That would be better at least than what you have now. Are you totally stuck with AA?

Yeah just had notification they have changed our flight, sorry.

Maybe it's better when the airlines only release their schedule 6-8 months in advance...possibly a lesser chance of changes....

Hi, Robin,

Yes, we easily can and quite often do take the JB n/s flights in and out of JFK but we booked AA to SXM due to some left over ticket dollars from last years cancellations post Irma along with a really good Business Class fare sale we lucked into, and we were actually booked using the last of our AA ff miles for the flight home. The nice thing was, since we had to do a change somewhere via AA, we were booked SXM to CLT and into White Plains (HPN) which is about a 25 minute ride from home and without the hassles of JFK.

I'm leaving things alone for the time being since AA has assured me I can make changes down the road IF the preferred flights are returned to the schedule. And if not, I probably will end up booking JB n/s into JFK since we really do prefer to arrive back through T5 there.

Ah, I see. I truly do hope things work out for you. Ed & I are actually flying from JFK to SXM in June. At the time I made the reservations, Delta from ATL was WAY costly (that's what we usually fly and prefer), and American wanted us to do an overnight in Miami. We actually live in TN, but after doing all the research (at the time a few months back), we found it was actually less expensive to fly CLT to JFK, then JFK to SXM, then it would have been to buy the Delta tickets. Luckily, we have friends and family from NY (Long Island, where I'm originally from), so we will overnight in NY the night before the SXM flight and again on the return trip. We will be traveling with another couple from NY anyway. Good luck with your trip plans. It's not an easy time.

They give a discount to AAA and AARP members. Not a lot but it helps.

We have also stayed at the Embassy Suites in Miami before. Good rates when we stayed there and a wonderful free happy hour and free breakfast buffet complete with make your own omelettes. Very close by.

We second the Embassy Suites and usually try to stay in them whenever possible on our journeys. Usually very nice hotels and great happy hours and breakfasts.