TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin We're home

No problems coming home. We arrived at the airport around 12:45 for a 2:45 flight and were at the gate at about 1:15. The departure area of the airport is very nice, although it seemed small to me. And I swear, I think there are only 3 "A" gates upstairs? There used to be 4. We didn't even go downstairs. There appeared to be only one restroom area upstairs. There were only SIX ladies' stalls and there was a line for the bathroom. We did not really see lines for the food places, although we had brought food for the plane, so didn't pay that much attention. There is one bar upstairs, with ten (!!) seats at the bar, although there is an area there with maybe 15 tables which are, I guess, reserved seating for the bar. Eric took pictures of the various shops, etc., but it still seems very light on food places. Eric said that the bartender said there will be another bar upstairs, but they are waiting for liquor licenses for both it and the business lounge. The business lounge has an "opening soon" sign on it and looks like it will be very nice. I couldn't tell, but it looks like it's a possibility that it will be two stories, as there definitely looked to be a floor above the one which is on the departure level.

We got an email on Sunday asking if we would volunteer to take a bump for a measly $300 travel voucher and we laughed. I assume that flights to Miami are still way way screwed up from the recent deluges. Just for the heck of it, I looked on Sunday to try to book a one way from SXM to Miami for the 17th, and it said the cost was $3000 for a flight that went to Charlotte and then to Miami at midnight.

Thankfully we got a jetway. Our plane was 100% full. No problems in flight. Miami wasn't too bad, except there was a huge wait for the line of wheelchairs to use the elevator to get down to the baggage claim. All in all, 1.5 hours from when our plane landed until we were in our car at Park N Fly. Park N Fly isn't called that anymore, can't remember what the name is now, but they did their usual bang up job.

3.5 hour drive home from Miami, to our happy pups, who were so glad to have us home again.

Meanwhile, back to the daily grind, although we do have a trip coming up to St Croix in August, to look foward to. Overall, a good trip, didn't do much, which was fine. We leave to come back.

Glad things went smoothly.

Hi Carol. I am new to the forums and have enjoyed everyone's trip reports. My family of approximately 16 will be visiting SXM next Summer. Most of us are coming from NC, but the other 2 groups are coming from Tampa and Austin, TX. I have been watching flights on Google Flights (now into May). Several, if not most, of the flights from TPA and Texas have a very short layover in Miami (45 minutes) or Charlotte (35 minutes...joining us for our flight down). I just feel like that is not enough time and is too short of a layover to get from gate to gate. What are your thoughts? TIA!

The good news, I suppose, is that flights for next summer will probably change a couple of times between now and then. You didn't say what airline(s) you are looking at. As far as Tampa is concerned, does your family have free parking in Tampa or can have someone drop them off, or are they VERY close to the airport? Absent that, I'm going to suggest that they look seriously at driving to Miami. We have looked at connecting from either Tampa or Orlando through Miami, and to us, it never seemed to be worthwhile to do. Of course we still have a 1.5 hour drive to either Tampa or Orlando, but by the time we do a connecting flight, we could have just driven to Miami and not have to worry about a connection. Depending on how complicated it is for them to get in and out of Tampa, they should take a look at that.

In general, I would say that if they are looking at AA, and they are like me and want to get something locked in way ahead of time, they should look at booking regular MAIN CABIN, not economy. As of now, if you book Main Cabin, you do get an assigned seat included, but more importantly, IF you want to cancel or change your flight, you can do so without any penalty, to receive back a full FLIGHT CREDIT. So long as you are going to stick with AA, it's a good deal. If the price goes down, you can cancel and re-book with no penalty and receive back a flight credit, which can be used for a future flight. IF they book Main Cabin Extra (which again, costs more than the others), they can get a full credit back to their ORIGINAL FORM of PAYMENT.

Glad you arrived home safely. Sounds like an overall smooth experience. Again, thanks for the meet up at Orange Fever.

Thanks Carol. This is my sister-in-law and niece and nephew, both 13 (will be 14 next May). They live in Apollo Beach, just outside of Tampa. So, around 30 minutes to TPA. Yes, it looks like AA is the way to go, as of the May flight schedules. I also looked at Orlando (MCO) but the layovers are the same short ones. I googled to see how long the drive was from Tampa to Miami, thinking driving may be the way to go as well. Any advice is welcome! Much appreciate it! My sister coming in from Austin won't have a choice, but to fly, obviously.

Thanks Bob. Hope the weather cools down some for you, or at least there's more breeze. Enjoy the rest of your stay.

Carole--do encourage them to look into driving to Miami. Depending on their schedules, they could think about driving down the night before and doing a hotel park and fly package in Miami, and their arrival day wouldn't be nearly so tiring. If they want to drive to Miami the same day, we have been using Park N Fly for several years. They do a great job of off airport parking, all valet, some undercover, and their shuttle service is excellent.

The only thing I would say regarding Orlando is that Frontier (yeah I know!!) does have one or two non-stops a week from Orlando. Unfortunately, if there is a problem with that flight, you could have a big problem. With AA, if something goes wrong, at least you should have a better ability to get there.

Hi Carol , glad to hear that all went well for your vacaction and I just got back home too.

Lesley==yes, overall, a good vacation.

Blessings and thank God where you stayed and a lot of people will have to make sure that the ensure where they will be staying has full generator . Sad but true for at least another year , prayers.