I will apologize right now for the length of this post, but I felt it was necessary to tell the story with adequate detail. Thanks TTOL for all the advice and assistance extended to me. I hope you find this narrative useful, and I hope this doesn't happen to you.

We spent our spring break vacation on Virgin Gorda, Friday, 3/21/08 – Saturday, 2/29/08. There were four of us traveling; the Dad, me (Dad’s significant other) son #1 (age 22) and son #2 (age 18). Dad and I have made regular trips to the Caribbean, but this was the first Caribbean trip for either of the boys. Our route was US Air from Minneapolis (7:00 a.m. departure) through Charlotte, to San Juan, (scheduled arrival 3:09 p.m.). We actually arrived in San Juan early, retrieved our bags and checked in with Air Sunshine for our scheduled 5:00 p.m. flight to VG.

The real adventure started here. This is when we were told our party of four would be split, two and two on different flights. The Dad and I weren’t too concerned, and decided we would each take a son with us. We completed our Air Sunshine check-in and proceeded to the gate to wait for our flight. The process of assigning travelers to a flight was a mess. As they filled one flight, the Air Sunshine staff called for me to join the group to board. I asked, “And him too? (indicating son #1). The AS staff said, “No. Just you.” I followed the group and boarded. There was the pilot and seven passengers including me.

My flight stopped in Vieques where the other six passengers deplaned and we picked up a co-pilot. Next my flight stopped in St. Thomas, picked up six passengers and continued on to VG. When I arrived, Dad and son #1 were already there. They had been assigned to the next flight which went directly to VG. Son # 2 was expected on the next flight.

Outside the VG terminal we completed our rental car paperwork…as the terminal proceeded to close. Wait! What about son # 2 and the last flight? Our rental car representative pointed out that the terminal building doors and windows were all closed, no more flights here today. There was no Air Sunshine staff still around to answer our questions. The rental car agent speculated perhaps son # 2 would be flown to Tortola and put on the ferry. Dad and I both started kicking ourselves for not being the last to depart San Juan. Either of us would have been comfortable with the ferry route, but we weren’t sure how son # 2 would sort it all out.

We proceeded to check in to our accommodations. Called Son # 2 on his cell phone to talk him through the Tortola, ferry to VG process. Son # 2 informs us that Air Sunshine has put him in the SJU Airport Best Western for the night. Their last flight to Tortola would arrive too late for him to catch the ferry, so he was stuck. Also, Air Sunshine had told him to check in for the first flight the following morning, but gave him no assurance he would be put on that flight, only if there was space available! We really had no choice but to just wait it out. Not a very nice start to a long-anticipated vacation. Son # 2 did arrive on the first flight the following morning, to our great relief. However, the Air Sunshine desk had demanded he pay for the one-way flight. Thank goodness we had given each of the boys some carrying money before we left Minneapolis. The pilot realized the mix-up before take-off and refunded the ticket price to Son # 2, but still, we can only guess what would have happened if son # 2 had been short the cash.

We enjoyed a wonderful week on VG. We did wonder why we heard so many sirens early Tuesday morning. Later in the week, we read the headline on BVI Beacon front page, “Plane bumps office, aircraft at VG airport”. Yup, Air Sunshine! Well, that explains all the commotion on Tuesday morning.

Even so, we reconfirmed our flight on Thursday, and were determined to fly AS back to SJU on Saturday. When we re-confirmed our flight, I explained the trouble we had on the way in and asked how we could avoid another mishap. I was assured that Air Sunshine regretted the error that stranded son # 2 in San Juan. I was assured it would not happen again. This time, we were resolved to not be split up. We arrived at the VG terminal at 10:30 a.m. to check in for our 12:30 flight. I insisted on being early, just hoping to avoid any further flight problems. Again, I explained the reason for our concern to the women at the Air Sunshine desk. We were assured our return flight would be problem free. The 12:30 flight did not arrive until 12:45. Once again, there were 16 passengers expecting to board. No one had told us there would be two planes. Air Sunshine took seven passengers with the earliest connection time on the flight (not us), and told us another plane was due to arrive in minutes. I asked, “How many minutes?” and was told fifteen. After 25 minutes the Dad asked again when to expect the plane. The 5 passengers in the other party were starting to sweat their connections as well. As we waited for a non-existing plane to deliver us to our connections, tensions mounted. Air Sunshine did very little to communicate to waiting passengers until nearly 2:00. At that time, they started to scramble to help us contact our airlines for information and assistance.

Our plane did finally arrive, all nine waiting passengers were put aboard, and we took off at 2:25 p.m. The other party had a 3:55 AA departure, and we were scheduled for 4:25 with US Air. The flight was direct to SJU. Upon landing, they took us in a van directly to Immigration, opened a new line for us with no waiting, helped us collect our bags, ran with us to customs, again to a line with no waiting. Then AS staff took the other party of 5 to American and another AS staff took us to US Air, checked our bags for us and got boarding passes (again, no waiting in line). They ran with us to the TSA check point and wished us luck on our connection. We ran all the way to the gate, and our flight was boarding as we arrived. Whew, we did make it. But, we had been at the VG airport since 10:30 a.m. It was now 4:25 p.m. We had had nothing to eat since breakfast, and US Air had sold all of their sandwiches and salads on the trip down. They had a few snack boxes left and we made do with these, but it was a most distressing end to an otherwise lovely vacation.

If you have read all of this, thanks for your patience. As the header promised, I will summarize with:

The Good:
• The flight over the islands is a great view and lots of fun.
• Air Sunshine was very helpful in helping us make our return flight connection in San Juan.
• Nearly all the staff are very pleasant.

The Bad:
• The company’s disorganization causes the very problems that Air Sunshine has to fix later. Had we departed on Saturday on schedule (or even an hour late), there would have been no need for AS to escort each party personally to their connecting airline.
• Air Sunshine staff should have been informed of the “stranded in San Juan” screw-up, and son # 2 should not have been asked to pay for a ticket before boarding the next morning.

The Ugly:
• Splitting a family and stranding a high-school student alone in SJU is simply unacceptable performance for an airline. If you read the above narrative carefully, you will have realized that on the flight I took to VG, there was one empty seat on every leg. Son # 2 should have been on that plane with me. It was the errors made in assigning planes that caused that mess.
• Once son # 2 had been stranded overnight, he should have been assured of priority on the first available flight out.
• Air Sunshine should have called me to tell me what happened. Air Sunshine made no attempt to inform me that one of our party had been stranded. Yes, they did have my cell phone number as the contact number.
• The lack of communication regarding the 2 hour delay on the return was distressing for all waiting passengers. It actually caused the other party to repeatedly approach us to “discuss” the situation. Early in the wait for the 2nd plane, one of their party told me their connection time was 1.5 hours earlier than it was actually scheduled. Tensions were high, and it pitted passenger against passenger. This turned ugly and could have been a much uglier situation if anyone there had been a hot-tempered sort among us.


All in all, fly Air Sunshine at your risk. For us, they are now re-named as Air One-Time.