By Nadine Rubin (BonaireTalker - Post #97) on Friday, May 13, 2005 - 4:38 pm: |
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I am sitting here with a memo from Air Jamaica released on May 12 that it is suspending service to Bonaire in two phases. Phase one is flt # 66/67 on Wed., Thurs., and Sun. as of June 27, 2005. The second phase is all remaining service will stop as of Aug. 28, 2005.
|
By Carole Baker (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #4861) on Friday, May 13, 2005 - 6:00 pm: |
OMG, this is not good news at all Nadine.....I would have to guess that these might be their flights that have not been fully booked on a regular basis??? Just a thought.
|
By Nadine Rubin (BonaireTalker - Post #98) on Friday, May 13, 2005 - 6:16 pm: |
Hi Carol...
|
By Carole Baker (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #4862) on Friday, May 13, 2005 - 6:52 pm: |
I just checked with AJ on our Sat May 28/June 11 flights and it appears to be fine. She didn't really know much about the suspension of the flights at all....or didn't want to discuss it with me, at least.
|
By Jake Richter - NetTech (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #5455) on Friday, May 13, 2005 - 6:54 pm: |
There's a copy of the AJ press release announcing the cancellation in this thread:
|
By Carole Baker (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #4863) on Friday, May 13, 2005 - 6:59 pm: |
Thanks, Jake...boy, I'm going to go thru Bonaire withdrawal if we can't get there at least once per year! I'm hoping something good will happen out of this mess. See you soon! Carole
|
By The Ginocchio's @ Golden Reef Inn (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #717) on Saturday, May 14, 2005 - 8:25 am: |
Carole and Nadine,
|
By Nadine Rubin (BonaireTalker - Post #99) on Saturday, May 14, 2005 - 9:29 am: |
Thanks Jake and Liz..will look further into that. All the more reason to stay in Bonaire! Liz, you're getting out of here just in time!
|
By John Wilson (BonaireTalker - Post #39) on Saturday, May 14, 2005 - 12:11 pm: |
Wanted to know if anyone out there has ever booked the Wednesday MBJ to BON flight and not made it to MBJ on time. I don't think Air Jamaica goes to Bonaire on Thursdays, so I'm curious as to how long I would have to stay in Jamaica if I were to miss the flight to BON.
|
By Carole Baker (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #4865) on Saturday, May 14, 2005 - 2:46 pm: |
Thanks for the tips, Liz! I'll have to check into that further. See you soon on Bonaire! It must feel great to be able to buy a one way ticket and still be "alive" on the other end to enjoy living on Bonaire! I know you and Ed will wonderfully on Bonaire....you lucky dogs! Carole
|
By Nadine Rubin (BonaireTalker - Post #100) on Saturday, May 14, 2005 - 5:13 pm: |
John, yes we have taken the Wed flight and they will do one of two things: hold the plane, therefore making the turn around back to MoBay late and people miss the connection home. No big deal for AJ as they have flights to the states daily. The other thing we have had happen is they put you up then send you on the Curacao flight the next day - and you pray real hard that BE (or whoever the airline of the moment) is flying.
|
By John Wilson (BonaireTalker - Post #40) on Saturday, May 14, 2005 - 8:47 pm: |
Nadine, Thanks for the info. So have you actually been diverted to Curacao? Does Air Jamaica coordinate and pay for the BE connector or do they leave it up to the passengers?
|
By Nadine Rubin (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #101) on Saturday, May 14, 2005 - 9:58 pm: |
Yes we have, and yes they co-ordinated it and paid...now that has been under the old AJ - who knows now. However, last month we had a little problem and they were very helpful in resolving it.
|
By John Wilson (BonaireTalker - Post #41) on Sunday, May 15, 2005 - 9:01 am: |
Thanks again, Nadine. I intend to post an entire report upon my return, although I don't think it will be of much use to anyone since AJ will soon be history as far as us 'Talkers are concerned.
|
By Barbara Soucy (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #9) on Sunday, May 15, 2005 - 4:38 pm: |
I just got off the phone with Air Jamaica - as we too have tickets for Bonaire in July(BWI/BON 7/6 and 7/24.) The reservationist said that the newest information is Air Jamaica services will be temporarily suspended as of August 27, 2005; they have pushed out the window. She also said that suspension was "temporary" and service may well continue. I gave her our confirmation numbers as we are on flight numbers 66 and 67 - in on 7/6 and out of 7/24. She said "service on those days was still running and that the only change that we will see is a slip in the departure time of approximately 10 minutes."
|
By Barbara Soucy (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #10) on Sunday, May 15, 2005 - 5:15 pm: |
Strike two - I called back to speak to another service representative after visiting a few more Bonaire threads - and - you guessed it - FLIGHTS cancelled. Maybe strike two was being given miss-information. I called back in and the next representative did tell me "Service cancelled!" Just GREAT - They are offering Sat-Sat service changes...gee swell. Looks like this is going to be an interesting week! - Just when I thought my summer vacation issues were finalized - I never heard the fat lady sing - I should have known something was missing!
|
By Robyn Churchill (BonaireTalker - Post #79) on Sunday, May 15, 2005 - 10:10 pm: |
WOW,,,horrible news. I've always flown from Miami to Bonaire via Air Jamaica and I really enjoyed their service.
|
By Barbara Soucy (BonaireTalker - Post #11) on Monday, May 16, 2005 - 2:05 pm: |
This Air Jamaica thing is so devastating... but OK - I'm semi-over this re-booking shock and learning to deal with it! After a bit of a run around (it is ALL in the "WHO" of who you get for a customer service rep at AJ) I am rebooked with paper tickets on AA which are being FedExed to me later today. I guess I am going to spend more reading time on the BonaireTalk thread - "What to do in San Juan for 7 hours!" - especially with kids! I always try to find a lighter happier note - so here is mine...at least I will get AA frequent flier miles which I have a bunch of and have not used yet....In all our AJ flights I have never quite made the 7th Heaven free flight list - always a wee bit short or something just expired.
|
By lisa zacchio (BonaireTalker - Post #35) on Thursday, May 26, 2005 - 8:55 pm: |
Since AJ will no longer be servicing Bonaire, does anyone think this will have a major impact on the Bonaire economy? I have been checking out flights from NYC to Bonaire, and the price is very steep. $1200 on orbitz.com and that was for economy. Not only is the price high, but many of the flights put you in a position of staying over in Curacao for the night. So now we add in the added expense of a hotel, meals, and taxi. Not to mention lugging the luggage. We're hoping that some airline picks up the slack. Even if they flew 3x per week.
|
By Tom Pritchard (BonaireTalker - Post #22) on Friday, May 27, 2005 - 1:02 am: |
I am headed to Bonaire on Sunday, July 3rd on the ATL AJ flight. But instead of MB/Bonaire, its MB, CUR, a 5 hr. layover, then BON at 9 or 10 Sun. night. The good news is: I won't have to wait as long to dive, the bad news is: What am I(and the 25 or so others from my LDS)going to do for 5 hrs. in CUR? It was so much easier last year.
|
By Scott Knobler (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #6) on Wednesday, June 1, 2005 - 5:56 pm: |
I too had a flight booked on AJ to go to Bonaire on Wednesday August 3. They did not even call or email me to tell me it was cancelled!? My brother had the same flight (Mon Bay >Bonaire) through Expedia and they emailed him.
|
Visit: The Bonaire WebCams - Current Bonaire images and weather!
The Bonaire Insider - the latest tourism news about Bonaire
The Bonaire Information Site, InfoBonaire
Search Bonaire - Search top Bonaire Web sites