Hi all,

Just back from an all too short trip, Sat April 30 to Wednesday May 4. PBD has set in.

Sat morning flight EWR-MB right on time, great service. MB-BON delayed 20 minutes to wait for the Baltimore flight to arrive at MB, left and arrived 20 minutes late to BON, really no problem except we landed at same time as KLM flight, so we all crammed around the baggage carousel trying to identify luggage from two different flights in 92 degree heat. Took one hour to get the luggage and get out, but that was not AJ's fault.

Wed afternoon flight home BON-MB took off on time. Funny story - the flight coming in from MB was 20 minutes late arriving to BON, but they turned it around and had the plane back in the air within 20 minutes, Amazing! OK, granted there was only 26 passengers, and we each had a row for sleeping :-), but impressive nonetheless. Flight from MB-EWR left on time, arrived on time in Newark last night.

I really only have good things to say about them this trip. The service people in the airports were exceedingly polite and friendly, as were the crews on board (especially the attendant who slammed me in the knee with the food cart), the planes were on time and I think you'll see good reliability in the future. This was about my 20th trip with AJ and one of the best.

Hope this helps -

Carl

I'm sure a person more creative than I could substitute AJ for girl in ...

There Was a Little Girl

There was a little girl,
Who had a little curl,
Right in the middle of her forehead.
When she was good,
She was very good indeed,
But when she was bad she was horrid.

-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

GLAD TO HEAR! Will be going ewr to bon 5/14. Reading some threads here it is easy to get paranoid. My last trip to bon on AJ was good also. Welcome home.

Hi,

Have been reading all your info. on Air Jamaica (AJ). I flew on that airline for the first time last year, and loved the connection from Los Angeles. The Jamaica airport is not the greatest tho.

I am flying out around June 21st, and have not booked a flight yet (have been contemplating as to whether to fly that airline w/ everything going on!) I am taking a friend w/ me this time, and she has never been out of the U.S. and also scared to fly. ( she will be taking something to calm her down.) I did not want to go A.A. to San Juan, as there are one too many stops involved.
I want this to be a good first experience for her, I would feel awful if something went wrong!

I was planning on returning the 3rd of July, Sunday, but read that is a risk to fly back on that day as most likely you would have to stay the night in Jamaica?

Anyway, let me know your thoughts.

Thanks so much,

Gwen

Chances are it could happen. We were one of the ones who got stuck in Jamacia overnight and AJ put us up at the Holiday Inn Montego Bay. I did my post under AJ experience. If you do book AJ just remember it could happen and go with the flow. That's what we did. Have a great trip !

Hey, Carl! Glad to see AJ's flights went well and that you had a great time, again. You bum!! You are becoming a real Bonaire traveler, now, eh? That's great! It must have been nice to have lots of room on the Bon MB flight...that is so rare. I guess on Wednesday it is not as crowded as on the weekends. Where did you hit the waters this time around?? Carole

PS How's the lot?? Is there still a boat on it? Did you take it out for a spin, if so??!! LOL.

We had a great experience flying down via Ft.Lauderdale on April 20. A mechanical failure resulted in AJ chartering a jet to fly down from the states on Sunday May 1 to rescue about 200 of us. As a result we were 12 hrs. late getting back to Louisville KY. We were supposed to fly back MB to Atlanta to Louisville. Instead it was MB to Boston , to Chicago to Louisville. However, we did get to accompany Kirstie Alley (Cheers, Fat Actress,(she's not fat now, she's foxey)), down the concourse in Boston.

I am flying AJ ATL/MB/BON Sunday July 3rd, with a group from my LDS and returning the following Sunday. All this talk about the Sunday flights has started to make me a little nervous. Keep us posted on good(and not so good)AJ experiences.

I am so glad that you had a wonderful experience. I hope that AJ stays on top of their game.

An Israeli poster?

Had no idea Air Jamaica flew there... ;-)

We are up early this morning to go to the airport and saw an email from Air Jamaica saying that today's 8:20 flight from Atlanta to MB has been delayed until 9:14am. I figured that they would do this since yesterday's flight from MB to ATL was late and there is a mandated crew rest time. The good news so far is that no flights have been cancelled.

Hope you made it ok, Bob...hope we do hear from you after you had a great trip! Since you have not posted all day, today, we can "hope" you are on Bonaire right now enjoying yourself and not in a MB hotel room.....Thanks for the update. Carole

Just an update from me on AJ. Flew to Bonaire on AJ from May 4-11 and I can say it is very intense for all wondering what is going to happen to the airline end of month. I flew from Phila to MoBay then to Bonaire, and there was only about twenty people flying on aircraft from MoBay to Bonaire and from Bonaire to MoBay. Plenty of seats available. I had no delays except from MoBay to Bonaire due to a little later departure time, but still made it to Bonaire and coming home yesterday, we left Bonaire about 15 minutes early and left on time for Phila. from Mobay. So, all worked out o.k. for my trip, but not sure what is going to happen end of May for the airline. I really hope that AJ works out it's problems and will continue to service Mobay to Bonaire, but I guess time will tell. I am waiting to see before I buy tickets for our August vacation to Bonaire.
Debbie

We flew Air Jamaica Boston-Bonaire Apr 30 - May 11. All flights were on time, early, or at most a few minutes late.

Also, we were there at the same time there was a "Digital Shoot-off" being held at the Habitat. We learned from some of the participants who stayed longer than 1 week that some of the others (who went home after 1 week) and took AA found their very expensive cameras and housings developed legs in San Juan.

They were not happy.

Susans and My easy to spot feature really worked well as the Pursers on both legs of the Air Jamaica flights recognized us from past flights. It was like old home week.

Somehow, I don't think AA would be like that. Much more impersonal I should think.

Well, it was almost an excellent experience. Our flight on May 11th to Bonaire was just about on schedule. Gate agents and flight crews were courteous and helpful. All luggage arrived with us. As usual the TSA had opened the bag with the peanut butter; but we had TSA locks, so the bags were still locked when we arrived.

The return was more interesting. They "diverted" the Thursday May 19th flight. Actually, AJ combined the Curacao and Bonaire flights. Stopping in Bonaire first, they discharged an unknown number of passengers and boarded about a dozen of us (certainly not enough to pay for airplane lease, fuel, and labor costs) onto a plane almost packed with people going to Curacao. Evidently there was some mixup in paperwork vs. passenger count so that even though they tried for a quick 20 minute turn around, it ended up being an hour. In Curacao they unloaded and almost filled the airplane again with the Curacao folks. This made us about 1 1/2 hour late to MoBay, 15 minutes after our flight to Atlanta was supposed to leave. Luckily, it hadn't left yet. However, the agent at the gate hesitated letting us board because she said they were about to close the door. After a few minutes, they allowed us and another couple (that's right, only four people were going from Bonaire to Atlanta on Thursday) on board. We were denied our row 7 seats and moved to row 25 because we were late. The gate agent was skeptical that our checked bags would arrive with us. We still sat on the ground for a while. Again, courteous and helpful flight crews; and fairly decent meals. After arriving in Atlanta, our bags were there! Viva AJ.

More luck -- folks flying to Chicago Thursday were really worried because their flight was supposed to leave MoBay earlier than the Atlanta flight. Upon arrival in MoBay, they found that the airplane from Bonaire was the same one going to Chicago!

If AJ gets their act together and becomes reliable again, the option of flying through MoBay to Curacao should be a good alternate to Aruba or San Juan.

Thanks for the report on AJ, Bob. Glad it all worked out for you.

I really hope AJ does get its act together as we love flying with them. I'm hoping they will resume service to Bonaire eventually, but no way to know at this point.

I had read Continental was considering flying from Newark (where we depart) into Curacao...that would be a good possibilty for us, too.

Would prefer AJ, however! Thanks again. Carole

Hi, guys, just checking in. AJ was excellent today...actually arrived in Montego Bay one half hour early from Newark. The MB to Bonaire flight was perfection, too.....on time, right on the mark and arrived before the KLM 747!!!

Will tell you more later on. Here at Michael's place right now chugging Gregg Brewer's rum! LOL. Only joking.

Ayo. Carole

There's pretty good prices on Scotch at the airport in Jamaica Carole.