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Getting to Bonaire: DAE Experience January 2nd
Bonaire Talk: Getting to Bonaire: Archives: Archives 2006-2008: Archives - 2008-01-01 to 2008-02-29: DAE Experience January 2nd
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Verena & Andreas (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #1) on Friday, January 11, 2008 - 8:55 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

We have travelled a lot in our life and have our fair share of airline experience – however, DAE (Dutch Antilles Express) has set new negative standards for us.
We were booked for 8am on January 2nd to get from Bonaire to Aruba. We arrived shortly after 6, checked in OK and heard the first news that the plane would depart 8:30 – so far so good.
Around 8:45 sitting in the plane, ready to go, the pilot announced a minor technical problem and that the flight will be delayed until further notice. We had to leave the airplane and were sent back to the waiting lounge.
No information was given what was going on, nor any airline rep was present to answer any questions. About 45 minutes later the first announcement was made stating an approximate 2 hours delay and requesting all passengers to stay in the airport.
I asked the pilot who walked through the hall and he described the issue as a minor technical issue and thought we should be on our way before noon.
Nothing official happened for hours, no further announcement, no repair activity. We had ample time, others with more tight connections got nervous and went out asking at the check-in desk what was happening. It finally emerged that they had no technical problem at all, but did not renew their 2008 airline operations license and hence had been grounded by the authorities! We thought we had all airline experience you can have, but a scheduled airline forgetting to renew their license was a first!
At 1 pm an announcement was made that the plane would be allowed to depart around 2pm – 2pm passed, 3pm was gone, 4pm and no flight. To cut a long story short – we took off about 5:15pm – more than 9 hours late for a 30 minute flight - and by that time even our connection with 6.5 hours layover was gone. We had spent 11 hours in “lovely” Bonaire Airport without any chance to do anything with the whole day, one drink and one snack in this whole period, lying, misinformation and lack of information by DAE through that period included.
Needless to say that our e-mail to DAE to ask for compensation of our costs of the delay and forced say in Aruba has been totally ignored.
Hence, if you do plan to visit the Netherland Antilles – be warned, avoid this airline like the plaque!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Reza Gorji (BonaireTalker - Post #29) on Friday, January 11, 2008 - 9:42 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Terrible experience.


(Message edited by gorji on January 11, 2008)

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Freddie (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #9490) on Saturday, January 12, 2008 - 12:44 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

So was anything GOOD???? another 1st negative post how about the good stuff first and then the bad news???

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By bob...packing now! (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #2446) on Saturday, January 12, 2008 - 1:42 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

hey, give the poster some credit - they did post to "getting to bonaire" (not "trip report") and provided useful (if not new) information...

even without a trip report i can't see why anyone would have a problem with this post...

so there,

:-)



 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Brian Back in March (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #3483) on Saturday, January 12, 2008 - 6:22 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

DAE were in a real mess when we were travelling in October, how long can they carry on?

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Susan - www.bsdme.info (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #533) on Saturday, January 12, 2008 - 7:21 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Verena,
I understand your frustration. We have not flown DAE that they didn't leave us stranded somewhere. We now are trained to at the first sign of delay start looking for other options.It would have been better had they communicated with you in a timely fashion so you would have been able to make other plans.

It is a shame that their performance has not improved since we used them last summer. The good news is that there are other options now to get to Aruba which may be one of the reasons DAE struggles so.

Fortunately it was on your way home and not on the way to Bonaire.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Verena & Andreas (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #2) on Saturday, January 12, 2008 - 7:35 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Just to respond to a couple of the comments:
- we had a great time in Bonaire, a lovely Oceanfront Villa, a great family reunion and daily snorkeling only matched by a trip to the Maledivien Islands some years ago, however in response to a complaint above, none of that fun can be credited to DAE and hence was not part of our post about the experience with them
- we had a lot of time at the airport and hence a lot of time to talk to locals about the experience and history with/of DAE - we kept the post simple and facts driven, what we learned during that day though was probably the largest collection of "finding alternative names" for what DAE stands for. Posting all this wouldn't have been professional though, but it told us that they simply are a constantly mismanaged company.

(Message edited by verandy on January 12, 2008)

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Nathalie (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #228) on Saturday, January 12, 2008 - 9:13 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Verena & Andreas,
Thanks for taking the time to post useful Bonaire related airline info. Not all of us demand a glowing trip report as a prerequisite for posting useful travel information. I'm sure many appreciate the input and use it to select among the options of getting to Bonaire. It was relevant, factual, and not mean spirited. Sorry you had to end your vacation with that airline frustration and sorry you had to be reprimanded for sharing useful info. Glad you enjoyed the rest of your time on Bonaire.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Nathalie (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #229) on Saturday, January 12, 2008 - 9:22 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Freddie, are you saying that unless someone chooses to take the time to post a positive trip report that you prefer that person post nothing? Even when he/she might have info of use to other Bonaire travelers? There is no dearth of glowing trip reports. Fortunately, most people who choose to post have had a great vacation. Info that helps us get to Bonaire in the least complicated way is very useful. Let's try not to discourage people from taking the time to post it.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Denise K (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1682) on Saturday, January 12, 2008 - 9:50 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Verena & Andreas, Thank you for your posting. Getting to and from Bonaire economically and efficiently is such a challenge. Input based on experience helps us as we decide from the options.

Nathalie, well said.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bev Delarue (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #317) on Saturday, January 12, 2008 - 9:57 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Thanks for posting we are travelling with them in 8 days and will keep on our toes is something seems a little strange.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Boat Chick************** (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #4139) on Saturday, January 12, 2008 - 9:59 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Jerry, DON'T READ THIS THREAD...

Verena and andreas, sorry you had such a bad experience...but as Susan said, at least it was on your way home?

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Kobi in Virginia *** (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #3853) on Saturday, January 12, 2008 - 10:36 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

BC, was just thinking the same thing! OYE.....prayers & good thoughts for those who are using them in the near future. Hope all goes smoothly....

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Susan - www.bsdme.info (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #534) on Saturday, January 12, 2008 - 11:06 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Verena,
The previous names of the currently DAE has always been a source of great acronyms. At least you kept your sense of humor.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Verena & Andreas (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #3) on Saturday, January 12, 2008 - 11:23 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Susan
Yes, the day had its fun moments :-) And we clearly can imagine worse places than Aruba to be stranded for a night.
The worst isn't really that they had problems or that we ended up delayed home by 26 hours, it was the way they handled it. With early honest communication and timeline we could have enjoyed another day in Bonaire, find reasonable accommodation in Aruba and arrange alternative US flights home without pressure. Through their dismal handling of the situation it ended up as a 1000USD bill for us (family 4, hotel search in the dark, rental car, roaming calls, meals, etc) and a completely ruined day at the airport. Hence the real issue is their complete and utter neglect of customer interest.
We even gave them the corporate benefit of the doubt that it might be their local Bonaire reps and gave them a full week to respond to our complaint. Not even as much of an answer (a read receipt though - so they did get the message)
Cheers
Andreas
PS: to be not all negative: USairways was great in handling the situation. Even it wasn't their fault and it was a separate itinerary they re-accommodated us a day later and waived all charges or changes in fare

(Message edited by verandy on January 12, 2008)

(Message edited by verandy on January 12, 2008)

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Brian Back in March (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #3486) on Saturday, January 12, 2008 - 12:47 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

How about Delays Always Expected

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By RONALD CHEEVERS (BonaireTalker - Post #13) on Saturday, January 12, 2008 - 4:02 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Verena, we are looking at a 2-week vacation split between Aruba 1st & Bonaire 2nd (saving the best for last of course) next year but after hearing of your dilema, are a bit skiddish about using DAE for the hop to Bonaire. Are there any alternatives to getting to Bonaire from Aruba direct other than DAE?

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Susan Taft (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #821) on Saturday, January 12, 2008 - 5:40 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Verena, ouch .... that was certainly not the way to end a nice vacation! Several years ago we also flew through Aruba because we had "miles" on USAir. BonairExel (preDAE) caused us to miss our flight to the US and the folks at USAir were also wonderful to us in getting us on another flight without a charge. Getting to and from Bonaire is always a challenge but sure worth it!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Verena & Andreas (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #4) on Saturday, January 12, 2008 - 6:18 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Ronald,

I think the options from Aruba to Bonaire are limited. From/To Curacao we heard much better experience with DiviDivi. This gives a few more options to get from the US to Bonaire, but not from Aruba to Bonaire. Don't expect a direct flight with DAE either though. To our knowledge almost all of their flights stop in Curacao to drop/pick-up passengers - thats however not a big issue. The flights are about 15 minutes each.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Gallus50 (BonaireTalker - Post #54) on Saturday, January 12, 2008 - 6:52 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Ronald - My son and I flew Tiara Air in November and were delayed slightly but did not have any signifcant problems. It was a direct flight and the fare was lower than DAE's. So I can recommend them and would say they sound like a much better option than flying DAE! You could also fly Insel Air to Curacao (I think) and then Divi Divi to Bonaire.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Sparty (BonaireTalker - Post #70) on Saturday, January 12, 2008 - 8:00 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

My wife and I have been to Bonaire six times and will be returning again in Feb/March for 5 weeks. Other than a hit and run on our car while we were dining, we have not had any bad experiences, in fact we love Bonaire. I will add that the body shop provide a very reasonable estimate for the repair ($500+), considering the damage that was done. Much lower than we expected.

I hope this message will serve to CMA just in case we have a future negative experince and I decide to post it here. Wouldn't want to be accused of never having posted a positive post first. :-)

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Freddie (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #9491) on Saturday, January 12, 2008 - 10:27 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I also appreciate the above post... But it would have been nice if they had posted their good times for their first post. Seems that when people post something negative for their first post they don't normally have anything else good to say about anything.. just an observation..the information was good, I would have loved to read it after reading their trip report..on post number 2 JMHO

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Deborah Bennett (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #105) on Sunday, January 13, 2008 - 1:19 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

I am getting scared about my upcoming flights from Aruba to Bonaire and back! Last time we didn't receive our luggage fore several days at hom, but that was no biggie. (the reason was, they had put too much fuel in the plane, and so the plane was too heavy!!!! So they took off everyone's luggage.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Brian Back in March (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #3487) on Sunday, January 13, 2008 - 4:28 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

We flew with Tiara Air twice in October and they were fine. http://www.tiara-air.com/

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Deborah Bennett (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #113) on Tuesday, January 22, 2008 - 11:07 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

We flew Aruba-Bonaire in Sept, and we got in and out ok, just our luggage was 2 days late getting home. Not a severe problem for me. I am always careful to keep my diving stuff in a carryon---just in case.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Verena & Andreas (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #5) on Wednesday, January 23, 2008 - 9:10 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

To our experience its not when things go smooth what tells you about the business practice of an airline - when they have problems its the way they deal with the situation which is revealing. DAE has not only set negative standards in this respect, they simply ignore and violate their own published fare conditions where they do promise compensation for delays they are responsible for - in reality they simply completely ignore the compensation request.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By keith sutton (BonaireTalker - Post #58) on Friday, January 25, 2008 - 9:11 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

My travel in December involved DAE from Aruba to Bonaire...all went smoothly, and arrived 10 minutes ahead of schedule with bags intact, landing well executed despite a storm breaking over Flamingo at the time. The 4 hour layover at the Aruba airport was quite dull however.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Paula B (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #127) on Friday, January 25, 2008 - 12:29 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Thanks Keith, it is just a week and we will be using DAE from Aruba to Bonaire also. I'm sure more people are inclined to post negative thoughts than good ones. So yours is appreciated

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mickey McCarthy (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #511) on Friday, January 25, 2008 - 2:17 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Hi
Here's an interest read about DAE. The copyright is recent but who knows about the information. Any how it's here.
http://www.answers.com/topic/dutch-antilles-express
Mick

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By jay hinze (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #1) on Sunday, January 27, 2008 - 4:57 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I appreciate the comments provided on this topic. I have been following BT closely and would have liked to avoid DAE on my upcoming trip to Bonaire through Aruba. Few choices exist with decent connections from Aruba to Bonaire on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Hopefully DAE customer service personnel and management read your feedback and try to improve performance. I am glad to see some positive feedback. I promise to report back when I return.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By jay hinze (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #2) on Saturday, February 16, 2008 - 6:00 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Well, in my earlier post I agreed to provide feedback regarding my experience on DAE airlines last week. We used frequent flyer miles to get from Atlanta to Aruba. That left us with little choice but use DAE. (The other puddle jumpers didn't fit our schedule.)

I am happy to report that we had no significant problems. We caught an 8:00AM flight out of Aruba with a stop/plane change in Curacao. Then caught a DAE jet to Bonaire. We arrived at 9:30AM on time with luggage. The luggage got abused but that is minor.

On the return we had a similar experience. We left Bonaire at 8:00AM with stop in Curacao and arrived in Aruba about 10 minutes early with luggage.

Don't try to call their local phone number to confirm your flight the day before. No one answered my repeated calls.

I don't recommend traveling this way. I certainly will not in the future. Costs eat you alive. We paid $202 each for our round trip ticket on DAE airlines. Departure taxes out of Aruba are expensive. We paid $41 each in additional departure taxes. So our "free tickets" cost us $243 each--not to mention wear and tear from very long travel days.

Next time we'll take the new Delta flights or Air Jamaica from Atlanta.

 


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