We just got back from Bonaire on Aug 20th, and I read in a local paper that liens had been put on some of ALM's equipment. (Not a good thing) Also, on Saturday the 12th ALM did not fly at all.

This hapeens with quite some regulariitity. On the other hand, we had four days straight when all the planes were on time. go figure

Actually on Sat the 12th, the 7:30 am flight from Bonaire made it to Curacao at about noon, and the 8:20 am flight Cur. to Miami left about 5 pm. There were nearly riots at Curacao. I believe 4 out 7 planes were grounded. But we did fly.

ok, I can't say I haven't been warned. But after 15 years of travel to Bonaire, always taking AA as far as I possibly could (CUR), I have been seduced by a cheap ticket which involves taking ALM fr MIA to CUR to BON and back again. Am I insane?? Any feedback fr anyone involving flying ALM on this route? Is it habitually a delay from hell, missing all connections, etc.?? I originate in Boston.I'm travelling down Oct 30. See you all...eventually. Thanks.
Kate

Kate, I am concerned as you are
We're going Oct 14 on AA & ALM my connections start JFK to Miami, Miami direct to Bonaire, but coming home Oct28 Bonaire Cur.,Miami then NY We too have been going over 10yrs and ususally use ALM(very recently, May) or Air Aruba( are they still flying?) This time we're due to get to Bonaire 3 in the afternoon(like that part). We usually don't have problems with ALM.I'm hoping we won't encounter any this time either with ALM re-organizing. I think it's the " luck of the draw" like I always say. Friends of mine have lots of horror stories too and they don't travel anywhere near the caribbean or on ALM. I think it has as alot to do with the crowded skies these days. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed and my ears open to any problems. I'll let you know if I hear anything.

Kate,
We're taking the same route Oct 4 thru Oct 10 and we're concerned also.This is about our 5th trip with ALM(no problems yet)but the first time we've had to lay over in Curacao.I will post the trip results when we return.

Barbara and I are going Oct 4 - Oct 18. We try to fly AA from Boston to CUR then ALM to BON. We almost always have some dificulty on the ALM leg. But you know, we just continue to tell ourselves...hey, we're going to Bonaire...14 trips and we have always made it there.
Really looking forward to this one.
Tom Wilson

My wife and I are leaving Nov 1st. I had tickets on ALM, like you became concerned about getting to Bonaire and back home. I feel lucky, I was able to get my money back, and now am going Air Jamaca. This added to my expense, but I feel a lot better now.

Thanks for your input everybody. Bob, I look forward to your trip report when you return. I'm taking Lorraine and Tom's Zen-like approach...life is an adventure and ALM is a crap shoot! When I'm down in March, I'll definitely take AA fr Bos to Cur with the free frequent flier miles ticket. PS- I've always had excellent luck with the Bon-Cur leg of the ALM trip. Several times they've even put me on an earlier flight. Can't wait to get there!
Kate

I have no intentions of changing our tickets, there are horror stories for every airline, I'm always the optomist, let you know how this adventure works out.

flying ALM is indeed a CRAP-SHOOT. I have flown alm many times over the past 17 years, and my experience is that there is a minor problem about 50% of the time. a minor problem is something like a missing piece of luggage(as opposed to loosing all your luggage, which is a major problem), being 30 min. to one hour or so late, but not late enough to cause you to miss a connection, or rude, uncooperative, unconcerned, employees. About 25% of the time you will experience a major problem, such as 3 hour+ delays, or outright cancellation of a flight without warning AND WITHOUT EXPLANATION, loss of luggage for 3 or more days, extreme rudeness of alm employees along with a variety of other conduct which reasonalbe people simply cannot believe of comprehend. Fortunately, about 25% of the time every thing will go on schedule as expected and without a hitch(sometimes even the employees are pleasant and even smile like the bonaireans of yesteryear.

This is our first time going to Bonaire & we are flying ALM. The 4 of us are are driving to Miami & flying out of Miami on Mon 10/2, to Curacao & then Bonaire. Has anyone flown ALM in the past 2 weeks? If so, any news?

ALM, according to the airport services operator last Wednesday has been running reasonably on time for a few weeks now (maybe an hour or two off, but nothing drastic). Let's hope that continues for a while.

Jake

Just spoke to an ALM rep. to get seat #'s , she said everthings going fine and the planes have not experienced delays. I am "keeping the faith"!

Were flying Air ALM shortly and i,ve occasionally checked the Miami Airport live flight info site to see how ALM flights are running - Mostly ontime including this afternoons Curacao-Miami flight which is only afew minutes late.
see www.miami-airport.com/webfids/html/default.html
We,re looking forward to our trip!

Lorraine..you spoke to an ALM rep to get seat #'s? We always got our seat assignments when we checked in at the airport. I never could get them ahead of time..Is there anything new I don't know about?

My travel agent,CaradonnaTours,I have mentioned what a pleasure it was booking thru them, sent me a note with my tickets to call ALM(1-800-327-72300) 21 days(yesterday) prior to departure for seat assignments on my flight#972. I did the same for the American lag to Miami from JFK both ways.
Something about them having a "block" of tickets.
I usually do this and I have gone through Divi & Interval travel services in the past to get to Bonaire. Maybe it has to do with making a call about 3wks before departure? I don't know,but I usually have seat #'s before we get to the airport. I kind of thought this was a standard thing to have before your trip(?) begins.

It is a usual thing, but my experience with ALM has been that valid seat assignments prior to day of check-in are a rare thing indeed. Maybe they've become a little more sophisticated (computer-wise) since I last flew them, many months ago...

Jake

The correct Phone # for ALM is 800 327-7230. One too many 0's, sorry!

Like I said it's a usual thing I do when I travel, maybe I just get lucky (?).

Masha Danki to James for the site about the flights!

Our flight down to Curacao, 9/7, ran about 15 minutes late but otherwise all was fine. Our luggage even made it to Bonaire with us! Returning on 9/14 however, we arrived at Curacao only to be told tersely that our flight was canceled and American would probably be able to take us on. Luckily they did, and I mean not just being able to get home, but in the overall experience of flying American. Nothing ALM did was overtly wrong but I just felt better on American.

Thanks to all of you for your comments on ALM! I will let you know how our flights go. As Kate said, life is an adventure! JoAnn

Does anyone have any updated news on how ALM is doing. We'll be flying to miami on AA and then On ALM to Curacao-- and then the puddle jumper (ALM) Leaving Boston on Nov 22

End of the month travel is usually the biggest risk-time for ALM - the threats of bankruptcy or other action (strikes) seem to usually hit when they get to the end of the month and can't make payroll, lease payments on planes, etc. So Nov. 22 should be fine for getting to Bonaire. Leaving may be another issue (although I think ALM is currently fine for end of November finances)...

Jake

Jan-
Just back fr Bonaire (I also originate in Boston). Flew AA to Miami, then ALM to CUR, and ALM fr CUR to BON and back again when I left. Both trips went like clockwork! ALM was 30 mins. late leaving CUR to MIA on my departure day, which I still consider "like clockwork" for them. I was psyched it all worked out. Hope you have the same good luck and have a fun trip!

Traveled 10/14 - 10/28 on ALM from NY and had uneventful flights.

Thanks for all the updates. If we get there without a hitch - we don't care if we get home!
Will just have to take a few sick days from work.