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Getting to Bonaire: AA and American Eagle San Juan connect problems?
Bonaire Talk: Getting to Bonaire: Archives: Archives 1999-2005: Archives - 2002-01-01 to 2002-10-27: AA and American Eagle San Juan connect problems?
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Joanne Wood on Wednesday, May 15, 2002 - 11:15 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Just got an email from Undercurrent.org saying there "all sorts of problems" with service connecting to Bonaire on American Eagle.

And just read some horror stories here about overbooked and overweight flights, 75 San Juan overnights from Americans' flights and not getting luggage upon arrival to Bonaire.

Anyone do this trip recently? We are set to go on Saturday and I recommended this vacation package to a couple of friends who are joing us on this trip. I hope we are still friends when this is all over!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Linda Stoltzfus on Wednesday, May 15, 2002 - 11:32 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

We just made the trip in April. Denver...Dallas...San Juan...Bonaire - all on American/American Eagle. We had a delay in San Juan of 2 hours because our flight crew was delayed coming in from St. Croix (or so they told us). We were informed of the delay in 20 minute increments, so we couldn't leave the boarding area. We only wish they would have given us a true delay time....we could have explored the airport for a meal. But that was the only slight problem we experienced. We would take the same connections/airline again.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Kate Hickson on Wednesday, May 15, 2002 - 12:01 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I posted my story here somewhere (?). It was Feb 28, our AA flight arrived late to SJU from BOS, but just in time to catch the BON flight. They wouldn't let us board because our luggage wouldn't make it in time. Rules are, you must fly with your luggage (of course, unless THEY lose it). Had to spend 2 nights in SJU, courtesy of AA, as flight to BON next day was full and overbooked. So, who knows?? Some days run like clockwork, some not. Good luck!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Lydia S. Segal on Wednesday, May 15, 2002 - 12:01 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Hi,

We took AA via Miami - SJ - Bon left end of March, retruned early April. No problems. BUT:
1. Bring food to eat, as mentioned above, you want
to get to the waiting area, soon. Several folks were bumped to the next flight (8:30 departure rather than the 6:30) even though they had
boarding passes (GOT these at the first departing
location which for us was Washington DC). Since it looked like chaos, we simply got in line the moment it looked like they were calling our
flight, so we would be early in line. This was all of just a few minutes before take off.

2. We got all ouf our luggage, both directions.
However, We each packed a carry on suitcase with the essentials - bc, reg, one bathingsuit, one pair of shorts. fins and mask. It turned out NOT to be necessary, but at least that way it was with us.
That bag by the way was red ticketed on the sj to bon segment - they place it in the luggage hold as
the overhead is not big enough. Lydia

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jake Richter - NetTech on Wednesday, May 15, 2002 - 4:35 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Here's a copy of what Undercurrent sent out (http://www.undercurrent.org):

Readers are complaining that in Bonaire, American wants you at the airport three hours before flight time. So, for that 7:00 A.M. flight, you'll be getting up by 3:00 A.M. to get there by 4:00 A.M. That is enough to convince me to go elsewhere. And, divers connecting with American Eagle in San Juan are having all sorts of problems trying to reach their destination or get home. Undercurrent subscriber Arthur F. Graf Jr. (San Antonio, TX), who ended up with an unexpected airport overnight, learned too late that his travel agent, Fly Away, hadn't given him enough time between flights. He says the AA desk told him that at least a two-hour layover was necessary to make it through immigration and customs.
As said elsewhere here on BonaireTalk - you do have to show up 2 hours (not 3) before the flight departs - pretty standard for any international flight these days. The fact that 2 hours before 6am is 4am is not a fun way to start a day, but with daily service to/from Bonaire on AA, it seems that one way to compensate is to fly back a day later if you can :-)

As far as the connect times go, in March I flew to Boston, and had about a 1.5 hour connect time. That worked, but anything less will probably not work. It's at least an hour to deplane, walk the long distance to immigration, then still wait for bags, and then clear customs, and then go through security again. So the 2 hours to change planes in San Juan when coming from a non-U.S. location is a reasonable one to adhere to (although we are again booked for the 1.5 connection in July when we fly to Boston because we don't want to wait another couple of hours for a later flight, assuming an on-time arrival in San Juan).

Jake

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Joanne Wood on Wednesday, May 15, 2002 - 6:47 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Thanks all for the responses. I have about 1.75 hrs. between flights on the way to Bonaire. Hopefully, we and our luggage will have time to make the connection. I am not at all worried about coming back :-) home! I just want to get to Bonaire with my dive gear!

I was just wondering what Undercurrent meant by "all sorts of problems" when they only gave one example of a man who didn't catch his flight. The example that was cited can happen to anyone and I didn't think the airline was to blame if the travel company booked a short connection time. I just wanted to get a "heads up" on any problems with American Eagle.

Thanks again, Joanne

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Linda Richter - NetTech on Thursday, May 16, 2002 - 10:17 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Technically the airline is too blame and not the travel agency. Only "legal" connections are listed in the airline computers. A legal connection means it allows at least the minimum connection as designated by the airline and the airport as well as additional time for an international connection versus a domestic connection. Additional time for changing airline, additional time for changing terminals, etc is all handled by the airline res. computers.

A travel/airline agent can book a non-legal connection by individually selecting the connecting flights. But it takes more effort and the airline will not be held responsible if you miss your connection. The agent is required to tell you that. An agent can look up the minimum airport connection times in their res. computers.

The biggest problem I've seen at airports is that many of the passengers are not prepared for the security check and metal detecters.
- Banned items in carry-ons
- carrying drinks and food
- can't lift their own carry-on onto the belt
- wearing metal heavy - clothes, shoes, belts
- not putting all their electronics and metal in the trays like cell phones, beepers, coins and car keys so they have to go through several times
- not having their tickets and ids ready (some people even pack them away thinking they won't need them again - go figure that one)

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mickey McCarthy on Thursday, May 16, 2002 - 2:43 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Hi
We were in Bonaire from April 24 to May 13. We traveled on AA, not my first choice by the way. However, everything went perfectly both ways, with short layovers in SJU. I will never go through MIA again if I can avoid it. The last 3 times I was on AJ, through MBJ everthing very smooth there too.
I believe the fare was about $470 ( I made those reservations back in Jan.) I've been looking at the fares for Oct. and the best I see is $710! Ouch!
I would like to mention that my 20X15X9 inch carryon fit in the overhead going down but wasn't even close coming back. Both ATR 72,s but different models I guess. We had a great time,as we always do.
Till next time Mickey
P.S. Plenty of empty seats on those midweek flights

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mickey McCarthy on Thursday, May 16, 2002 - 2:44 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Hi
We were in Bonaire from April 24 to May 13. We traveled on AA, not my first choice by the way. However, everything went perfectly both ways, with short layovers in SJU. I will never go through MIA again if I can avoid it. The last 3 times I was on AJ, through MBJ everthing very smooth there too.
I believe the fare was about $470 ( I made those reservations back in Jan.) I've been looking at the fares for Oct. and the best I see is $710! Ouch!
I would like to mention that my 20X15X9 inch carryon fit in the overhead going down but wasn't even close coming back. Both ATR 72,s but different models I guess. We had a great time,as we always do.
Till next time Mickey
P.S. Plenty of empty seats on those midweek flights

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mickey McCarthy on Thursday, May 16, 2002 - 2:46 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Sorry about that--got involved in a conversation in between. Mickey

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bade Millsap on Friday, May 17, 2002 - 9:58 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

OK now you have me worried ... hopefully I can get some clarification:

We are making our FIRST trip to Bonaire this June ... inbound to Bonaire we are on AA ... the flight arrives in San Juan at 4:57PM (we hope) and the flight to Bonaire leaves at 5:50PM ... that is just barely over 1 hour for connection ... I was assuming we don't hit customs until Bonaire ... is that correct and does anyone see a problem with that connection time??

On our RETURN ... we have a 6:15AM departure(AA#5135) ... and I gather you are saying we need to be at airport at 4:15AM(true??? are they even OPEN at 4:15AM??) and we arrive in San Juan at 8:19AM ... departure to DFW is at 11:10AM (ALMOST 3 hrs) ... is that an adequate layover? (I am assuming we go thru customs in San Juan before we can board the flight to DFW)...

ANY additional tips or concerns about obvious problems with this planned itenerary would be MOST APPRECIATED ... I already have the tickets and one was with advantage miles so I suspect I am pretty locked in to this but if there are things I can do ahead of time to ease the trip I would sure appreciate knowing ahead of time!!!

Thanks ...
Bade

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Glen Reem on Friday, May 17, 2002 - 10:35 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Sounds good, Bade, based on my 2-way through SJ.

Downbound you have a 'normal' change of planes in one terminal. Some flights seem to have been oversold, from reports here, so best to get to the AE gate early.

Upbound, 3 hrs in SJ should be fine. It is a long walk from the AE inbound area to I & C, so be careful about the weight of your carryon(s).

I am not sure the airline people get to the counter at 4:15 am but some passengers do, so you either get there early or stand in line later. There have been some comments here about this. I don't mind checking in early because then I can go back to accommodations and shower for the flights, eat breakfast and check the car in just before boarding.

I believe some people have been bumped on the Bonaire end also-- another good reason to check in early.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Linda Richter - NetTech on Friday, May 17, 2002 - 10:44 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

From the US via San Juan to Bonaire, you do not go through customs or immigration until Bonaire. You do NOT have to go through metal detectors again to get to your connection in San Juan.

On the return, you go through US customs and immigration in San Juan. You have to claim your checked baggage for customs and hand it back in afterwards. You also have to go through a metal detector and security check to enter the main terminal from the customs area. 3 hours is more than enough time.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ernie Bauer on Friday, May 17, 2002 - 12:57 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Bade,
I've made the trip a couple times on both AA and ALM. In my experience and also from reading BT, no trip to Bonaire is problem free. Do your best to schedule the flights reasonably but also, prepare as much info as possible so you can deal with problems "on the fly". Put together a good phone list with every possible contact you can think of.

For example, on my last trip AA accidentally took my ticket from SJU to MIA in Bonaire. Although I got a boarding pass for the SJU -MIA leg they wanted to validate it with my ticket, so they would not let me on the plane. I went through every manager AA had in SJU without a solution. Finally, I was able to set up a conference call with an AA manager in Chicago along with the managers in SJU. With one key stroke of the computer Chicago fixed the whole thing and I was on my way. So in this case, having the main number for AA reservations was critical.

I guess most would say my advice is just normal preparation for any trip but it just seems it is especially important when going to Bonaire. Anyway, the important thing is just try to remain calm if (when) problems arise. You'll eventually get there and you'll have the time of your life.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Clay Lansdown on Sunday, May 19, 2002 - 11:16 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Bade...regarding the time the AA Eagle people arrive. We just came back from Bonaire yesterday (Sat) and got to the airport at 3:25 am. The AA people got there at 3:30 am and started processing people at 3:45.
However the exit tax booth doesn't open until much later - 5:00 am I think. You can't check in until you have paid the tax, so I would recommend paying the tax and getting the receipt when you arrive. If you forget to do that - which I always do - you can do it sometime during your stay.

Although we dreaded the early morning flight from Bonaire, it turned out to be a good thing. It was cool at the airport compared to our other 6 departures and got us home (NH near Boston) at a great time. The departure and arrival times allow us to take a bus to and from Logan airport which saves us about $160 in parking fees with a net savings of $110.

The AA flights went perfectly for us both going and coming back. We had almost 2 hours in San Juan coming back and used almost an hour for customs and transit. Glad I specified the 2-hour layover in San Juan instead of the 1-hour the AA Internet site recommended.


Clay

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Danielle Pownell on Monday, May 20, 2002 - 8:28 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Clay, Thanks for the tip about paying the exit tax upon arrival... (9 days and counting)

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bade Millsap on Monday, May 20, 2002 - 4:34 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

THANK YOU all for your insight and suggestions ... we leave 6/24 back 7/3 ... I'll post a report ...

Bade

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Robin Matthews on Monday, May 20, 2002 - 9:33 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Bade,

I think we might be in the same boat you are in. We are flying in June, arriving SJ at 4:50 and leaving for Bonaire at 5:50. All this talk has made be nervous as well. I have heard if you miss your flight, there is a great beach in SJ close by the airport, so I plan on packing my bathing suit on my carryon and hoping for the best. It's too late for us to change our flights and I don't think we had much choice. We are flying from Portland, OR to Dallas to SJ, as it is we start out on the red-eye.

Robin

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Leif S on Tuesday, May 21, 2002 - 2:23 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

All,

I have been reading this thread with some worry. My wife and I are flying AA from DFW to SJU to BON in mid-June (perhaps the same flight as Robin?) To assure that we did not suffer the loss of a diving day, I recently inquired about changing to an earlier flight to provide a longer layover in San Juan. In the process, I had a detailed discussion with an AA reservations person (not in their regular direct ticketing department, but through a different department that handles the type of promotional tickets I am using.) This agent said that he has personally travelled through AA's San Juan gates and that approximately one hour between arrival and departure on the outbound itinerary should be plenty of time.

He did caution that the return trip should include a minimum of two hours layover for customs clearance.

He also said that "through passengers" get "first priority" for seats in the event the flight is overbooked, meaning that anyone who is coming in from the U.S. and then getting on board the SJU to BON flight gets preference over anyone whose ticket originates in San Juan or is not part of a single "linked" set of connections. For example, AA has an early morning flight to San Juan that typically does not come up as a leg for a single round-trip fare from Dallas all the way to Bonaire. If I had changed to that earlier flight I believe my "through passenger" status might have not been assured.

Thus, it sounds like the key is to be well informed about the available flights and AA's policies. Obviously the agent's information summarized above cannot be relied on as "official policy" but at least it provides some reassurance from an AA person who sounded like he knew what he was talking about. Hopefully someone can assist by finding an AA policy or rule in writing or online that would confirm the details above.

I look forward to reporting again after our trip.

Leif.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Glen Reem on Tuesday, May 21, 2002 - 8:09 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Leif,

And now you have at least a point of knowledge about priorities to use in any 'discussion' about possible bumping in SJ! Good luck.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Richard Scalzo on Saturday, June 29, 2002 - 11:02 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Just returned from a Newark-Bonaire trip via AA.

No problems EWR/SJ. SJ/Bonaire was right on time but overbooked. Overheads are very small. Just fit my standard Nikonos case. Weight can be a concern and they weight the carry-on's.

Bon/SJ had a 90 minute stopover. It took about 60 minutes to walk to the baggage area, get the bags, clear customs and walk to the gate to the Newark flight.

Anything less than 90 minutes might be cutting it too close.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Leif S on Saturday, June 29, 2002 - 7:37 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Following up, having gone out and back through San Juan - out on June 15, back on June 23.

Thankfully, no problems either direction.

Then again, no baggage was checked for us at all -our carryons-only strategy made life SOOOO stress free going through all airports. The only time we were ever held up (DFW, SJU, BON) was on the way out of town when a DFW x-ray attendent asked me "Scuba gear?" as she peered at the x-ray view of the contents of the 29 inch long, stuffed-to-capacity duffle bag holding our fins, masks, regulators, gauges, wetsuits, computers and snorkels. Answering "why, yes, it is" with a pleasant grin gave us a green light. Note that we did NOT pack any dive knives, flares, pony bottles or terrorist manifestos.

On both the way out and the way back the airline was asking for "volunteers" to be booted from the flight. I saw nobody who seemed miffed at the gate counter, so apparently nobody was denied boarding who really, really wanted to get to Bonaire - or home, for that matter.

After we had boarded in Bonaire (the 11:00 a.m.-ish flight to DFW), the attendent asked for one more volunteer, offering $400 plus an overnight stay and a guaranteed flight the next day. We almost jumped up, given the chance to have one of us make a quick 400 bucks, but decided to spend the next 28 hours together instead.

Note that the little ATR's overheads don't hold much more than a slim camera case. Thus, our duffles - just fine for 757 or MD80 overheads - were gate-checked for the SJU to BON and back flights. Thus, after those legs we just picked our bags from plane-side valet check, as did most others who carried on anything bigger than a loaf of bread.

Customs in San Juan gave us no hassle. We think maybe the implication - clear to any casual observer - that our bags might spew luggage all over the place if we dared unzip them had something to do with why we were never asked to submit to a full inspection.

Not having to stop and wait for bags to be unloaded, trolleyed in, carouselled, dragged around, and re-checked was key - we just shouldered our duffles, backpack style, and hiked through the terminal (which is not, as we had previously been told, just a "short walk"). This allowed us to take advantage of relatively short line lengths, as even though we were nearly the last ones off the plane, we became the vanguard of the migrating gaggle, forging through the checkpoints ahead of most everyone else that had arrived on our flight.

We did not have to rush or scurry - we just had to watch not to tire out our shoulders. I hefted the heavier bag of nearly 35 pounds - Michelle handled the 30 pounder. Then again, we both have experience in the National Guard (part time Army) and thus both have the experience of marching 12 miles in summer heat with 45-70 pounds of gear on our back. Compared to that, navigating the nicely air conditioned corriders of San Juan airport with packed duffles was nothin'...

Total time to get from arrival gate to departure gate was just 12 minutes on the way out (we had a window of about 50 minutes) and 26 minutes flat on the way back (we had 2.5 hours) RNT, YMMV (Results Not Typical, Your Mileage/minutes May Vary).

Obviously our streamlined airport strategy is not recommended for either (a) anyone who is not physically fit or (b) anyone who can't stand to pack light - as in a few sets of shorts and shirts, the all-important dive gear, a "ditty bag" for the bathroom stuff, and a couple of protein bars to snack on.

Based on what I observed, I concur with Richard: 90 minutes is the safe minimum allowance for the gap on catching return flights.

-LS

 


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