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Trip Reports: Trip report 6/4
Bonaire Talk: Trip Reports: Archives: Archives 2000 to 2005: Archives - 2005-05-08 to 2005-08-03: Trip report 6/4
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By James Tate (BonaireTalker - Post #32) on Saturday, June 4, 2005 - 7:30 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Before I start let me thank all the kind people who answered my many questions.This was to be our first Trip .It started when I booked my flight in march with Delta only to find they contract two legs of the trip with air Jamaica.I followed BT instructions and bougth booties and force fins. Then I got dive skins.I booked the sanddollar from 6/4 until 6/12.My wife and I were so excited. We drove 2 hours to RDU air port and stayed at a hotel over night since our plane left at 630 AM.I had called Delta and confirmed our flights the night before.When we got to the airport at 445AM we were told that the last part of our trip AJ from Montego Bay to Bonaire was canceled and there were for the next few days at least. There was also no other way to get us there since they could not confirm with excell through aruba.I called sanddollar and they said thats to bad no refunds.Please notice so far My emotions have not come into play, these are the facts.Delta refunded the cost of our tickets,since they could not get us there.Sanddollar made no attempt so far. This is not the peak season if it were I could understand the lost revenue. As it is they will make about $1200 off me for doing nothing. Budget car rental will loose a weeks rental since I called them to cancel.Let those who read this be warned,put yourself in my place.If you really want to take this chance be my guest. As for my wife and I we would just as soon drink gasoline as to even consider going to bonaire. Will make a point of informing everyone we meet of our experience.As for Air Jamaica may the ones responsible for our pain be cursed.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Carol Eddy (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #514) on Saturday, June 4, 2005 - 7:49 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

James, so sorry that you never got to Bonaire -losing your hotel money didn't make it any better. We always buy trip insurance because you just never know what could happen - you could have easily become ill and not been able to make the trip and would have still lost your money. We have always flown out of Norfolk to Atlanta on Delta and relied on them to make the connections with Air Jamaica for us. This was our third year (we went in March) and everything went very smoothly. Air Jamaica did contract with Delta to provide the aircraft and crew for both the Atlanta to Montego Bay and back again routes. We want to go back next year, but can't use our Delta miles to get there unless we go through Aruba . . . still checking that out. Hopefully, one day you will get to experience Bonaire. . . the "getting there" is truly worth it in the end.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By mary pequinot (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #501) on Saturday, June 4, 2005 - 8:24 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I think it's outrageous that Sand Dollar didn't work with you, especially given the AJ circumstances that all of the island knows about.

I understand how you feel about Bonaire right now-angry and frustrated-I would too! However, give it some time and try not to blame the whole island for the bungling of AJ and the bad judgment of Sand Dollar. When some time has passed, reconsider it (after that experience, I definitely wouldn't re-book with Sand Dollar) with another place.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Denise Kacavas (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1010) on Saturday, June 4, 2005 - 8:46 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I can certaily understand your bitterness James. The fact is you did not get sick. I'll bite my tongue as to what you did get. In hindsight insurance woud obviously have been a good investment. But so what now .... I believe Sanddollar should at least offer to give you full credit for use at another time. Under the circumstances they should consider the value of good will. With the loss of AJ the businesses on Bonaire will be adversely effected if reliable alternative transportation does not become available soon, all the more reason for them to make a full effort for customer satisfaction. I understand they can't afford to give back $1200 to every passenger AJ left hanging in the wind. But bad word spreads way toooooo fast.

While I too love Bonaire, NOT "getting there" is NOT "worth it in the end". On my budget $1200 is ALOT of money to throw away. It is not the fault of the wonderful people of Bonaire or the many good businesses on Bonaire that this happened to you. But that does not change the facts of your experience. Just my 2 cents worth. You have my empathy!! I hope you are able to take a nice relaxing dive vacation soon, anywhere, so you and your wife can enjoy yourselves with out having to drink gasoline :-)

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Denise Kacavas (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1011) on Saturday, June 4, 2005 - 8:48 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Maybe Sand Dollar will reconsider if asked again. I believe they have had good reports and a good reputation here on BT in the past.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By mary pequinot (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #502) on Saturday, June 4, 2005 - 8:54 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Denise is right-this does not sound like Sand Dollar. Perhaps some experienced BT people can give some insight-even through a personal e-mail to help James out. Let's put our heads together and see if we can help.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By MantyMonty (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #1) on Saturday, June 4, 2005 - 10:03 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I found this on the Air Jamaica website. It appears the flight 64 did go from MB to Bon today at 11:56am. So did this flight go or not? Maybe I am not reading the schedule right, but it looks like the flight did go today. I hope AJ keeps up their schedules as I find them the best route to go.
Flight number: 64
Departure date: Jun 04, 2005

Status: Arrived Departure Arrival
Airport: Montego Bay, Jamaica (MBJ)
Time: Actual Departure Time 11:56 am (26 min Late)
Scheduled departure time: 11:30 am
Gate: Information Not Available Airport: Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles (BON)
Time: Actual Arrival Time 2:54 pm (24 min Late)
Scheduled arrival time: 2:30 pm
Gate: Information Not Available


Status: Arrived Departure Arrival
Airport: Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles (BON)
Time: Actual Departure Time 3:35 pm (35 min Late)
Scheduled departure time: 3:00 pm
Gate: Information Not Available Airport: Willemstad / Curacao Island, Netherlands Antilles (CUR)
Time: Actual Arrival Time 3:59 pm (39 min Late)
Scheduled arrival time: 3:20 pm
Gate: Information Not Available

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By James Tate (BonaireTalker - Post #36) on Sunday, June 5, 2005 - 1:53 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Please let me clear up a few things.First of all I am a teacher and my wife is a nurse our 4 children are grown and were not involved, thank god.Picture yourslef having to explain this to 4 Children .If it were not for you people it would have been a lot worse.By that I mean We took your advice and bought Travel Guard Ins. before the trip but when I first talked to the agent from sanddollar I did not tell him We had insurance to see his reaction. He said no refunds. After I told him I had Insurance And that I would never try this again he suggested Turks & Caicos . He said they were having a lot of these kinds of problems.After reading your posts starting last March we bought tickets through Delta.The problems with AJ seemed to be getting worse and your crime reports were bothering my wife. I called Delta and they assured me they could re route us if necessary.If I could have got the $1406 back then I would have but I was already committed. Plus I had bought new booties and fins and Dive skins.WE do not dive only snorkel I want to be honest about that since you divers may have something there that can't be duplicated in which case please don't listen to me.As for the person who claims my flight was not cancelled The Delta spent 45 minutes with us at 5 in the mourning The Delta # was 8874 the AJ # for this same plane was #66 leaving Montego at 1130 and arriving at 230.The Delta man could only get us to Aruba or curacao not sure of the spelling. He said it was only 47 miles from Bonaire but I would be on my own.Since I didn't get this old being stupid, I did not go for this. Since all options had been explored Delta was forced to refund the $1400 I don't see them doing this if AJ had been flying And I know I did mention he said the AJ flight was cancelled for the next few days.My complaint is mainly with AJ and with Delta for doing business with such an irresponsible "AIR Line "I post this to keep others from feeling the way we do and to thank all of you who kept it from being worse. Just as a friend of mine told me a "liberal is a conservative who hasn't been mugged yet" I hope none of you ever get that feeling.We hope to get back to Cayman next year and use those new fins.It has always been a lucky place for us but then we just snorkel.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Cynde (BonaireTalk Deity - Post #13800) on Sunday, June 5, 2005 - 2:29 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

James, thank you for the more in-depth explanation of the events that occured to you. So you got the refund from Delta, and I'm assuming that you got a refund from Sand Dollar, correct?

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Marcus L. Barnes (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #324) on Sunday, June 5, 2005 - 2:32 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

OK James, don't get me wrong here - arriving at the airport at 5:00 A.M. and being told the last leg of your flight to Bonaire has been cancelled is not good for sure. I don't blame you for not wanting to risk going through Curacao not knowing how you would get to Bonaire from there; however, it seems to me that it would not be Delta's fault that AJ wound up in the all screwed up category. They did offer an alternative and they did refund your money so I don't really see Delta as the culprit here unless there is some poor management on their part that I am just not seeing. I have about 5 years of hotel management expirience in my background so I have mixed feelings about Sand Dollar's reaction. My initial reaction was that it is bogus that they won't refund your money. On the other hand, the cancellation was not done until the day or maybe even the day after your scheduled arrival and I can see why they would hesitate to refund the money with such short notice of cancellation; I mean, they really have no way of knowing if you just changed your mind at the last minute and decided not to go for example. Anyway, the reason I am responding at all is that I am having some difficulty understanding the objective to your multiple posts on Bonaire Talk. Is it to inform (which I am guessing it is) or is it to turn people against Bonaire (which I'm guessing it isn't). I don't mean to offend, but for some reason I find myself trying to understand and guess at your intent behind these posts. Sorry you had such a bad expirience.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By MantyMonty (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #2) on Sunday, June 5, 2005 - 6:30 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Traveling is sure an adventure isn't it? Adventure sometimes involves deviation. New booties and all. Live it-enjoy it.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By David Bridenbaugh (BonaireTalker - Post #14) on Monday, June 6, 2005 - 9:58 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

I have to admit that Sanddollar sounds like a bad deal. I think that if you can prove your case to them that worst they should do is refund all but a day or so of your money. (That would be fair) As it sounds right now, I am not going to be recommending Sanddollar to anyone. As for trip insurance, I usually get it and that way let the insurance company fight with them. We usually stay at Habitat, I don't know what they would do? Maybe the resorts and Hotels need to come up with a policy and plan that will be fair in view of the volatile Airlines situation.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Deb (BonaireTalker - Post #11) on Monday, June 6, 2005 - 11:45 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

This is EXACTLY what travel insurance is for. It's not Sand Dollar's fault. It's AJ's fault. Yes, a gesture of good will would be great. Credit toward a future trip, some refund perhaps, but what if they have 20 guests on that flight? They lose too.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mary DiSanza - Sand Dollar Resort (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #1) on Monday, June 6, 2005 - 12:55 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Good morning, Mr. Tate.

I work at Sand Dollar Resort here on Bonaire. I hope you will remember me, as you booked your trip with us here on island. I just came to work this morning (Monday, 6 June) and was informed that you had posted on Bonaire Talk about your travel problems.

Mr. Tate, I will admit to being a bit confused, as I was not aware there was any problem this weekend. We had a total of 16 people scheduled to arrive on the 4th of June with Air Jamaica. On the afternoon of June 4th, 14 of our guests did arrive on Air Jamaica - and have checked in with us. You are the only guest that did not show up.

Our on-island reservation offices are open Monday thru Friday. Please contact us either via e-mail (reservations@sanddollarbonaire.com) or by phone (599-717-8737). We will be most happy to work with you on this booking.

Best regards,

Mary
Sand Dollar Reservations

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Marcus L. Barnes (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #326) on Monday, June 6, 2005 - 1:08 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

If Mary is referring to the AJ Flight from Montego Bay then it appears MantyMonty is correct in his Post #1 above. Maybe Delta lied to James or gave him bad information? Lets hope so because if they didn't, James' story no longer holds a whole lot of water.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Kelly Baum (GDLW) (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #2686) on Monday, June 6, 2005 - 2:22 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Oh no... horrible news for Mr. Tate... if the AJ flight WASN'T cancelled and he was told that it was...all those other people showed up in Bonaire. Wow what a huge disappointment that would be.

Keep us informed!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ken (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #192) on Monday, June 6, 2005 - 3:07 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

that flight was not cancelled. Friends of ours departed bonaire on the Sat. AJ flight.

There was also an AJ flight that arrived BON on sunday.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Kelly Baum (GDLW) (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #2690) on Monday, June 6, 2005 - 3:54 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Okay so what gives? Anyone have the story?

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By mary pequinot (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #507) on Monday, June 6, 2005 - 3:59 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I'd be interested as well.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Wally and Eva (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #818) on Monday, June 6, 2005 - 7:19 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Sounds like Delta gave bad info and screwed up these folks vacation.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By James Tate (BonaireTalker - Post #42) on Tuesday, June 7, 2005 - 9:26 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Please see my new trip post for update.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dake Madray (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #1) on Tuesday, June 7, 2005 - 1:10 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

To all - my wife and I arrived on the AJ flight in question on Sunday departing MBJ at approximately 12:30 (there was 30 min delay). However, now that we're here, we are encountering the problem James faced upon his expected departure: Is there the same return flight on Sun Jun 12 from BON-MBJ-ATL?

We are currently in limbo in this regard and are expecting to be rerouted on an American Airlines flight thru numerous transfers back to ATL. Let me say whole-heartedly that AJ has totally screwed up the flight arrangements of 1/2 of the people at my resort. Further, they lost our luggage (which is obviously a whole 'nother matter).

I question whether I'm happy to be here or would've rather received "false" notice before leaving of the "cancellation" of these flights. Sorry James. Best wishes on future travels.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ann Phelan (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1811) on Tuesday, June 7, 2005 - 1:32 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I think the best solution is to deal directly with Air Jamaica (JM). DL has a code share but is not as we see abreast of all JM flights.

ALWAYS have a paper ticket or some document with date of ticket purchase, place of issue, price paid and fare basis. Also ticket number. That way if Air Jamaica does cancel and does protect you on AA ( and they will and have been) you can get re ticketed. Having an e ticket does not help as I found out Thur.

JM is flying and people are getting to BON. We just don't hear about the good flights. On the 1st it flew in on time and left on time..same for other flights..I know as my new house is near the airport so I see the planes come and go.

The missing luggage matter happens on AA. I know this for sure..it happens on all airlines...again, we are just hearing reports of the bad stuff..

I am not minimizing the bad experiences..but let's not get everyone into a tailspin...

Breathe..

:-)

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Carole B. (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #4969) on Tuesday, June 7, 2005 - 3:47 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Hi, Kids! We are still on Bonaire. Our AJ trip down from EWR on May 28 was perfection...early arrival into MB and on time into Bonaire. No hassles at all.

We heard a rumor yesterday that someone (s) was on AJ from LAX and ended up in Aruba stranded??? This is third hand rumor stuff so I have no idea if this really happened. They supposedly were told they were "on their owN" to get to Bonaire.

Anyone hear of this at all??? Why would AJ even go near Aruba?

Some terrific lighting storms over the water last night for hours over Venezuela. Sat on the Divi timeshare dock and watched the show. Everyone was pulling over their cars along the waterfront and watched the great free show from Mother Nature! It was wild.

Had some thunder rolling around early in the a.m. and rain this morning, too. Overcast most of the day but lovely again now. the wind came back this afternoon. Time to hit the waaters again!

Wish you all could be here. Our journey back with AJ is this saturday.....if we are stranded on Bonaire, then it was meant to be! LOL! Ayo. Carole

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Kelly Baum (GDLW) (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #2701) on Tuesday, June 7, 2005 - 3:53 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Dake, you are much better being stuck there. :-)

Thanks for the report, Carole ! Can't wait for pics.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ann Phelan (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1812) on Tuesday, June 7, 2005 - 3:55 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Exactly Carole, since JM does NOT fly to Aruba why strand people there..indeed sounds like a rumor..

 


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