Just wanted to report something at least mildly positive on AJ. Our dive shop owner took a group from Chicago to Bonaire via AJ. Although it landed in Curaco before Bonaire, they were less than an hour late.

The flight back was ok, too-although he thought the setup at MB was stupid (his word). I do too, but that is no fault of AJ.

I thought it would make people feel a little better to hear of this. I know it did for me.

I also had a good experience with AJ, we arrived
a few minutes early on the trip down. On the return
AJ left 30 mins late and we ran thru MBJ like crazy
to catch our AJ connection and arrived home on time. We also got our luggage!

Finally some signs that the ill may be regaining its health. A bit of optimism with a good dosage of realism never hurts. Let's hope for the best. Coach Izzy

One can only hope! Keep thinking positive thoughts....thanks for the updates, folks. Carole

It left on time today..

Any reports from this past weekends' flights?? cb

Annie thanks for the running reports

Seb, I am building my house and make it a point to be on site around that time to do clean up..and to watch the planes (KLM and JM)..I know, I am sick..but what a deal I got for being so close to the airstrip and man, I do love the science of flight..haa

This is good news! I will be on AJ on May 4-11th, so I will let everyone know how that goes!

Debbie

Good luck with the new house, Annie, and thanks for the updates on the flights! I love to watcfh the planes come and go, too....have done that ever since I was a little kid when my Dad traveled a lot for business. It is fascinating to watch those big birds take flight..simply amazing! Carole

Debbie,

We are looking to go down about the same time! Is Gregg going with you? Best of luck!

Liz

Maybe the positive karma is working!

Let's hope so, Lorraine! Keep those "positive" thoughts going, folks...."positive" in good way...Carole

PS We'll be seeing you guys soon, Lorraine! Yippee!!!

Anyone able to give us any first-hand experience reports from this week's travels? Thanks! Carole

Carole,
I've been watching them on AJs website (go to http://airjamaica.com/booking.asp, answer "yes" to the Credit Card in the US question, and right under the reservations stuff is a section "Flight Status Information".)

If you know the flight #s for the various legs, you can find out what's what.

For instance, yesterday the flight from Boston - Bonaire through MB (#48 and #66) did well: Left Boston early, arrived MB 36 minutes early. Then, according to this flight tracker, flight 66 left on time and arrived 9 minutes early in Bonaire (2:21). It then went on to Curacao.

The flight from Bonaire to MB (#67 though I suspect it was a continuation of 66 above) left 9 min early, but stopped in Curacao. It then went on to MB, arriving at 4:40 (5 minutes early)

For the MB-Boston leg (flight#49), it left MB almost an hour late (5:48, rather than 4:55 - thank goodness, since it seemed to me they were cutting them a bit close in the current scheduling) and arrived 65 minutes late (10:55 PM) in Boston. I can live with that.

This is page is actually a redirected page to www.itn.net, not AJ, so I think and hope it's correct.

Thanks, Susan. If the info published is correct it is definitely an improvement. I'm hoping we can hear from some folks who have actually returned from Bonaire via AJ this past weekend, too.

Thanks so much for the links! Carole

I returned on AJ this past saturday without a hitch. Arrived in atlanta on time and with all baggage.

Jim

Thanks, Jim! Glad to hear the good news. Go, AJ! cb

Hi Liz,

Just catching up with this thread. No, Gregg is not coming this visit. Just booked my flight with AJ the other day. Used priceline.com and got ticket for $463.90 plus tax for a total of $518. Not too bad. Best rate I could get since one plane was almost full at the time of travel. Hope to see you and Ed on Bonaire when I get there. Haven't gotten your email yet? Debbie

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but here goes. We will not be flying AJ ever again!!!

1. My husband and I arrived at Newark airport the night before our flight the next a.m.(March 9th). I called, as I had been doing periodially, to confirm the flight and was told we were flying out of JFK, not Newark. After spending about 1 1/2 hours on the phone, the representative for AJ finally got us on the flight from Newark. When we arrived in the a.m. we were told the flight was leaving an hour later than scheduled and making an unscheduled stop in Baltimore. Hence, we missed our connection from Montego Bay to Bonaire. It wasn't a big deal to us as were staying for 3 weeks, but there were other couples who only had a week and were extremely irate. Fortunately, we were put up at a lovely resort with all expenses paid. We were relieved since we had heard some horror stories re accommodations from other people in the same situation. We left, uneventfully, for Bonaire the next day.

2. We arrived in Bonaire, but our luggage did not. Even though we each had a carry-on, we did have to purchase a few tee shirts and some sandals, plus some tweezers, clippers, etc. On day 12 we went to the airport to ask it we could complete a form requesting reimbursement. I was used to being shuffled around as I had gone there for a solid week with frustrating responses from the representatives. They could have cared less. At this point, my husband wasn't as calm as I and was ushered from the office. The young lady we were speaking to, told me to wait outside and someone would be with me shortly. A young man finally came out and asked for the form I had filled out to report the lost luggage and said "Hmmmm, Collins, that name is familiar. I think we might have some luggage in the baggage area that belongs to you." Lo and behold, there it was. It had arrived the previous day. I wonder how long it would have taken before someone notified us. I was so happy to see the luggage that we never bothered to fill out the reimbursement form. (We estimate that with the clothes, miscellaneous toileteries and the hotel room at Newark, it was about $300.)

3. On the way home, we went to airport to check our luggage and get our boarding passes. We went out for lunch and I happened to take a look at our boarding passes. They had us going to JFK. We had a rental car at Newark. We hurried back to the airport, and after being shuffled about between representatives, we told them to leave it as is and we would change the car location with Avis. When we arrived for the flight, purely by chance, we found that they had changed the flight back to Newark. Now we have a rental car at JFK and not enough time to call Avis.

4. We arrived at Montego Bay on time (about 5:15 p.m.) and were scheduled to depart at 6:10 p.m. At 9:00 p.m. AJ finally announced that the plane had never arrived and we wouldn't be departing til 11:00 p.m. I never expected to see our luggage again, but fortunately it was at Newark when we arrived and my husband called Avis and we were able to reserve a rental car for the a.m. Since we were originally going to drive home that night, we were also fortunate enough to get a hotel room at 4:00 a.m.

5. We stay at the Carib Inn every year, and there were some other guests from Denver and Philadelphia, respectively, whose plane was "not at the airport." The couple from Denver had 5 different flights before arriving in Bonaire. The couple from Philadelphia flew to Aruba and then spent 6 hrs. waiting for a flight to Bonaire. We received emails from them when we arrived home and I won't even go into their return flight catastrophes.

So please folks, I wish you well and hope you all get to Bonaire with no problems. But I must warn you to please expect anything when you get to the airport. Also, keep in mind that we have our reservations at the Carib Inn for next year and no matter what we will be in Bonaire come next March!

Carol








Carol

Would members going on AJ on the Atlanta/MB/Bonaire flight please post their experiences? I am going the week of July 4th and getting anxious about this situation.

Me too! We're leaving May 15th from Atlanta.

Carol,
I think your experience was representative of the turmoil AJ was going through back in March. I think (and hope! - I'm going AJ Boston-Bonaire in 17 days) that they are straightening their act out.

I think I'll go check the itn site again...

At least for Boston-Bonaire, all of AJ's flights arrived early. Crossing my fingers!!!