Getting to Aruba required a Bonaire Excel flight after a week in Aruba. We had carefully seen to all details ahead of time, heeding the many warnings we read here. The day before our flight, we had our concierge call to confirm the flight. She called hourly for the entire day, and at no time did anyone at Bonaire Excel answer the phone. When it was time for her to go home, she told us she would try again first thing in the morning. She was able to book us then, and we were successful.

When we were ready to leave Bonaire for Curaçao, we ran into the same thing. The front desk people called all day, and no one answered the phone. When we were leaving for dinner, they gave it one more shot and got through. We learned that our 11:00 AM flight had been canceled, and we were now on a 8:00 AM flight! If we had not gotten through, we would have missed the flight, and there was not another one scheduled until that evening.

When we got to Curaçao, we met someone who had had the experience, except that she had not gotten through and had missed her flight, requiring her to miss her booked accommodations in Curaçao and find accommodations in Bonaire.

WARNING: At any time they feel like, Bonaire Excel will change your flight times. They will not tell you. They will not post it on a web site. They will not answer their phone until they really feel like it. MAKE SURE YOU DO EVERYTHING YOU CAN TO CONFIRM YOUR FLIGHTS!

I am urging my clients to post a trip report about their experience on BE. They had confirmed seats yesterday AUA to BON and were denied boarding. The company asked EACH passenger for 150.00 USD and they would arrange a special flight. I will let them write the details..I am NOT too happy as a travel consultant and look forward to more info..was anyone else on the AM flight 7/17 from AUA to BON?

Ann, sad to read your post. Are there any other airlines that fly AUA-BON at this time, or in the foreseeable future?

(Message edited by vtscuba on July 19, 2005)

We flew on July 16th on the 9 a.m. BE to Bonaire from Aruba (with a stop in Curacao) and then back on the 22nd (straight through). Booked and paid online, no paper tickets. No problems whatsoever--people couldn't have been nicer. Feeling lucky now that I read these posts about what happened the next morning!