By Alan Pelletier (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #4) on Thursday, November 3, 2005 - 8:47 pm: |
Just wanted to know the experience some have had flying American Eagle from San Juan to Bonaire; mostly interested in the flight itself since as I understand it is a smaller aircraft (a 64 seat turboprop). Last year we used Bonexcel from Aruba to Bonaire and the aircraft was a small turboprop? that was very hot with very little ventilation. Just want to be prepared...
|
By Susan Taft (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #536) on Thursday, November 3, 2005 - 9:03 pm: |
Yes, it is a turboprop from SJU to Bonaire. We too were very warm on the BE flight from Aruba to Bonaire but I am always chilly on the flight from SJU to Bonaire so make sure that I have a layer to add. You will need to check any large carryon luggage at planeside and be prepared for little overhead space and little legroom. It is a noisy 2 hours but since we have to connect from a very early flight from Hartford and then spend the day in SJU I usually sleep!
|
By Debbie Babcock (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #2425) on Thursday, November 3, 2005 - 11:59 pm: |
Susan, Boy, am I glad you said noisy flight! I thought the plane was coming apart my last trip and I looked out the window which I was next to,and saw that it had a hole like separation and was a nervous wreck I would get sucked out! I haven't flown AA in quite a while, must have forgotten about all the noise, I had to jam a newspaper in the above storage area to stop the loud vibrating sound! I used to always take AJ, but this last trip we decided to take AA due to AJ's problems. Glad it is norml for all that noise, as I was a little concerned on the safety and when I saw the shape of my window, well, I guess you can tell I hate to fly anyway, but will be doing it all over again on AA in a few weeks! At least I will be prepared this time around and yes, you sure do get a chill too. I usually take a lite jacket for the airplane.
|
By JIM KENNEDY (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #221) on Friday, November 4, 2005 - 12:17 am: |
You know you're in trouble if you see a 2x4 piece of lumber holding the pilot's window shut! That happen on a turboprop flight from San Pedro Sula in Honduras
|
By pat murphy (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #309) on Friday, November 4, 2005 - 8:27 am: |
jim, your pilot had a window? you had a luxury flight...LOL. i remember almost taking off from san salvador in the bahamas with a wing storage hatch open.
|
By pat murphy (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #310) on Friday, November 4, 2005 - 8:29 am: |
allen, we use AE from sju to bon all the time. never had a problem. they are smaller planes and a little noisy depending on where you sit. but i don't remember being either too hot or too cold in them.
|
By Cyn Loo Hoo (BonaireTalk Deity - Post #15092) on Friday, November 4, 2005 - 11:56 am: |
I have to agree with Pat...I've been on worse ;-) sometimes it's hot when you get on the plane, they ask you to close the window shades when you land to keep the plane cooler, but once you are in the air it usually cools off (and I am HOT most of the time). I usually take the flight emergency card and use it as a fan till it gets cooler...I bought those noiseless ear plugs that work with my MP3 player, and even without music on it blocks a LOT of noise out, I don't know how I traveled before without them! They were about a hundred bucks...
|
By Cyn Loo Hoo (BonaireTalk Deity - Post #15093) on Friday, November 4, 2005 - 11:59 am: |
They are something like this. I also use them at work when it's noisy and I'm trying to concentrate on editing content
|
By Susan Hughes (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #1) on Friday, November 4, 2005 - 6:03 pm: |
My husband and I just returned on October 19th from Bonaire (it was our fourth trip and great!). We flew American this time and the last leg was on the American Eagle flight from San Juan to Bonaire. A word of warning to everyone. Make sure you are at the first of the line to board this flight. At the San Juan airport, there is a large waiting area for people traveling to a lot of the islands and it is very confusing as to which door you go through to get on your little bus that takes you to the correct plane. We ended up last in line and were told at the gate that the plane was overweighted and could only hold one more person. After much discussion in Spanish from the lady at the desk and much bad language from me!!!, we and this lady were put on a bus and sent to the plane. Then she got on the plane and talked to someone for about 10 minutes and we finally were allowed on the flight. We had booked this flight over 6 months ago and had our boarding passes in our hands. The plane only was about 2/3 full. I don't know if they had extra cargo on this trip.
|
By Cyn Loo Hoo (BonaireTalk Deity - Post #15102) on Friday, November 4, 2005 - 6:23 pm: |
Susan...ah yes...the American Eagle terminal at SJ is "interesting" the first time...to say the least ;-)
|
By Alan Pelletier (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #5) on Saturday, November 5, 2005 - 9:17 am: |
Thanks to all for the information. In all does not sound to bad as long as you get to the gate early, do not over pack, and bring ear plugs or a MP3 player. Again thanks for the information especially concerning SJU. This will be our second trip to Bonaire and our first using AA/AE. Last year AJ cancelled our flight 3 days before we left and booked us on USAir, which I thought would be better considering all the problems AJ was having. Well our USAir leg to Aruba was late and we missed our connecting flight on Bonexcel and spent 6 hours at the airport waiting for the next flight. It only took 16 hours to go from JFK to Bonaire. Of course I seen worse posted on BT. Just hoping to improve on that this year....
|
By pat murphy (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #316) on Saturday, November 5, 2005 - 10:20 am: |
alan, when we went to bonaire in february 2004, our flight from jfk to sju kept getting delayed later and later. finally i reminded them that if they didn't get us to sju soon, we'd miss the connection to bonaire and we'd be stuck in sju for three nights. they rebooked us on a flight to miami where we spent the night. then we flew aa to curacao the next day and had to buy a ticket on either BE or DCA to get to bonaire. in the end it worked out ok but if we were only going for a week we would have lost another day of vacation. all you can do is hang in there and hope for the best.
|
By C Poteet (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #344) on Saturday, November 5, 2005 - 11:02 am: |
Alan -
|
By Cyn Loo Hoo (BonaireTalk Deity - Post #15113) on Saturday, November 5, 2005 - 1:54 pm: |
Charles, thanks for the map Alan, be aware that when you get on the bus to go to the plane, they will tag your carry-on bag (if it is a suitcase) and when you get to the plane you will leave it by the stairs (or where they tell you to). They then weigh them (so when you see them taking your carry-on off don't be alarmed) and bring them back.
|
By Alan Pelletier (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #6) on Saturday, November 5, 2005 - 5:53 pm: |
Thanks for the map Charles. Our layover is 4.5 hrs. My other flight choice would give us only 1 hour, which I felt was not sufficient time. Trying not to repeat last year odyssey when we missed our connecting flight. We are flying out on a Tuesday, just wondering when AE flies to Bonaire? Want to know my options ahead of time just in case we get stuck at JFK or SJU.
|
By Jenna (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #5) on Saturday, November 5, 2005 - 6:26 pm: |
I've been worrying a little bit about this off and on for months since we booked our flight, and reading this thread is starting to confirm my fears. My husband and I are booked for a sold-out flight in December and our layover in San Juan is only 1 hour 20 minutes. Are we getting there way too late to have a realistic chance at getting on the plane? I'm going to make sure to get our boarding passes at the start of the trip if I can, but it sounds like that doesn't mean anything if we can't get in line at San Juan early enough. Should I be planning on several days in PR (we're on a Tuesday flight)?
|
By Susan Taft (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #540) on Saturday, November 5, 2005 - 8:58 pm: |
Jenna, if you are flying American Airlines for your first flight you should be given your boarding pass for the flight to Bonaire when you check in. If your originating flight is on time you will probably be fine. No one can really line up until the flight is called anyway as the gates for the island flights are in constant use -- one flight boards and then the next is posted. It can get loud and busy in that area so pay close attention to all announcements.
|
By Mare (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1163) on Saturday, November 5, 2005 - 9:03 pm: |
Hmmm. Jenna, if the regular carry on is large, then it will be 'gate checked'. After you get off of the bus in San Juan someone will take your large carry on from you and hand you a red ticket. The other part of the red ticket is placed on your carry on.
|
By sharon mckee (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #6) on Saturday, November 5, 2005 - 9:18 pm: |
Jenna,
|
By Cyn Loo Hoo (BonaireTalk Deity - Post #15125) on Saturday, November 5, 2005 - 9:30 pm: |
Mare, I usually watch them put the carry-on's on the plane. This last time, they loaded all the carry-ons onto a cart, and it drove away...I was a little concerned so asked the flight attendant where they were taking the carry-ons. She pointed to where they had taken them, said they would all be weighed, then brought back to the plane. Once they did that, they started shuffling everyone around (got to sit by Norma that way) for weight adjustment. I've never noticed them weighing the carry-ons before, but maybe if they think it's close they weigh them.
|
By Susan Taft (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #541) on Sunday, November 6, 2005 - 8:02 am: |
Cynde, two years ago we were returning from St John and had to fly an AE from St Thomas to San Juan. The handlers were loading all of the carryons that had been given over at the gate and then began unloading checked baggage to adjust the weight. They then needed 2 volunteers to get off which Mark and I did. While waiting for our next flight I asked about the luggage and how they knew which bags to take off. I was told that they have a formula they use (probably just eye-balling the bags!) based on the size of the bags and that sometimes they do weigh the carryons before removing checked luggage. The woman I spoke with said they can't leave the carryons behind which makes sense. Hence the stories about so much checked luggage getting to Bonaire after the passengers. I remember the first time I flew Air Jamaica and all the passengers had to get on a scale!
|
By T-Shirt Divers John and Sue (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #288) on Sunday, November 6, 2005 - 11:06 am: |
Are cameras safe in the "carry on" bags?
|
By pat murphy (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #323) on Sunday, November 6, 2005 - 4:04 pm: |
i have put my cameras in a plastic container and put that in my carryon. have had no problems with doing that.
|
By Jenna (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #6) on Sunday, November 6, 2005 - 7:47 pm: |
Thanks so much for the helpful replies! I'm thinking that packing the laptop in the sleeve and removing it from the bag for the AE leg of the trip will be a good solution for us. I'm kind of trying to convince myself to just leave it at home, but it's the one bit of modern technology I find hard to live without when we're there.
|
By Cyn Loo Hoo (BonaireTalk Deity - Post #15131) on Monday, November 7, 2005 - 12:28 am: |
Sue (t-shirt Sue), I put my reg, prescription mask, and camera in my carry-on and have never had a problem.
|
By Susan Taft (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #542) on Monday, November 7, 2005 - 8:11 am: |
Cynde, I was just thankful that the scale faced only the woman from Air Jamaica and that it was metric so I could not read it!!!
|
By T-Shirt Divers John and Sue (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #289) on Monday, November 7, 2005 - 9:48 am: |
On the 6 seater plane to Little Cayman, we had to tell our correct weight and all the bags were weighed. It was important so they knew how many people and bags could go on the plane.
|
By Cyn Loo Hoo (BonaireTalk Deity - Post #15137) on Monday, November 7, 2005 - 11:55 am: |
Sue Taft...LOL...t-shirt sue...I would be whispering it in the attendants ear...or say "a hundred pounds"...sure that would make them do a double take...LOL!
|
By Kelly Baum (GDLW) (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #3408) on Monday, November 7, 2005 - 1:39 pm: |
Cynde... lol... I would just hand them my driver's license for proof of how much I weigh!! LMAO !!!
|
By Cyn Loo Hoo (BonaireTalk Deity - Post #15143) on Monday, November 7, 2005 - 4:10 pm: |
Kelly, EXACTLY...that's how much it says I weigh on my drivers license! 12 years ago I did weigh 100 pounds...I have to use my miltary ID now for most things cause they look at my early 90's hair, and the weight and then look at me like "what are you doing with your grandchilds drivers license" LOL!
|
Visit: The Bonaire WebCams - Current Bonaire images and weather!
The Bonaire Insider - the latest tourism news about Bonaire
The Bonaire Information Site, InfoBonaire
Search Bonaire - Search top Bonaire Web sites