I have taken AJ for the past number of years( since ALM stopped flying out of Atlanta), with no problems. However this past Sat. Jan 14th I was traveling with my wife, son, daughter-in-law, and their 3 young children ( 4 , 2 1/2, 3 months)on AJ from Newark(7:35am) to Bonaire via Montego Bay. The plane was full and just prior to leaving the gate the captain announces that the emergency brake actuator was faulty and that they thought they had fixed it yesterday but it's still broken. Long story-short..they said they were flying a new plane up from Mont. Bay with departure around 5pm. Well that meant that if it took off at 5pm (it actually left 5:45pm)it would mean that we wouldn't be in Mont Bay until 9 and not until the hotel until 11 or so. Then to fly the next afternoon to Curacao and try to get onto DAE or DiviDivi (with 7 of us) probably wouldn't happen until Monday or Tuesday and with 3 kids under 4 this wasn't an option.So we decided to cancel and had them reticket us for Jan 21., which is amazing ( I can thank the head resevation clerk, Stephanie) since we all were traveling on freq. fliers from another airline and it's not easy to usually change them.
I have a Divi timeshare and I am going to be out for 2 rooms this week. I wonder if AJ will re-imburse me for the maintenance fees or give me vouchers for future flights. I was going to stay for 2 weeks so i have a room for the second week but now need a room for my son et al.
AJ knew this plane had this problem on Friday as it didn't leave the gate on Friday either and they had to send a plane from Jamaica on Friday which didn't leave until 10pm. They never should have boarded us.
We are just hoping to get out this coming Sat. I am writing this from my home in Pennsylvania instead of doing a night dive.
We have been going to Bonaire since 1988, but with all the hassles to get there no matter what airline you take...my friend went on AA on Sun. Jan 15 from NY..thru P. Rico..missed the connection and is now somewhere on Curacao with NO baggage...I doubt that we'll return next year.

Stuart, Sorry to hear your problems with AJ but as you know traveling to the caribbean can have it's problems. At least you had some good travels in the past.. Many people in the same group is a strenuous way to vacation. It's hard enough to keep tabs on 3 seats let alone 6 or more.. The Island will miss you and yours if you don't return next year.. :-( Ron

Try Continental from Newark nonstop to Curacao.

Stuart: After the way we were treated last Feb by AJ out of Newark I swore we'd NEVER fly them again.
We're going Continental this year & keeping our fingers crossed. I know what the "bad taste" is like from them!

my wifes sister and her husband visited us on bonaire last year (and are coming back this year). they flew AJ and described their return flight as "the trip from hell". i think they overreacted a little (a lot?). they left bonaire about 90 minutes late and then missed a connection in jamaica that would have taken them to BWI. they were put on another plane and taken to philadelphia and then taken back to BWI by van. they got in 3 hours late..and had all their luggage.

i'll have to show them these posts....to me, being 3 hours late is an inconvenience, not a trip from hell. we've been a day late going to bonaire as well as a day late coming home. and i've heard of people spending days in san juan or aruba waiting for room on a plane to get them to bonaire...that could qualify as a trip from hell.

Pat, you're so right!
Sounds like your in-laws either have not taken many plane trips or have been exceptionally lucky prior to AJ. Three hours late and receiving all their luggage is trivial. We should all be so lucky.

Stu & Robin, AJ did it again!!. Hope you find a reliable carrier so we can see you and the family next year. Don't let them keep you off your favorite Island.

Sure doesn't surprise us with AJ . We will not use them again even with our past experiences. Going Continental this time out of Houston in April .

We will fly AJ until they go out of business! Many many trips with them and better service then AA has ever given us. Haven't tried Continental yet but like AJ's time table. It's nice to arrive in the afternoon and leave in the afternoon.... ;-) Ron

I can't speak to AJ because we've never flown with them. We have flown AA 6 times though without a problem. We'll stick with AA until proven otherwise.

I Have had problems w/ AA & Aj. All I can say is we are at the mercy of any airlines or transportation company. And if we could drive to Bonaire we would. Can you imagine the Traffic Jams !!

Well, I think there's a bigger issue being missed here.....

AJ did the RIGHT thing in that they didn't fly an airplane that had a mechanical defect. Not saying that any of the other airlines would have, but it's nice to know that they didn't put their schedule in front of customer and crew safety.

An "emergency brake actuator" may not sound like a big deal, but the FAA, along with the aircraft manuafacturer, defines what is known as a "minimal equipment list" for each aircraft type and percieved operation. Not sure if this particular failure was part of the M.E.L., but it's good to know that the pilot adhered to procedures and declared the aircraft unflyable.

It's definetly an inconvenience for the passangers, but I know how much guts it takes for a captain to take an aircraft offline - especially a full one. That's lots of revenue for the company - not to mention mad customers.

Personally, I applaud the captain and take it as a sign that AJ is definetly safety conscience.

We are flying AJ out of O'Hare on February 4th. I hope I have that captain on my plane!!

Dave Goodwin

Dear Dave..Ihave no problems with safety. This plane was broken with the same problem on Friday before our scheduled Sat. departure and they replaced the actuator which didn't fix the problem. They knew they still had a problem so why did they load 185 passengers in the hope to try to get it fixed? We were on the plane for 2 hours.

BTW..AJ only has 15 Jets in their fleet. Look at their extensive US funnel route to MB and you can see there is no reserve.

Out of no other choice we are trying again this coming Sat.

MB is their HUB......

Stuart,

In all fairness, you really don't know the sequence of events. If the actuator was replaced on Friday as you say, it probably tested good. It is possible that upon firing up the aircraft on Saturday, the actuator failed again before departure. It is also possible that some other component was failing or operating incorrectly which in turn caused the actuator to fail. This type of "downstream" failure is obviously more difficult to detect. The actuator could test good for a certain amount of time, then fail due to other issues.

I doubt very much that AJ purposly loaded the aircraft just to unload it again. What would be the purpose?

And yes, Aj has a very limited fleet and no backups in the US when these problems occur. However, don't fool yourself into thinking that the major US airlines have planes just lying around in reserve either. United, AA, Delta, etc have their airplanes scheduled for flight all the time. If one breaks down, they play hell getting a replacement. They have a better chance of it if the failure occurs in this country. But how many AA planes are sitting in Europe as reserve? A US carrier has the same issues in other countries that AJ has in this country - lack of resources and reserves.

Not necessarily defending AJ, just trying to be fair.

Good luck on Saturday. Odds are that everything will go good. We have traveled on AJ for 8 trips to Bonaire and have only been delayed once. That was on our layover at MB returning home - and that was only for 2 hours.

Enjoy.

Dave Goodwin.

Very well stated, Dave. I show a couple of pilot acquaintances some of these threads concerning airline travel and they give slight shakes to their heads. THEY don’t want the inconvenience either. There’s a whole list of airline, FAA, EU, international, etc. rules to follow. The point is to get there safely. They, and I, feel for those inconvenienced, especially those with small children and large parties. Been there, done that. Even they have been inconvenienced during personal travel. Everyone feels the stress of delays and not getting there. Some people just don't understand (or their stress has pushed them beyond understanding). Perhaps your statement(s) will help educate. They have always advised me to be prepared. Carry snacks and water (that goes without saying if you have kids). Everyone should bring a book, DVD player, iPod, etc. Your carry-on should hold your toiletries and a change of clothes. Take your cell phone (and will it work where you stop). Research alternate flight plans before you leave for each interim stop before your destination (your calling ahead may get you a seat before anyone else going through an airline rep at a counter). Find hotels just in case. Bring those phone numbers with you. Be NICE to all airline personnel because it could work to your advantage. [As an aside I can tell you that this does work because I’ve been flown first class a couple of times the next day trans-Atlantic because of flight cancellation and everyone else was rude.] Check the airline websites before leaving to find out what their policies are concerning flight delays and cancellations (if you buy tickets on-line that’s one of the items you’re supposed to read before your click “Purchase”). And, of course, the list can continue. So, Dave, keep up the good commentaries. It appears you have some good knowledge to impart.

I am totally in favor of safety. This particular plane had the same problem on Friday. The substitute plane that was flown up from Jamaica didn't leave until 10 pm Friday night. That's 15 hours late. There were about 15 or so passengers on that flight that elected not to leave at 10 pm Friday night but to rebook for the next day at 7:35am. They were informed that this particular problem would be fixed. They had 24 hours to fix it and test it prior to leaving on Saturday which obviously was not done. My question is , if you know you have a particular problem and maintenance comes and says it's fixed ( they replaced the actuator, which turned out wasn't the faulty part) shouldn't it be tested prior to loading 185 passengers? Shouldn't the plane have been fired up to make sure that the problem was fixed? Needless to say the 15 or so passengers that elected to wait until Saturday were furious that they were being delayed by the same exact problem the next day.

Also I agree that you should know the other ways to get to Bonaire. There were newbies going to Bonaire ( actually a total of 18 people were booked to go Bonaire) who had no idea on how to get there and AJ was telling them that they would have to fly "somehow" to Antigua on Tuesday and take Caribbean Star to Bonaire. I told that agent that CS doesn't fly to Bonaire but she insisted that was what her computer told her.

As for me personally, my party elected to rebook for this Sat. AJ, in particular, Stephanie, had no problem switching my tickets and Divi actually moved my timeshare. We have 3 little ones in our party ( 4, 2, 3 months) so travelling another 24-48 hours wasn't an option we wanted. We will have to do that if we have problems on Sat. By the way my four year old grand-daughter is making her 4th trip to Bonaire and my 2/12 year old grandson is making his 3rd trip! Not a bad start!!!!

I am a very frequent traveler and I also have been going to Bonaire for 20 years so I am familiar with all the hassles in getting there.

Hope everyone has safe timely flights!

Stu

Caribbean Star, huh? Wonder where it DOES fly. Certainly not to Bonaire.
Good luck on this round, Stu!!

Caribbean Star! Wonder what computer system they're using. They fly only in the Leewards/Windwards from Tortola to Trindad and curiously, except for St. Maarten, flying to only English speaking islands. HQ is Antigua. They fly turboprops. And I think they have a code share arrangement with Air Jam which may explain them being in their system.

we are flying aj out of newark in March hoping not to have similar problems. the one time we had problems with aj they actually did give us vouchers for future travel amazingly enough. in sept. we flew AA and that was ok except i hate the arrival and departure times, i feel like i am losing a day. guess we'll hope for the best and cope with the rest

Karen, I think you'll be OK. AJ knows they were, are, and hopefully will continue to be the Caribbean connection despite their recent financial problems (which they're addressing like several US airlines). I've flown AJ for the last 5 years to BON with only one problem returning recently to the USA (is returning really a problem?). The only problem starting 2005 is reducing service to BON to only Saturday. I've always enjoyed good service. Prior to AJ I flew AA to Curacao and then BE to BON. AA always presented some kind of problem (I was glad to give ALL my AA miles for Katrina relief).