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Getting to Bonaire: Does AA/AE bounce passengers BON to SJU?
Bonaire Talk: Getting to Bonaire: Archives: Archives 2006-2008: Archives - 2005-12-13 to 2006-04-01: Does AA/AE bounce passengers BON to SJU?
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By David Kaye (BonaireTalker - Post #100) on Friday, January 27, 2006 - 12:15 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I've heard and read lots of complaints about AA/AE bouncing pax on the SJU to BON flight (including my wife and me once, and they tried to bounce one of our two daughters last year, but they fought it off). I don't remember seeing the same complaints about the return flight, BON to SJU. Is this a correct perception, or do pax with valid reservations also get bounced at Flamingo Airport? If so, what does AA do for the bounced pax?

David

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By pat murphy (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #736) on Friday, January 27, 2006 - 3:52 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

our neighbor almost got bumped from AE last year when she was trying to return to the states. my wife drove her to the airport and they sat there until just before departure time and she was notified that she was going to get a seat. i guess others weren't as lucky. i think it depends on the total weight of passengers and baggage.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tish (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #805) on Friday, January 27, 2006 - 4:03 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Buying a ticket, getting an assigned seat, and receiving a boarding pass do not guarantee that AE will seat you on the plane. Always arrive as early as possible both at the airport and at the gate to board.
I have also known AE to cancel a flight from Bonaire way ahead of the date without informing the passengers. My friend who had this experience found she was still ticketed from San Juan to the US even though she no longer had any way to reach San Juan from Bonaire.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By David F Pascoe (BonaireTalker - Post #31) on Saturday, January 28, 2006 - 1:54 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

The ATRs cannot physically fly people in every seat when everyone has 2 x 70 pound check ins and at least 40 pounds of carryon. How much weight each person is bringing they do not know until it gets there. Then there are the sensors on the plane that the pilots use to verify weight and balance.

Do the math it must be obvious what has happened when you try to fly an over weight plane.

They check in and load until the limit is reached..... plan accordingly!!!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tish (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #809) on Saturday, January 28, 2006 - 2:08 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

David, the AA and AE weight limit is now 50 pounds per bag. Maybe that will reduce the number of bounced passengers and/or bags.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By David F Pascoe (BonaireTalker - Post #32) on Saturday, January 28, 2006 - 2:19 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Actually Tish.... that aint so.

One is absolutely permitted over size and over weight bags. One is just going to pay for the privilege!! In fact who are they going to board someone who has multiple Business class connections and considerable baggage charges or some one with mileage tickets and no extras??

Who would you board if you were in the business??

The terms under which they board passengers are explictly setout by every airline in their "Terms of Carriage" contracts available on their web sites.

Read and understand the implications of tight connections and missing flights at the busy times of year and plan accordingly.

david

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tish (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #811) on Saturday, January 28, 2006 - 2:38 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

David, Since they have reduced the max weight (without excess charge) from 70 to 50, I was assuming most of us are reducing the weight of our bags.
But you're right. There will be exceptions.
Still, I'm hoping fewer passengers and/or bags will be bumped.
If you are familiar with my posts over the last year concerning AA and AE, you know that I warn people as vigorously as you do about getting stranded en route and about bags arriving late.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dave Bucklin (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #5) on Tuesday, January 31, 2006 - 11:00 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Baggage info is available on American's website AA.com. There is a menu on the left click travel info then baggage info and then baggage allowance and it will give you the weight rescrictions/limitations for destinations. The allowance is still 70 pounds on international flights for tickets purchased before 10/1/05. Last year on our trip they tried to charge us for over weight bags since I knew the rules and confronted the gate agent they agreed said OK. Might be smart to take a copy of that page with you.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By pat murphy (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #761) on Wednesday, February 1, 2006 - 3:43 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

i agree dave. we are flying there a week from today. i'm not sure any of our bags will exceed 50# but if they do, i have a copy of the baggage regs as well as our ticket confirmation with the confirmation date hi-lited. looks like i'm going to pay $80 to take my bike but i'd have to pay that regardless of any weight restrictions.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jen Gray (BonaireTalker - Post #34) on Wednesday, February 1, 2006 - 6:01 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

One note to keep in mind about the baggage weight. Our home scale weighed the bags under 50 pounds. At the airport, one weighed 52 and the other 53. Instead of carrying "5" pounds in the backpack, we removed a couple of items from one, put it in the other and paid the $25 fee.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Cheryl Ferguson (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #167) on Friday, February 10, 2006 - 12:27 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Just back from Bonaire and had an interesting experience regarding baggage weight. Checked luggage from Bonaire to SJ (Bag #1 66 pounds, #2 < 40 lbs, # 3 ~ 40 pounds (can't recall exact weights)... not a word was said about the 66 pound bag ... we did not realize it until we got to SJ and checked in with US Air ..... had to do some quick re-packing to avoid penalty. At Bon airport the check in procedure was very inefficient ... the person who was checking us in had to walk to another scale as her scale was not working.
Plane departed 60 min late as Curacao's computers were down and apparently they control the airspace.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tish (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #885) on Friday, February 10, 2006 - 10:27 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Cheryl, so glad you and Aubrey reached home safely. :-)
Sounds like AE on Bonaire just combined the weight of all the bags for an average weight. They aren't supposed to, but if you put more than one bag on the scale at the same time, this can happen.
See you on your next trip down!

 


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