please be forewarned. when you are leaving bonaire on american eagle your luggage MUST be under the 50# weight limit. when we returned to the states last week a few people had overweight bags. they will not allow you to take stuff out of a heavy bag and put it in a lighter one. this was rudely explained by a counter agent to a few of the travellers. he even went so far as to say that he'd throw everything away if they moved anything.

i considered that unacceptable behavior and contacted american airlines. today i got a call from mr. tangier (i forget his last name) at american airlines. he explained that it really isn't american airlines or even american eagle. it is executive air operating those planes. i tried to explain that if the plane says american eagle and the sign over the ticket counter says american eagle then people might rightly assume that the airline is american eagle. he said it was the customers fault for not reading the ticket. he then went on to explain that they would not allow anyone to open their bags again even if the passenger agreed to have the bag rechecked by security. i said it would be a nice gesture if they would provide some kind of scale so people could weigh their own bags prior to having them checked by security. he didnt' think that was possible.

i guess the bottom line is that the airline doesn't care if you have to pay more. you are on bonaire, have to get home for work or other obligations, they already have your money and would love to get a little more of it.

i feel this is a bad situation being made worse by uncaring customer service people. i have always flown american airlines and have been treated well in the past. i hope this is not a new trend in customer abuse.

from my experience bonaire is less likely to charge for a heavy/extra bag than some departure points in the US...i fly AE/AA as well...

try flirting;)

Interesting, when we left Bonaire 2 weeks ago the lady in front of us had 2 bags overweight so they let her stand there and rearrange her bags to make them all under 50lbs. I guess it depends on who you deal with at the counter, and as Bob mentioned a little flirting, kind words, etc. never hurt!

I bought a sport fishing scale(handheld) just for that reason and take it with me when ever I fly... Ron

Pat, thanks for the heads up. Last October they weighed my carry on when I checked in. It was a scale on the customer side of the counter. You would think that they would offer that to folks before they got to the ticket counter.

Based on what Rosanne said, I wonder if it does depend on who's working the counter. If they are cranky and don't want to deal with you switching stuff they will tell you it can't be done.

We had a very rude AA person coming back from Honolulu. I did the e-ticket check in thing and it only printed Michael's boarding pass. So we went to the counter and the agent was "annoyed" at me that my ticket didn't print. I am VERY nice and courteous to service personnel and smile a lot...always...figuring you get more with honey than you do with vinegar. Anyway, she gave me mine, threw Michael's in the trash and weighed our bags. Well, 2 were over the limit so we were frantically shuffling dive gear and such around getting them all to even out. She put the tags on all 4 bags and we head over to security and Michael asked where his boarding pass was. I was like "I don't know" so we had to go back over to "her" (with smiles on our faces) and ask for his boarding pass. She rudely denied having it and so we told her she threw it in the trash. Well, she dug through the trash and there it was. She ripped it up and gave him a new one...but his seat assignment had changed and we were not going to be able to sit together (even though I had bought the tickets months earlier and showed her the print out with the seat assignments). Then she said "you bought them from expedia or something didn't you" I said "no, I bought them on the AA website" (again with a smile). Long story short...we smiled, told her to have a nice day and ended up going to the gate person to get our seats fixed.

I guess my point is...it may not just be Bonaire...I told Michael as we were walking away "she must be having a bad day."

There is no regulation that states that passengers cannot rearrange between their two bags so that each bag is under 50 lbs before handing the luggage over to security. I am glad you wrote a letter of complaint to American Airlines. By allowing Executive Airlines to fly under the American Eagle banner, customers are covered under American Airlines contract of carriage.

This happened to me and the station agent Dudley suggested I do this..move stuff to another bag. See him next time. He is great..also Cornelia. Very professional.

Ann

I had the same experience as Pat when I returned at the end of March. Basicly when you hand the bags to security they cannot be touched again. So when you get to the scales it is to late. Two other people had the same problem but I had a great three weeks on the island so it was not a big issue with me.

Pat, that is a bummer for sure. Thanks for posting and I will be sure to check the weight of my bags prior to giving them to security next time! Good information to know.

We left Bonaire on April 6th but had purchased our tickets prior to the new weight restriction. While we had to explain why my husband's HEAVY bag was allowed on our trip down in March.....nothing was even questioned on the return trip. In fact, I don't even recall the agents in Bonaire weighing the bags....they just put the destination tape on the handle and away the bags went onto the conveyor. Lucky us, I guess!

thanks for all the input. allow me to clarify something...it wasn't us who had the overweight bags. both our bags were under 50# and we were still allowed to have 70# due to having purchased our tickets in august 2005. the people who were hassled were one couple from vancouver BC and a group of students. i just felt bad for them. this was their first visit to bonaire and one of the last things they'll remember is that they had to pay an overweight charge when they left.

on the bright side, at least they only paid $20 for departure tax instead of the $75 tax which will go into effect in about a month.

New weight limits and baggage exclusions for AE flights in the Caribbean are covered in this Sint Maarten Daily Herald article: http://www.thedailyherald.com/news/daily/j019/americaneagle019.html

Glen,

I just called American in panic after reading that article (as I am in the U.S. and will undoubtedly be bringing back at least one suitcase weighing more than 50 lbs. when I fly home in just under a week). American confirmed the annual summer embargo against boxes, as well as excess baggage (more than 2 checked bags per ticketed flyer is not permitted), but said that each of the two bags can be up to 70 lbs each. Bags weighing between 50 and 70 lbs. will incur a $25 fee.

Whew.

By the way, they are expecting to do away with hand screening of checked luggage on Bonaire next week (or so I was told), and instead all checked luggage will be run through a large luggage X-Ray machine as is done elsewhere in the U.S. now. The FAA and TSA are apparently coming down to supervise the transition and use of the new equipment. That should solve some of the issues. I hope they bring TSA-lock keys with them. I'd hate to lose my investment in such locks should someone decide they need to open my luggage on Bonaire after the X-Ray...

Jake

TKS for the amplification, Jake. Now if the AE people in SJ know the detail the newspaper missed!!!

By now you must have a good idea of what to carry and not to carry!!!?? :–)

Glen, what upsets the "balance" on my returns back home to Bonaire is easily summed up in one very powerful word:

SHOPPING

Jake

It's not just me. For some reason it always looks like what came out of the bags doesn't seem to fit the same going back. I'm sure I haven't balanced the bags the same coming back, but heading down to Bonaire they ARE scrutinized.

My take on the airlines, it's all about revenue.
Limit bags today - make it the norm later.
No boxes today - well - let's just always do that.
Charge for over 70, now charge for over 50.

Are they still adding a surcharge for fuel? Who are they kidding? Just make it the price of the ticket for pete's sake.

I'm still looking for the change in airfare over the cost savings they make in not providing snacks.

When the airlines finally pinch the nerve that makes it waaay to hard to get to Bonaire, I'll have to curtail that destination.

For now, I just make 2x 50lbs + 1x 40lb. Any less I won't be able to pack my gear for 2 weeks scuba time.

I just make sure my bags are under the limit and if not pay the 25 bucks, less than the price of a meal at the airport. BTW I didn't know it could get to hard to get to Bonaire. (G) I agree with Grasshopper, we just be nice and hope for the best.