I don't want to pass on unconfirmed information but.......We've been told by two different Air Jamaica representatives that the Newark to Montego Bay flight times are changing soon. The EWR to MBJ is going to become an afternoon flight and the MBJ to EWR is to become a morning flight. This will make it impossible to connect for both BON flights which are to remain the same. When using the AJ.com's booking engine for a Mar. '07 trip, it confirmed what we had been told. Land in Jamaica, claim luggage, clear customs, waste a night both directions....YUK!

Although We don't like Continental's flight times, we booked our Mar '07 trip for $536.00 each (including taxes).

Just checked AJ's website for our booked flights from BWI next May and they are showing a morning departure to MBJ from BWI and the late afternoon return, so it appears (at least for now) that flights from BWI are not affected like the Newark flights. Saw what Tom & Sheri reported about EWR - terrible. Wonder why AJ is doing this.

we just did the Air Jamaica from Newark. it always makes me nervous about missing the connection and ending up vacationing in mo'bay but it always gives us the most time in Bonaire. guess we'll be looking at the Continental red-eye in March. yucch! what happens with hotel check-in and rental car pick-up? will Divi charge an extra night for checking in at 5am? so many problems and yet Bonaire is worth it. who would have believed it would get even more difficult to get to!!

Continental red-eye only flies one day a week as well... Ron

Rental cars are on a 24-hour day, based on the time you pick it up. Just need to return by that time x days later and it counts as x days.

Not sure about the hotels - suspect each may have a different policy. Suggest checking with your hotel.

Have you heard/read anything about the AJ flights from Kennedy? We're booked in Feb to leave at 7:55am making connections in mo'bay.
Anyone know of a recourse if they do change things and mess up connections?

Brian,

Generally you have recourse if they change your tickets more than 5-6 hours from either arrival or departure.

After our shared nightmare of Feb 2005, I'm shocked you even called them again. We're on Continental non-stop to Curacao (booked well before the Newark-Bonaire non-stop announced).

Hope to still see you there...

Sue,

Sometimes ya just gotta do what ya gotta do and since we're doing it to get to Bonaire, I guess the boundaries get expanded.

I'm not thrilled about it either, but it was the only way that we could get there on that Thursday. Are two extra days in Bonaire worth the risk?

Besides, after reading about all the problems people have getting to Bonaire and our own experiences with airlines going elsewhere I figure we get two vacations experiences in one - Diving in Bonaire and playing the craps table in Vegas!

I'm still trying to get confirmation from Divi for the hop over from Curacao...

Thought of a possible reason why AJ changed its schedule for Newark. With Continental introducing a nonstop flight to Bonaire, perhaps AJ decided it would not worry about those Bonaire-bound Newark passengers that wanted to connect through MBJ and just focus on those Newark passengers that were only going to Jamaica. Their data and projections could have indicated that only a few passengers actually continued on but they could pick up more passengers with a later EWR-MBJ departure and an earlier MBJ-EWR departure. No actual facts, just a thought.

They may have done that because the arrival of the Newark flight into Montego Bay may have been too early for Jamaica passengers to check-in. I agree, they are probably less concerned with connecting traffic. "O&D" traffic to Jamaica is more profitable than hub and spoke flying

taking my chances with AJ again in April out of JFK. As tempting as non-stop is I just am not willing to pay for another hotel night just so I can sleep for a few hours when we arrive in the pre-dawn hours. AJ did ok on our September trip.