WOW, what a pleasant experience..so much room and comfort..Good job Bonaire.

I have to say, Air Jamaica's departure was weird. I checked in in the AM so I could go sail and play. Then when the flight came in at 2:30 (as I watched near Donkey Beach) I dropped off the car and headed in. Once in the departure lounge the girl took our boarding passes and told us ALL to stand hear her..it was chaos..then the line to get on the plane was long since they did not board by rows..chaos again..But Air Jamaica was perfect..flight times for all 4 legs BOS/BON/BOS were fine..slight delay leaving Jamaica...They hand searched all carry ons..stupid since we all went thru security in BON or our departure area..I was annoyed so skipped the long line when the security person was not looking and got in line to check in..a tourist in front of me was going to tattle on me..she said I needed to get searched..LOL..goodness..I am supportive of ALL security efforts but get SO annoyed with silly rules that impact efficiency for travelers..the airport in Mo Bay is stifling..and the lines at each gate are absurd going back.

Ok, that's my news..

Hi Annie........we missed you by a week. The same thing happened to us when we left. The plane came in and we were watching the people get off (you must have been one of them) and they said over the loudspeaker "This is the final boarding call for AJ to Montego Bay". The people were still on the steps! Anyway, same thing happened as to you....a huge gaggle immediately surrounded the gate area. Luckily we were sitting right there so just stood up and were in line. It is a nice departure lounge. Did it used to be like Montego Bay?

How is the new departure lounge set up? Multiple plane loads of folks in one room now or several separate rooms, as before? How much bigger? Why the mass confusion, still? It does sound like an improvement, however. Can anyone provide any photos of the new lounge or can you describe it in detail? (size, dimensions, amenities, etc). Thanks ever so much! Carole

The new lounge is one large room with two shops one being the duty free and a bar on the other side. The room is quite large with lots of seats. In March, we were also on Air Jamaica and they left about 20 minutes early. It seems to be that they have the same turn around time and if they come in early they leave early. If you check in in the morning all you have to do is show up before boarding time and I would leave a little time in case they leave early. We did not hear any call to board the plane and just followed the crowd. It is a big improvement over the tiny old one.

Carole,
It is a pretty large open area with plenty of seating and several TV sets hanging down from the ceiling (hooked up to cable). The Duty Free shop is not very large (not sure how big it was before), and the gift shop contains most of the same kind of things you see in town (keychains, flamingo suff etc) - we did find a nice "Tourist" map of Bonaire here though and picked that up for next time . The restrooms are nice and clean. The "bar" also serves sandwiches and pastries and those looked pretty good. There is more than one "gate" or opening to the tarmac, but how often does more than one big plane load leave at a time? I don't know what the security check in was like before, but there was at least two security "gates" and accompanying conveyor belt/x-ray machines. It was all very efficient.

an outdoor smokin' lounge too ;) (yeah, i know - boo hoo;))

i think it was monique who was there and explained how to open the door;)

Thanks, guys! Is the new lounge enclosed and air conditioned, too? Is the "new" lounge in the same general area as the "old" open space where there were seats by the check in counters? There was a small shop there in that area, too. Or, is the new lounge on the "other" side of the security doors, etc? Thanks again for all of your responses! Carole

PS From Bob's note, it sounds as tho the new area is enclosed and air conditioned because they have an outdoor area for smoking, too. cb

Carole,
I am not familiar with the old lounge, but the new lounge is completely separate from the check in counters. You go through the security doors and into the new lounge. It is enclosed and air conditioned. The tarmac side is all windows, so you can see the planes. That's how I was watching the people getting off the Air Jamaica flight. Then you see their luggage coming off, and your luggage going on. The only bad thing about it is that you are sitting there watching people arrive as you are getting ready to depart.

The entrance to the new departure lounge is where the old gift shop was. That gift shop has moved to the area in the middle of the airport. The old duty free is gone and is part of the new lounge.

The new departure lounge is very nice indeed. Fully air conditioned, and the snack bar, owned and operated by Moreno (former owner of Croccantino's) is well stocked and simply beautiful to look at.

Here are a couple of pics from the lounge from our recent trip north to see Mickey Mouse:

Wow! It looks great! Thanks everyone for their input and to Jake for the pic. We will see it in person on May 24....well, not until the "end" of the trip, actually! CArole

wow! ain't she pretty! i was thinking yesterday how last time all we did was sweat sweat sweat once we got through security and were waiting for the plane...what did they do with the old departure lounge with all the stickers on the wall?

I'm not sure what the plans are for the old departure lounge Cynde. I have heard rumors that they'll use it for office space, must likely for the new start up carrier BonairExel.

Hmmm...now I am even more puzzled than earlier in this thread...when we left beautiful Bonaire in February, the departure lounge seemed to me to be a closed-off, post-security-screening, air conditioned room that was in the same space as before. All the dive shop stickers on the doors, same procedure heading out to the plane. Restrooms upstairs, no tv's that I recall, and definitely no access to the beautiful snack bar in Jake's picture. And I thought we were in their "new" departure lounge!! Guess I'll have to go back ASAP to check out the real new departure lounge...

Shame on people for circumventing the security procedures, even if they are a pain in the
_ _ _.

I was on a plane from Bonaire last year, and a lady "forgot" she had her dive knife in her purse. Her husband shushed her and they didn't tell anyone. I found out about it as we were waiting in line in customs, in Atlanta. She meant no harm, but someone else might not have been so innocent.

If her handbag had been searched, they would have found the knife and she could have put it in her checked luggage, where it belonged.

Nice photos Jake..it's a lovely area.
Peggy, I went thru security in Bonaire. When I got off the plane in Jamaica I remained in the transit area so could not have procured any weapons..so I ask why would they hand search everyone 5 minutes before our departure time? It seems silly to me. I certainly agree...I support all security efforts..perhaps I am wrong feeling the way I do about Air Jamaica's policy in the transit areas.

Annie

Annie, I agree with you completely; I support all of the security efforts except for the totally repetitive ones! (Like searching the same passenger & his/her luggage 3 times before getting on a flight...)

And, BTW, I should have said "duh" on my earlier post! After pre-trip hype about a new departure lounge, I somehow thought we were in it, and wasn't very impressed...LOL...glad the new lounge is now open and so nice!

A different perspective on the new departure lounge.

Leaving in March, we didn't realize the new lounge was there. We were on the early American Eagle flight, so about 5 AM we went over the the "old" coffee shop, ordered coffee and for over an hour had one of the most informative, educational visits of any of our conversations on Bonaire with our cab driver (waiting for the DCA flight...he may stil be waiting!).

When we did find the new lounge, we certainly enjoyed the AC and the clean and new look to everything...but it felt as if we had already left Bonaire. It felt like a depature lounge in any large, modern airport in the world. It did not feel like Bonaire...to us. We would have never had the same quality visit with a local that we had in the "old" area.

Brings to mind what Jake once told me (after we commented on the general lack of good service on Bonaire several years ago) about a certain restaurant on the island that had great service, but we thought was just a little too slick, too American: "be careful what you wish for, you might get it."

Charles Poteet
Dallas

Interesting perspective and insight. I like your way of thinking. My "body" will want the air conditioning after a while, tho. LOL. Nice story. CArole