Please help re: travel chaos ( how to catch 1:30pm sxm flight out to Chicago)

A

amsmulko

SBH Insider
So the latest flights out of SBH are at 10am on both WinAir and SBC for 2 ppl.

I have a 1:30 flight and I would rather stay in SBH than the sxm airport for 3 hours.

Is my only option the ferry?

( I'm envious of you East Coasters as my flight from Chicago to SXM is horrible ( and now this!). I picked the least worst option, but most options involved 20+ hours of travel at a cost of $1000 a ticket.)

Thanks!
 
Beware we have flights out of SBH leave as much as an hour late for various reasons on both Commuter and Win Air. I suggest you sit it out at SXM as going thru everything there can take time also. The Ferry is no fun if you don’t enjoy rolling in the swells.
 
I have taken WinAir at least 20 times and I have never had a problem. I usually take the 12:55 for a 3pm flight.

The only "good" flight I could get this time is the 1:30 but I understand what you are saying.

In December on the return UA took off 30 min before the stated time so I always stay at the gate.

Not checking baggage help!
 
I'm puzzled: are you saying you'd rather be pounding across unsettled seas than be on dry land, wherever? Hopper gives great advice - go with the 10 am and curse your luck when all goes off on schedule. There are worse things!
 
We define "chaos" differently... I've had several years in a row when I never made it through SXM to St. Barth or had to hire a private charter. So, a long layover is a nuisance, not chaos... I also learned a lesson that when I have a multi-hour layover, it's because I didn't book early enough.

We are in the same boat. My Winair flight is 10:15 and I am traveling home through SXM on a 1:25 flight to JFK, with a 2-hour layover and then on to Boston. Basically, by the time we get to SXM and get to our gate, there is less than a two hour wait before we board. Would I rather be on St. Barth for those two hours, sure. But I plan to keep the vacation bliss going in the SXM airport with a self-catered brunch of a nice bottle of French rose' or champagne and takeout from Petite Colombe or Mayas to Go.
 
Jeanette said:
We define "chaos" differently... I've had several years in a row when I never made it through SXM to St. Barth or had to hire a private charter. So, a long layover is a nuisance, not chaos... I also learned a lesson that when I have a multi-hour layover, it's because I didn't book early enough.

We are in the same boat. My Winair flight is 10:15 and I am traveling home through SXM on a 1:25 flight to JFK, with a 2-hour layover and then on to Boston. Basically, by the time we get to SXM and get to our gate, there is less than a two hour wait before we board. Would I rather be on St. Barth for those two hours, sure. But I plan to keep the vacation bliss going in the SXM airport with a self-catered brunch of a nice bottle of French rose' or champagne and takeout from Petite Colombe or Mayas to Go.
Click to expand...

I like your style, Jeanette...make lemonade out of lemons! Better to be safe than sorry.
 
I thought both inter-island carriers recommended arriving at SXM 1.5 to 2 hours prior to your US bound flight anyway. So really, you're talking about an extra 60-90 minutes. I get that the SXM airport sucks but I'd rather not have the alternative...namely being stuck in SXM because I missed my flight home.

This happened to us back in 2011 and while we made the best of it (lemonade :D) it was expensive and not really worth the aggravation it caused overall. And this was prior to Irma. Not sure I'd want to risk being stuck in St. Martin at this point in time.
 
We recently had the same dilemma. 10 am SBC flight and a 1:25 departure from SXM. I wanted to leave and have an early lunch close to the airport but my husband would not go for it. It wasn’t too bad. The bar at SXM has yummy mudslides. After 2 of them, I really enjoyed people watching.
 
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