SXM Transit News

Leon

SBH Insider
I wanted to see the latest report(s) about transiting SXM on a way to the Continental US. AA cut our 2:30 interval from SBC to 1:35 in June and I am concerned if it spells troubles. Is there still a mess with lines, immigration closings, etc. in Juliana? Did they reopen the business lounge by chance?
 
I think you will be ok. It will be easier if you have carryons, but even with checked bags you should be good. If you're at all concerned, you might want to engage a service like Premiumiv. The other option is to try to catch an earlier SBC flight.

The airport is still not back to full operation, but it's getting better. We went through it last month on the way down to SBH, and it was smooth as silk, but we did use Premiumiv. BTW, I don't believe the Business Lounge is in operation as yet.

Safe travels.

Phil
 
We no longer transit through SXM and instead use SJU. To avoid you worrying, Phil’s advice regarding an earlier SBC flight may be advisable.
 
We just came through on Saturday and it was a miserable experience. The regular line to check in with AA was horribly backed up and I am sure probably at least 20 to 30 minutes to check in. We were able to use the priority line since we are platinum and that only took about 5 minutes. It was another 40 to 50 minutes for security.

I would totally book Premium IV. We actually had that discussion standing in line and said we're never going through SXM without it again! And no the lounge is not open yet and the seating area at the gates was packed with it being hard to even walk between some of the aisles as the afternoon went on. Our flight was delayed 2.5 hours so it just kept getting busier and busier as we sat there.

Good luck! Hopefully your experience is better than ours!
 
Unfortunately sometimes a weekend is all that works. Traveling during the week burns an extra vacation day which we prefer not do. Better to save it for another trip!
 
Unfortunately sometimes a weekend is all that works. Traveling during the week burns an extra vacation day which we prefer not do. Better to save it for another trip!
I understand completely but if you have a choice - no weekends.
 
Thank you everybody for sharing your personal experiences! I just want to add that looking back it feels we didn't know how well we had it with the Juliana before Irma. We were complaining if it was taking 10 minutes to go thru immigration and not 5 minutes, and if security pass was longer than 10 minutes...I also fondly remember the old 1 story airport and how well was it ran in 1998, one year after the previous devastating hurricain. One can say the our traffic was not as significant as now, but still...
 
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