SXM Transfer Questions

I am a long time visitor to St Barth having traveled there about 30 times over the last 25 years. The last time I was there was in 2016 prior to the hurricane damage. I will be returning on Monday 11/25. Due to JetBlues new schedule we are supposed to arrive at 3:18. Our Winair flight is at 5:15. Normally that would not be an issue for me. Recently Winair advised a 3 hour window to transit the airport. In the past I have never considered using a service to shepherd me through SXM, but this year I am really giving it some serious thought. I am not completely clear on the current airport layout or the transfer procedures. I would be interested in hearing from anyone who has been through the airport recently with carry on only and anyone's thoughts on using Premium 4. Not too concerned about returning as we will be on a 12:00 St Barth Commuter and a 4:30 JetBlue departure.

Cheers..

NYJAY said:

I am a long time visitor to St Barth having traveled there about 30 times over the last 25 years. The last time I was there was in 2016 prior to the hurricane damage. I will be returning on Monday 11/25. Due to JetBlues new schedule we are supposed to arrive at 3:18. Our Winair flight is at 5:15. Normally that would not be an issue for me. Recently Winair advised a 3 hour window to transit the airport. In the past I have never considered using a service to shepherd me through SXM, but this year I am really giving it some serious thought. I am not completely clear on the current airport layout or the transfer procedures. I would be interested in hearing from anyone who has been through the airport recently with carry on only and anyone's thoughts on using Premium 4. Not too concerned about returning as we will be on a 12:00 St Barth Commuter and a 4:30 JetBlue departure.

Cheers..

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I do not think you will have a problem especially if you have no checked luggage-But if it makes you feel more comfortable Prem 4 and the other concierge services area good choice to help expediate you to the Winair gate in a timely manner

You should have no problem. SXM airport is a little confusing the first time through, but you have enough time. Enjoy your stay.

We traveled through SXM on Thursday 11/7 connecting from JetBlue arriving at 1:30 pm to St Barth Commuter departing at 4:15 pm. We had carry-on only and it was very quick. Upon arrival you will deplane and then immediately board a bus to the terminal. Once inside the terminal you go left up a flight of stairs to the transfer desk passport control, and then continue down the hallway to clear security and customs. From there you make your way past the small food court and duty-free shops before continuing on to the gates for boarding. When we got off the bus an agent with SBC was calling out our name because there were two spots left on the flight that was leaving immediately. We were not asked to show our inbound boarding pass - probably because we were being ushered through to make the immediate departure. In total we spent about 20 minutes in the SXM airport.

On our return trip on Saturday 11/16 we decided to check a bag so the process was a little more time consuming. We were on the 12:00 SBC flight arriving SXM at 12:15 with a scheduled departure of 3:30 pm on United. This time we had to go through passport control, pickup our checked luggage, and then head out to the ticket counter area to recheck our bags onto our United flight. It was pretty busy, and we were glad we were able to use the priority access line at the United counter. Having that access probably saved us about 30 minutes of standing in line. From there we went through security, and continued on to customs. It took about 1.5 hours from the time we stepped off the plane to arriving at the United departure gate. Even without assistance 3 hours should be plenty of time on your return.

Have a great trip!

Thanks so much for the concise info lvbookworm. In the end we decided to use Premium IV as we felt the additional peace of mind was worth the price.

NYJAY said:

Thanks so much for the concise info lvbookworm. In the end we decided to use Premium IV as we felt the additional peace of mind was worth the price.

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We normally try to travel with carry on only but this trip we’re going to be on island for 11 days so I want the ‘luxury’ of checking a bag and bringing more clothes than I know I will need. So we’re coming through SXM this Thursday and have also engaged the services of Premium IV so we can get through the airport as quickly and seamlessly as possible!

Three more sleeps!

Sheryl

Sheryl-still true to this day as per the words of Stew Leonard

BRING HALF THE CLOTHES AND TWICE THE MONEY!

amyb said:

Sheryl-still true to this day as per the words of Stew Leonard

BRING HALF THE CLOTHES AND TWICE THE MONEY!

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:biglaugh::wink2:

SherylB said:

:biglaugh::wink2:

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or as my friend Peter O'Keefe once said, bring a large bag of money and when it's empty, go home !

I have made 3 trips since IRMA and all with SBC. The nice thing about connecting with SBC is that once you get off the bus at the terminal, the SBC rep will be calling out your name. The last trip they even grabbed our checked luggage for us so that we did not have to clear customs at all even with checked bags. Not sure Winair is doing that for their customers, but they should. If you only have carry on bags then it takes 10-15 minutes tops to get to your connection gate. Easy process.

Next week we return to the island for our 50th trip!

Good for you, Foxy...50 is nifty!

Through SXM, SBC is the best way to go. Good ol’ WinAir just doesn’t seem to care about their passengers. Their employees don’t look happy and each time we flew with them, it was tense. You didn’t know always which flight was which and the way they call you to board is confusing. SBC was always a breeze. We have since though changed to SJU with Tradewind.

Are they working on the second level of SXM? What is the anticipated opening date? The lower level was open about 15 months after Irma. I would hope the second level would be on the same approximate timeline... but I haven't been following their progress.

We don't travel often, but went through SXM to SBH last January. We had contracted with Premium IV to make the transfer easy. I don't know exactly what we missed by using Premium IV but I am glad we used them. Once we entered the terminal we were waiting at the gate in approximately 20 min. The gate was packed, standing room only. It wasn't the worst experience we have had at an airport (that honor goes to GCM during their renovation) but it wasn't far behind.

The SXM government appears to be about as dysfunctional as they come. SXM is about to elect what I think will be their 10th government in 10 years. At present, no funds have been released by the bond holders (who are said to be holding the insurance money), or by the various Dutch/World Bank funding sources, to allow work on the 2nd floor to be done. The airport itself claims to be ready to go, but they also say that they will run out of operating funds by December.

My guess is that the airport may be back to normal by sometime in 2022.

KevinS

Yes, after I wrote that reply I did research on the ole Google machine. It seems like all work on the airport has stopped. Money for the first floor renovations came from their existing budget while they await outside money (from insurance payments and other loans) to complete the rehab. It also appears as if the messed up a few years ago by taking out a loan that prohibited them from taking out other loans. I'm a little glad to see the US Government isn't the only one that is a mess.

I am thinking 2022 may be optimistic, as it appears they will need to purchase equipment for the renovation which will need to be made and then shipped to the island. We are thinking about a tentative trip to SBH for Thanksgiving of 2020. I have already told the Mrs to expect SXM to be in the same condition as our trip in January. We will see how this pans out.

Good plan. Set the expectation level low, and hope for improvement.

We came through SXM yesterday. I had arranged for the services of Premium IV so Vincent’s team was waiting for us as soon as we got off the bus. One took our bag tags and said no worries about our luggage - the other whisked us to the front of the line at security and the two passport checks. When we got to the gate he took our boarding passes for our 4:50 pm and flight and handed us passes to the next flight - a full hour earlier than our original flight! So we spent no more than 30 minutes at SXM.

Our checked bags didn’t make it with us but Vincent personally delivered them to our villa later that evening.

So definitely well worth it - especially if you have checked bags, but even so we bypassed everyone else who was in transit with carry on, AND got on an earlier flight!

Thanks Vincent and crew!

Ahhhhhhh, St Barth!

Sheryl

Terrific.Premium IV consistently delivers.enjoy your time in This happy place.

SherylB said:

We came through SXM yesterday. I had arranged for the services of Premium IV so Vincent’s team was waiting for us as soon as we got off the bus. One took our bag tags and said no worries about our luggage - the other whisked us to the front of the line at security and the two passport checks. When we got to the gate he took our boarding passes for our 4:50 pm and flight and handed us passes to the next flight - a full hour earlier than our original flight! So we spent no more than 30 minutes at SXM.

Our checked bags didn’t make it with us but Vincent personally delivered them to our villa later that evening.

So definitely well worth it - especially if you have checked bags, but even so we bypassed everyone else who was in transit with carry on, AND got on an earlier flight!

Thanks Vincent and crew!

Ahhhhhhh, St Barth!

Sheryl

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That Vincent fellow is an incredible story! The business he started with a couple of partners (15 years ago?) -- one of whom, "James," continues as part of the team -- has built a solid reputation for professionalism and reliability that is renowned and well deserved among SBH travelers. It's nice to see appreciation such as Sheryl writes here.

So we used Premium IV on our inbound flight and it worked out great. Hardest part was keeping up with our guy. Got in a bit after 3 and was in our villa an hour later.

We are thinking of using them for our return but are confused as to what their service is. I've emailed several times but I still don't understand. I know what they do on the SBH side but they are being a bit cryptic about what they, do in SXM for outbound folk.

Anyone used them for this who can clue me in. What I'm hoping they can do is much the same as they did inbound, that is jump us to the front of the lines and handle baggage check in.