My wife and I are traveling from Austin, Texas to St. Barth's in June. We fly American Airlines since we have all kinds of privileges and priorities with them, so a different airline is not an option. When I booked the trip last fall, I was thrilled to see that AA had a flight from Austin to SXM that arrived at 1:57 PM which gave us plenty of time to hop on a Winair flight that day to finish our journey and make the entire trip in one day. AA has changed our flight such that it now arrives at SXM at 3:25 PM which cuts it close to make the last Winair flight out at about 5:00 PM. I looked at all airline arrivals into SXM and see that almost all of them from the U.S. arrive mid to late afternoon. If that is the case, what are you folks doing to be sure you make it on to St. Barth's that same day from SXM? If you are doing a quick overnight on St. Martin to catch Winair the next morning, where are you staying? The last time we laid over in St. Martin was three years ago before the hurricane, and even then we did not care for it or feel all that safe. We could entertain the thought of spending 2-3 nights at La Samanna, but with their prices being what they are these days, we would rather spend that kind of money staying longer on St. Barth's. Any thoughts or experiences you can share would be helpful.
One Day of Travel
- Thread starter JWA2002
- Start date
Tiffany
Senior Insider
We use Premium IV VIP service. If you land on time or even a little late, they will get you on the 5 pm flight to SBH. If you end up delayed arriving in SXM after dark, they will find you a nice place to stay and have you on the early flight the next morning. It’s worth the $ to not have to stress about it.
stbartshopper
Senior Insider
Yes Premium IV is your answer.
we have a similar scenario...Our arrival time on our AA flight from Charlotte to SXM was moved back to the point that it meant making the connection to SBH somewhat dicey (especially if the AA flight arrival was delayed). We did not want to spend a night in SXM so we looked at the AA flights from various locations and we were able to re-route thru Philly giving us an arrival time of approximately 1:25 pm into SXM. FYI...If you choose to make a change you may have to do stay overnight in the someplace like Philly....please note that the airline will not charge you for this layover as long as the layover is less than 24 hours...
MantyPam
SBH Insider
Highly recommend Tradewind through San Juan! The price is well worth the convenience and relaxed travel, after a long day traveling from O’Hare. It sets a relaxing tone for the rest of the week.
Chiz, thank you so much for the thought. From what I can see, it appears what has happened is that in June 2020, AA flies direct to SXM only from Charlotte and Miami with those flights arriving at 3:25 PM or later. Please point me in the right direction if you think I am overlooking something.
andynap
Senior Insider
The summer schedule for AA from PHL is different than high season.
Dennis
Senior Insider
Fellow Austinite here.
This exact thing happened to us last November. Had the AA flights booked (points, status, etc.) then AA changed our flights so we would have to overnight in CLT or MIA.
We chose to change to a AUS-MIA-SXM flight that got us to SXM around 4ish. At that time of year, the last scheduled flights were around 5. So no go.
We stayed in Grand Case at the Grand Case Beach Club. Went out to a nice dinner and took a SBC flight from Grand Case "airport" the next AM.
The only change I would make if faced in a similar situation would be to stay in the area of SXM. It took us 2 hours to get across the island to Grand Case 'cause traffic.
We would stay near the airport and return to SXM in the AM and fly from there.
AA has 737 MAX 8 issues that affected this route, or so I was told.
Good luck!
This exact thing happened to us last November. Had the AA flights booked (points, status, etc.) then AA changed our flights so we would have to overnight in CLT or MIA.
We chose to change to a AUS-MIA-SXM flight that got us to SXM around 4ish. At that time of year, the last scheduled flights were around 5. So no go.
We stayed in Grand Case at the Grand Case Beach Club. Went out to a nice dinner and took a SBC flight from Grand Case "airport" the next AM.
The only change I would make if faced in a similar situation would be to stay in the area of SXM. It took us 2 hours to get across the island to Grand Case 'cause traffic.
We would stay near the airport and return to SXM in the AM and fly from there.
AA has 737 MAX 8 issues that affected this route, or so I was told.
Good luck!
JWA2002...I just did a search for June flights on AA thru Philly...as you stated all flights from Philly in June are being routed thru Miami or Charlotte so it does look like the summer schedule for AA is in effect in June (our "changed" flight is in March). I did see flights from Charlotte (AA flight #2478) and from Miami (AA flight #1136) still posting arrival times of 1:20 and 1:57 pm respectively (maybe they just haven't updated their computer system). It looks like San Juan may be your only choice to avoid the potential overnight in SXM if you don't make the 5 pm flight..or...perhaps you take the late ferry from SXM to SBH. Good luck!
If we could overnight in CLT or MIA, that would be great. We would much prefer that to staying overnight at SXM. But with the summer schedule being what it is, that does not gain us anything since the only flights to SXM from CLT or MIA are the ones that we are on that arrive sometime after 3:00 PM.
andynap
Senior Insider
Have you checked SB Commuter’ summer schedule? It gets darker later and they may be flying later. Also look at SBC flights out of Grand Case. Also check the Voyager schedule from Marigot. I hired Premium IV to get my kids thru SXM quickly so they could get the taxi to the ferry.
BTW- I had the same time between planes 2 weeks ago. I did carryon for the first time and with Premium IV I made the SBC flight in plenty of time. I didn’t think I could do carryon but with the right bag and my personal bag I had plenty of clothes.
Jim A
Senior Insider
Interesting on the traffic getting to Grand Case. We did the same thing last November (a different hotel but also on Grand Case) and I would say it took 30 minutes (maybe a little more?) to get from SXM to Grand Case - I think it was a Friday. What I liked the most about it was how convenient it was to fly out of Grand Case the next day instead of SXM. We didn't have to be there too much before our flight because it is such a small Airport and it was a quick drive to get there from the beach and departing from the smaller airport was so much better than SXM. No lines at all to speak of. I guess it all comes down to timing with the traffic (rush hour or construction?)
I am considering the ferry as a final option if we simply cannot make our flight and want to avoid an overnight in SXM. We have done that before and enjoyed the ride. However, I must say that a highlight of the trip for me is the landing at SBH. I would spend a night in SXM just to be able to do that, but my wife does not share that perspective.
Have any of you stayed at the Sonesta Maho Beach since the hurricane? We have done a one-night layover there several times pre-hurricane with the experience being average at best. While there are some good reviews of it on Tripadvisor, there are also plenty of scathing reviews.
dadto6
Senior Insider
This past November, we had a travel delay which caused us to overnight in SXM due to United airplane mechanical. We stayed at the Sonesta Maho Resort. I thought it was nice enough, recently renovated since Irma. The staff was kind. The bed was comfortable, room good size and tidy bathroom. It was very convenient to the airport, only couple minutes by taxi. If we were to be delayed again, I would stay at Sonesta in the future however, hope we are not delayed again. 1st time to overnight in SXM in 16-trips is not a bad average.
