Transit thru SXM vs SJU - thoughts?

lvbookworm

SBH Insider
Hi all,

We're putting the finishing touches on a late November trip. We're only staying 7 days, and we've decided to spend the extra $$ and travel back home thru SJU with Tradewinds to avoid the confusion regarding the possibility of SXM requiring an additional covid test.

We have unused credit with St Barth Commuter from this past June. I'd like to use that credit, and currently have reservations with them on our way to SBH (connecting through Miami on AA).

What are your thoughts regarding the risk of transiting through SXM on our way to SBH? There was another thread mentioning UA canceling flights from NY to SXM in November, so I am concerned that maybe the airlines know something we don't?
 
Hi all,

We're putting the finishing touches on a late November trip . . . There was another thread mentioning UA canceling flights from NY to SXM in November, so I am concerned that maybe the airlines know something we don't?

”Know something” . . . I don’t think so. But, algorithms generally give them a better crystal ball than most of us have. It probably means that they’re anticipating fewer travelers before Thanksgiving. And, with Covid being a sometime “traveler,” that’s ok. Travel safely, & come on down!
 
Thanks Dennis - I hope that "algorithms" are indeed the reason behind UA's flight consolidations. It looks like they still have flights - but only 3 days per week. I would prefer to avoid the SJU-SBH leg on Tradewinds if at all possible as it adds an add'l $1400 to the trip cost.
 
Thanks Dennis - I hope that "algorithms" are indeed the reason behind UA's flight consolidations. It looks like they still have flights - but only 3 days per week. I would prefer to avoid the SJU-SBH leg on Tradewinds if at all possible as it adds an add'l $1400 to the trip cost.

Understood! I’ll be on the island ‘til late November. Hope to see you!
 
We are going through SJU for the first time. For us (like you) it's a lot more $ to go that route but there were a bunch of reasons why we are doing it. Some of our original reasons don't seem to be valid any longer. You've probably thought of all of them and even listed a couple in your post. When we booked the thought was that you needed to be tested on the way home if going through SXM but not SJU (still not 100% clear on this one but it seems like no now). So if that costs about $125 pp that makes the difference in flights at least a little less. The 2nd reason was being from NY I got clarification from the Health Dept that I could definitely transit through SJU and not have to quarantine upon return to NY if I were there less than 24 hours. That too now seems to have been neutralized based on a link posted here that showed the same 24 hour grace period for SXM but that too isn't as clear because it is not in the executive order signed by the Governor and it is opposite from what the person at the Health Dept told me so I'm still not sure about that and can't risk having to quarantine. The other main issue was the lack of flights to SXM and the flights that were being or might be cancelled. I still feel this is a concern and this was ultimately the deal breaker for us. It won't likely happen but we didn't want to take the chance with so few alternate options if our flight did get cancelled.

There were some other minor reasons like my personal thought (based on nothing but my thoughts) that if anything happened it would be better to be in PR which is a US territory than SXM if I got stranded or ended up getting late notification of a positive result and couldn't continue on. We just decided to go with what for us personally was the least stressful of the stressful options because it was already going to be a nail biter worrying about the tests and flying for the first time and everything else. Plus we heard so much about traveling that route that we kind of wanted to try it. I don't think there is a right or wrong option we just kind of looked at going this way as a little insurance that we'd be more likely to get to SBH
 
All great points - thank you for sharing. We will definitely fly home through SJU, but we can't decide whether or not to do so on the way down. We are taking our covid test on a Monday at 9 am and have been promised to have our results by end of the day. We are going to pre-position ourselves to Miami leaving Las Vegas on Tuesday afternoon, spend the night, and then catch the AA flight to SXM on Wednesday morning. We were thinking that if, for some reason, the test results don't get back "same day" as promised, we could at least give ourselves a bit of wiggle room before continuing on to either SXM or SJU.

If we decide to go to SJU, we would have to depart LAS on Tuesday morning, arrive SJU that night, and then spend the night to catch the Tradewinds flight on Wednesday morning. If the test results aren't back before we leave Tuesday morning, it could be very difficult to get the forms uploaded and test results printed out prior to arriving in SJU. So for us, in terms of timing, going through SJU is actually a little more stressful.

I guess that's another question to ask: Is it necessary to present a hard copy of the test results printed out on a piece of paper prior to arrival? Or will showing a PDF on a phone screen suffice?
 
I was lucky because I was booked with United on Nov 27 from Newark to SXM and then to SBH on ONE TICKET. When United Cancelled our flights, we were able to switch Newark SJU and then SBH with tradewinds for SAME PRICE without fare difference.

Regarding no quarantine, I am afraid that as of tonight, St Barths may be on New York's quarantine list. I am praying it wont be.
 
St Barths not on New York updated quarantine list tonight. Let's see what happens next Tuesday.
I'm confused. I thought there were 2 NY Lists. The first is the most commonly referenced one and only pertains to US States and US territories. Thus, St Barth will not appear on this list. This is the list NY publishes every week

The second "list" was, I thought, just NY passing an executive order to piggy back off of the CDC Travel Advisory list for other Countries (Ironically Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands, etc appear on both). By doing this, it basically adds every level 2 and level 3 risk Country (most of the World) to the NY quarantine list. St Barth's risk level was increased from Level 1 to Level 3 earlier this week by the CDC. So isn't it then also on the NY quarantine list?
 
We are in San Juan...no problems. They did check our covid paperwork before we were leaving the airport terminal here. They also checked at registration here at the intercontinental...about 10 minute taxi ride from the airport.

Mask wearing and social distancing protocols were in effect in NY and San Juan. Every aspect of travel seemed understaffed.
 
St. Barths is still not on New York List that is updated every Tuesday.
I hope you are right, but I'm pretty sure that is because it's not a State or US territory. That is the list you hear about every Tuesday.
The "International" list that is shown on the NYS website seems to be frozen since the first day it was first published at 31 Countries and is not updated by NYS every Tuesday, it simply mirrors CDC list and it clearly states all level 2 and level 3 risk Countries on the CDC list require a quarantine.

Here is the executive order:
https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/no-2051-quarantine-restrictions-travelers-arriving-new-york
 
Jim, you are correct with the CDC List. However, New York has been enforcing the list that is on their website since September and not the updated CDC List for international travel. That may change within a few days.
 
Jim, you are correct with the CDC List. However, New York has been enforcing the list that is on their website since September and not the updated CDC List for international travel. That may change within a few days.
I hope you are right :up:
 
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