Transiting in sxm

[maryella]

As I am enjoying my pain au chocolate this morning from petite Colombe the craziness of yesterdays arrival in sxm is beginning to fade.

Can someone tell me why a transiting passenger to sbh has to jump through so many hoops to get on a connecting winair flight?

My flight was 45 minutes delayed arriving but still had 90 minutes to catch my connecting flight. After immigration and waiting about 15 min for my bag I then had to go into the main terminal, wait in line to checkin at winair and drop my bag, go through immigration then security. The airport was a zoo. By the time I made it to the gate It was 20 minutes before departure. They told me I was too late and I would have to take ferry. Umm I don’t think so! So finally after much back and forth they put me on a flight leaving in an hour. Enough time to down a rum punch to calm my nerves.

Did I miss something here? My kids are coming in 2 weeks and don’t want them to go through the same hassle. Was there a way to avoid all of this (beside flying tradewind) and just transit to the winair gate?

 

[KevinS]

The day of the week that you travel and the time that your flight arrives can make a huge difference.

For some, the preferred option is to hire a VIP service such as Premium IV, who will use a ground services agent at SXM to help expedite the process. http://www.premiumiv.com/

 

[maryella]

Whoops wrong forum. Can someone tell me how to move this post to the general forum?

 

[Tiffany]

Premium IV is worth the $ to navigate SXM, especially on a busy day. And adding the service to your SXM/SBH flight is still a lot less expensive than flying Tradewind.

 

[debd]

Carry on only or, if not, then it sounds like Premium IV is the way to go. If traveling on SBC, they meet you at the arrival door. Can't speak for WinAir.

But good to hear from you. Was wondering how you did.

 

[steelpe]

I don't travel down to SBH nearly as much as I would like, but I agree with a few of the posters here. Traveling through SXM on a Saturday can be really tough. I remember a trip where we traveled back to the US through SXM on a Saturday. I don't know what what happening (rumor of a partial strike at the airport) but the line to get through security was down the stairs and wrapped into the food court area. We had to wait in line over an hour just to get back into the departure hall. Luckily we had planned more than two hours for the layover.

The last time we traveled through SXM to SBH on a Saturday we used the services provided by Premium IV. It was still stressful, but by some random chance we were able to cut through all of the lines with as minimal a hassle as you could possibly expect.

If your children are traveling to SBH in a few weeks through SXM on a Saturday you might consider this as an option (but if it was my child I would just make them suffer...hahahahahahaha).

 

[amyb]

Such a Dad thing to post. I am giggling poolside at Cheval Blanc and getting funny looks.

 

[andynap]

If possible do not go thru SXM on a weekend.

 

[TR561]

Did you have checked bags or just carry on ?

I would never in my life check a bag and go through SXM. It brings the entire zig zag ramp to immigration, followed by a new check-in counter, into play.

 

[Sea_and_Sun]

It is probably too late for this trip, but in the future book with St. Barth Commuter. We traveled on a Saturday three weeks ago and they met us at the entrance to immigration, took a photo of our baggage checks so they could retrieve our luggage and got us quickly through various check in points. They also put us on an earlier flight and we were in and out of St. Maartin within 40 minutes. I have high praise for St. Barth Commuter.

 

[jrosen]

Totally agree in regards to SBC! For our upcoming April trip we will be using them as well as Premium IV! Nobody better than Vincent

 

[TR561]

I pretty sure I would rather take the boat in 13 foot sees, than Winair.

 

[KevinS]

I don't know anyone who has ever tried it, but Winair has an interline agreement with United. If you are flying on United, and connecting on Winair, and you buy your Winair ticket through United (possibly at a higher cost) then you can check your baggage all of the way to SBH.

 

[maryella]

Thank you all for the great suggestions! Yes I checked a small bag! Never again! And never again with winair! One daughter is using winair on a Thursday to arrive so I told the finance to spring for premium! The other daughter is coming in on a Friday with SBC. Two years ago the kids used SBC and said they greeted them on arrival and helped them greatly! Unfortunately they don’t have as many flights as WA so it all depends on your arrival time!

PS even though my covid test had expired by 2 hours due to my delay and later WA flight, nothing was said at SBH arrivals.
I also forgot that SBH was 1 hour ahead when scheduling the test!

 

[TR561]

SBC is an amazing company. Really enjoy flying them when the connection time allows.

 

[Eve]

Unfortunately, Winair is sometimes better than sitting in Sxm for 3 hours.

 

[debd]

Unfortunately, Winair is sometimes better than sitting in Sxm for 3 hours.

Yes.

Eve, I believe, if you are vaccinated, you can complete the EHAS form up to 72 hours before transitioning in SXM, separate from the SBH testing requirement. (used to be you needed to be vaxxed AND boosted to do that, until very recently)


You may want to start a new thread and title it something like - Anyone use the eMed Binax, traveling through SXM to SBH via WinAir. I believe that's your question that has not yet been asked. Or maybe check with WinAir? Wish I could help, but we only (successfully) transited through SXM, with the eMed test, flying JetBlue, on the way back to the U.S.