My brother+his wife, their daughter+boyfriend left Wednesday on a delayed 9:30am WinAir flight to SXM to connect to their mid-afternoon homeward flights. WinAir didn't get their luggage to SXM in time. Both parties had to go to their respective airports- Seattle and San Francisco - when it came in today. What happened at WinAir??
WinAir Issues??
- Thread starter JoR
- Start date
We usually use PIV (Premium IV VIP Concierge Services St Barth) private services to do all the luggage picking up from your hotel, checking it in to Winair in SBH, monitoring the luggage arrival in SXM, retrieving it in SXM, taking all to your next plane to Check In, and taking you up while going through passport control gates, and then getting you into the Departure hall. Some people do not travel with 4 suitcases like I do, so they are perfectly capable of doing all that themselves, but if you run into a problem such as yours, PIV people are right there to solve the problem and I am betting they could have dealt most efficiently with your luggage and getting it to your next airplane, or they might have had a solution to deal with the differing airports; they are pretty much miracle workers in my experience. I am very sorry for your experience as it is really upsetting to deal with that. We almost got stranded on SBH due to no wind for Winair to fly, so had to take a helicopter over to SXM when we were in a time crunch and HAD to get to our return plane or there would be no way to stay and wait days for another flight. (It was a pricey alternative and I loved it, but apparently I am not to make a "habit" of it
according to my husband..!) Wishing you a good solution and a bon retour!
The PIV/Concierge service is good and all but that's not really the question. When was the last time the group had their checked luggage in their possession, did it not arrive at the baggage carousel of SXM? It would have to be rechecked with AA or whoever their onward flight is. What is strange is if the bags were on a different WinAir flight from SBH to SXM which could cause some chaos I suppose.
After a 90 minute delay they were put on an 8 pax SXM Airways plane (which they describe as small as a car), not WinAir, which likely explains the luggage disconnect.
Learned today that one of the 2 Seattle bags was sent to SF and continues its journey.
I just hope this doesn't discourage future visits as it's long travel from the west coast and they chose Mexico, Hawaii and the Pacific islands over SBH for years. And this is 3rd time their luggage disappeared. My SIL cannot travel w only carry-on! She's taken great comfort in shopping to tide her over when that's happened ...especially the drug stores for cosmetics. And I remind her that most of her island wardrobe has come from SBH stores and requires occasional updating.
Still trying to find out what caused WinAir cancellations.
Learned today that one of the 2 Seattle bags was sent to SF and continues its journey.
I just hope this doesn't discourage future visits as it's long travel from the west coast and they chose Mexico, Hawaii and the Pacific islands over SBH for years. And this is 3rd time their luggage disappeared. My SIL cannot travel w only carry-on! She's taken great comfort in shopping to tide her over when that's happened ...especially the drug stores for cosmetics. And I remind her that most of her island wardrobe has come from SBH stores and requires occasional updating.
Still trying to find out what caused WinAir cancellations.
I am sorry for your travel problems, and your report unfortunately confirms Vincent's recent warning to us about WinAir. We travel to SBH in a few weeks, and are arriving via SXM and WinAir on a Sunday. When I contacted Vincent at PIV for his airport assistance, he told me about WinAir's reputation lately - cancellations, no shows, etc. We re-booked on SXM Airways which is building its reputation as a charter only small airline. We return fortunately by our usual TW - SJU route. But we would NEVER travel through SXM without PIV, and now apparently WinAir is even more unreliable than ever. So sorry! Premium IV is an insurance policy: wonderful to have even if you don't use it, but boy have they bailed us out of some horrible situations in the past!
Saline Man
SBH Insider
WinAir is owned by the Dutch Government.
cassidain
Senior Insider
Really sorry to hear about WinAir's problems as we are always obligated to fly it since our DL flights never make it into SXM in time for us to catch SBC. Alternatively we could choose to spend the night (coming from California) in SJU and then taking Tradewind in but that is a monumental hassle with the luggage I drag with me. It is just too much checking in and out of too many airports for us. But perhaps this new charter has possibilites; it would be good if someone would be kind enough to inform us of the mechanics of the new SXM Airways! (It 's highly likely I will come in on a boat next time, but still, if I can talk myself into renting a villa, there may be more than 1 trip!!)
We will gladly report on our SXM airways experience in a few weeks. If Vincent says do this, we do it! He’s our go to guy. I don’t usually chime in to the forum but I will gladly give a report. Fingers crossed! We’re also spending one night at hotel Christopher before our villa is available so that might get a quick review as well.
Thank you and we totally agree; if Vincent says it, we also do it! Please chime in when you can!
Saline Man
SBH Insider
This is an old YouTube but it may be relevant.
didier
Senior Insider
try not to be too hard on winair, I am sure they are doing the best they can with what they have to work with. I don't fly into sxm anymore for my flights to/from usa since tradewind flies to sju. its so much easier with tradewind and I have never liked sxm airport even though now it is better.
the last time I flew into sxm, happened after they had the closed airspace problem in the caribbean, flights with tradewind the next day were full out of sju. I changed my flight to fly into sxm instead of sju. the new airport at sxm was nice, they did a good job with the renovations. I took the boat back to sbh the same day.
My reasons for taking the boat? sbc only has one pilot so not an option for me, as the guy in the movie thelma & louise said, brains will only take you so far and luck always runs out.
winair was full for last minute flights that day , the boat is always a good option as there is room even last minute. the price is right, just a short taxi ride from the airport. I am one of the few that enjoys the boat ride. I took voyager, but I do like the other boat out of phillipsburg also.
the last time I flew into sxm, happened after they had the closed airspace problem in the caribbean, flights with tradewind the next day were full out of sju. I changed my flight to fly into sxm instead of sju. the new airport at sxm was nice, they did a good job with the renovations. I took the boat back to sbh the same day.
My reasons for taking the boat? sbc only has one pilot so not an option for me, as the guy in the movie thelma & louise said, brains will only take you so far and luck always runs out.
winair was full for last minute flights that day , the boat is always a good option as there is room even last minute. the price is right, just a short taxi ride from the airport. I am one of the few that enjoys the boat ride. I took voyager, but I do like the other boat out of phillipsburg also.
