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A Long Air Travel Rant
A Long Air Travel Rant
Like most people, I can easily tell you what is wrong with something but I have no idea how to fix it. In this case, I am talking about air travel. I have begun to write
this in a room at the Hampton Inn near the airport in San Juan. This is not where I intended to be this morning. My intentions had been, as they are every year around this time, to be sipping coffee in the courtyard of our timeshare at Sunset Ridge Villas on St. John USVI, watching the inter-island traffic in Pillsbury Sound while we planned the day’s trip to the beach and snorkeling.
Being timeshare people makes travel planning relatively easy. We know from year to year when our departures are and we begin watching the airfares as soon as they are posted for our particular time of year. In the past, it has been our experience that the fares are often at their lowest when they are first posted. We live near Burlington Vermont and though we have flown out of Boston and Manchester, we do like getting picked up at the airport and having a short drive home when we return. This year was no different. We booked our flight in July for mid-March. The itinerary was Burlington VT to Dulles Int’l to San Juan to St. Thomas, a two stopper. The reality of living in Northern Vermont is, if you want to fly out of there, you must accept the fact that in most cases you will have to fly to somewhere else to get a direct flight to anywhere else. The short hop from San Juan to St. Thomas can be fun riding in a small aircraft and sightseeing that portion of the Caribbean from the air. No worries.
So how did I get to be where I am right now? In January, though our airline claims that they informed me in September, which I can find no record of in my email archive, our airline, United, changed our itinerary. Now instead of flying into Dulles we were flying into Newark and, what was best, was an initial layover of one hour in San Juan became a seven hour layover. I began calling in February to see if the airline could do anything about the 7-hour layover. I was told to keep calling. Maybe there would be a cancellation, somewhere. If there was, someone else got it. It was spring break time after all. Another agent claimed that if I had called earlier, when I was allegedly first informed, that they might have been better able to assist me.
On the day of our flight, with a flight time of 5:45AM, we rose at 3:45, dressed and left our home at 4:00 for a half hour ride into Burlington VT. We had pre-checked ourselves in using the online service and printed out our boarding passes and paid in advance for our single checked bag. At the airport we went to a kiosk to check in again and forward our bag tag to the counter agent who took our bags. So far all has gone smoothly. Our flight to Newark was uneventful, even being able to find overhead room for our carry-ons. Our transition to our main flight went well and we arrived in San Juan without much distress except for a young man behind me who continually kicked my seat back and woke me from a much needed on board nap.
Now the fun begins. We start to look for our short hop airline, Cape Air. San Juan airport is being expanded and arrival and departure boards are in short supply around the airport. We find one and notice that Cape Air flights depart from one gate, C23. In a conversation with one Cape Air telephone agent we had been directed to terminal A and told to allow ourselves an hour to find their gate. As it turned out the gate was in terminal C. We went directly to Cape Air’s gate desk to check in and ask if there were any cancellations in hopes of cutting short our 7-hour layover. To say that the scene at the desk was near bedlam might be overstating the actual atmosphere there, but not by much. When we finally arrived at the desk our agent was very pleasant. As she checked us in, weighed our carry-ons and recorded our personal weights we told her the sooner she could get us to STT the happier we would be. She told us if there was a cancellation we would certainly be called but the hoped for cancellation would never come. We noticed that many other patrons were ill prepared for going through the second check-in procedure required by the smaller aircraft of Cape Air and we thought how well the Cape staff handled what appeared to be several uneasy exchanges. During lunch we noticed our agent going off shift, which is perhaps why she seemed so pleasant as she dealt with us. For her, it would all be over soon.
Then after about five hours of our anticipated seven-hour layover we were called to the desk. The desk agent said that our plane had a weight distribution problem and that we were being bumped. The question was why did it take five hours for them to ascertain this and finally, why us?
We were given vouchers for taxi, room and meals. We picked up our luggage and waited for our cab. Our accommodations were comfortable and the service was pleasant. San Juan airport is currently a jumble and we had difficulty even finding the TSA line that serviced the end of the airport we were destined for the following morning. Going through TSA once on the outward leg of a trip is bothersome enough; to have to go through it again because you are bumped is just adding insult to injury.
We are now on St. John. What has normally been an eight to ten hour trip, turned into a 36-hour marathon. We of course are not happy. Either of the airlines we used can blame the other for our displeasure but we believe both hold equal blame and for obvious reasons. We had purchased our flight from United based on an itinerary that met our needs and our pocketbooks. We were instead given one without warning or option that we neither wanted nor approved of. What it amounted to was a bait and switch. And by the time we became aware of it, fares had gone up to almost double what we initially had paid. If we didn’t like it, we had to pay up.
As far as Cape Air is concerned, they may have expanded to beyond their ability to service the business they have earned. We believe that the choice of us to be bumped was out of the convenience of our early check in. Why else?
And so each year air travel becomes more inconvenient and more miserable. And each year we take it in stride because we are going on vacation. Our travel days are trials to be borne, and suffered from to experience the relief of reaching our destinations. And as if planned, the airlines have provided a fee structure to relieve us of these indignities. Most airlines have fees for early boarding so we can get on the plane with our overstuffed carry-ons to avoid the checked bag fee. There are additional fees for sufficient legroom, along with the check bag fees. As travelers we are being milked to distraction by an inefficient industry that seems destined to find out how far they can push the traveling public. It is almost as if they are making air travel as miserable as possible so they can find more fees to charge to relieve the miseries they have created.
For now, we will avoid United and Cape Air. Though their employees remained as pleasant as could be, we found their actual performance to be deplorable. Though we do not hold out for much hope, in the future we will make our travel plans with other providers and hope for the best. I am writing this mostly as an exercise to relieve myself from anger and allow myself to carry on with my vacation. I cannot help but to believe that this letter will be mounted on a conveyer belt representing the airlines interest in customer satisfaction and ending in a large circular file where it will join many, many others to be ignored.
To all still gathered say, "Amen."
this in a room at the Hampton Inn near the airport in San Juan. This is not where I intended to be this morning. My intentions had been, as they are every year around this time, to be sipping coffee in the courtyard of our timeshare at Sunset Ridge Villas on St. John USVI, watching the inter-island traffic in Pillsbury Sound while we planned the day’s trip to the beach and snorkeling.
Being timeshare people makes travel planning relatively easy. We know from year to year when our departures are and we begin watching the airfares as soon as they are posted for our particular time of year. In the past, it has been our experience that the fares are often at their lowest when they are first posted. We live near Burlington Vermont and though we have flown out of Boston and Manchester, we do like getting picked up at the airport and having a short drive home when we return. This year was no different. We booked our flight in July for mid-March. The itinerary was Burlington VT to Dulles Int’l to San Juan to St. Thomas, a two stopper. The reality of living in Northern Vermont is, if you want to fly out of there, you must accept the fact that in most cases you will have to fly to somewhere else to get a direct flight to anywhere else. The short hop from San Juan to St. Thomas can be fun riding in a small aircraft and sightseeing that portion of the Caribbean from the air. No worries.
So how did I get to be where I am right now? In January, though our airline claims that they informed me in September, which I can find no record of in my email archive, our airline, United, changed our itinerary. Now instead of flying into Dulles we were flying into Newark and, what was best, was an initial layover of one hour in San Juan became a seven hour layover. I began calling in February to see if the airline could do anything about the 7-hour layover. I was told to keep calling. Maybe there would be a cancellation, somewhere. If there was, someone else got it. It was spring break time after all. Another agent claimed that if I had called earlier, when I was allegedly first informed, that they might have been better able to assist me.
On the day of our flight, with a flight time of 5:45AM, we rose at 3:45, dressed and left our home at 4:00 for a half hour ride into Burlington VT. We had pre-checked ourselves in using the online service and printed out our boarding passes and paid in advance for our single checked bag. At the airport we went to a kiosk to check in again and forward our bag tag to the counter agent who took our bags. So far all has gone smoothly. Our flight to Newark was uneventful, even being able to find overhead room for our carry-ons. Our transition to our main flight went well and we arrived in San Juan without much distress except for a young man behind me who continually kicked my seat back and woke me from a much needed on board nap.
Now the fun begins. We start to look for our short hop airline, Cape Air. San Juan airport is being expanded and arrival and departure boards are in short supply around the airport. We find one and notice that Cape Air flights depart from one gate, C23. In a conversation with one Cape Air telephone agent we had been directed to terminal A and told to allow ourselves an hour to find their gate. As it turned out the gate was in terminal C. We went directly to Cape Air’s gate desk to check in and ask if there were any cancellations in hopes of cutting short our 7-hour layover. To say that the scene at the desk was near bedlam might be overstating the actual atmosphere there, but not by much. When we finally arrived at the desk our agent was very pleasant. As she checked us in, weighed our carry-ons and recorded our personal weights we told her the sooner she could get us to STT the happier we would be. She told us if there was a cancellation we would certainly be called but the hoped for cancellation would never come. We noticed that many other patrons were ill prepared for going through the second check-in procedure required by the smaller aircraft of Cape Air and we thought how well the Cape staff handled what appeared to be several uneasy exchanges. During lunch we noticed our agent going off shift, which is perhaps why she seemed so pleasant as she dealt with us. For her, it would all be over soon.
Then after about five hours of our anticipated seven-hour layover we were called to the desk. The desk agent said that our plane had a weight distribution problem and that we were being bumped. The question was why did it take five hours for them to ascertain this and finally, why us?
We were given vouchers for taxi, room and meals. We picked up our luggage and waited for our cab. Our accommodations were comfortable and the service was pleasant. San Juan airport is currently a jumble and we had difficulty even finding the TSA line that serviced the end of the airport we were destined for the following morning. Going through TSA once on the outward leg of a trip is bothersome enough; to have to go through it again because you are bumped is just adding insult to injury.
We are now on St. John. What has normally been an eight to ten hour trip, turned into a 36-hour marathon. We of course are not happy. Either of the airlines we used can blame the other for our displeasure but we believe both hold equal blame and for obvious reasons. We had purchased our flight from United based on an itinerary that met our needs and our pocketbooks. We were instead given one without warning or option that we neither wanted nor approved of. What it amounted to was a bait and switch. And by the time we became aware of it, fares had gone up to almost double what we initially had paid. If we didn’t like it, we had to pay up.
As far as Cape Air is concerned, they may have expanded to beyond their ability to service the business they have earned. We believe that the choice of us to be bumped was out of the convenience of our early check in. Why else?
And so each year air travel becomes more inconvenient and more miserable. And each year we take it in stride because we are going on vacation. Our travel days are trials to be borne, and suffered from to experience the relief of reaching our destinations. And as if planned, the airlines have provided a fee structure to relieve us of these indignities. Most airlines have fees for early boarding so we can get on the plane with our overstuffed carry-ons to avoid the checked bag fee. There are additional fees for sufficient legroom, along with the check bag fees. As travelers we are being milked to distraction by an inefficient industry that seems destined to find out how far they can push the traveling public. It is almost as if they are making air travel as miserable as possible so they can find more fees to charge to relieve the miseries they have created.
For now, we will avoid United and Cape Air. Though their employees remained as pleasant as could be, we found their actual performance to be deplorable. Though we do not hold out for much hope, in the future we will make our travel plans with other providers and hope for the best. I am writing this mostly as an exercise to relieve myself from anger and allow myself to carry on with my vacation. I cannot help but to believe that this letter will be mounted on a conveyer belt representing the airlines interest in customer satisfaction and ending in a large circular file where it will join many, many others to be ignored.
To all still gathered say, "Amen."
Re: A Long Air Travel Rant
Certainly hit United up, they'll give you 2,500 frequent flyer miles as an apology. Sorry to say that United and Cape Air are two of the best operators into STT. AA is challenged with the US Air acquisition and will have pains for another year. Delta is pricey and forces 6AM an earlier departure times given the timing of their few Atlanta flights to STT. Jet Blue has great service out of BOS, where we will be flying to from DC in 10 days to catch the best flight we could get to STT on a Friday. Spirit is the worst. Southwest can only get you to SJU. AA killed their service to Beef Island.
We flew into St. Thomas five times last year. We arrived, within reason, on time three times. Each time we flew north to JFK or EWR we ended up blowing connections and getting sent to MIA for 5-7 hour layovers, converting our noon arrivals into 10PM+ arrivals. Same day service is good enough?
Air travel is the only thing that is cheaper now than it was 15-25 years ago. We used to pay $700+ pp for July travel to STT. How do the airlines do it?
Cheers, RickG
We flew into St. Thomas five times last year. We arrived, within reason, on time three times. Each time we flew north to JFK or EWR we ended up blowing connections and getting sent to MIA for 5-7 hour layovers, converting our noon arrivals into 10PM+ arrivals. Same day service is good enough?
Air travel is the only thing that is cheaper now than it was 15-25 years ago. We used to pay $700+ pp for July travel to STT. How do the airlines do it?
Cheers, RickG
S/V Echoes - Coral Bay - St. John, VI
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GratefulDad
- Posts: 93
- Joined: Sun Aug 31, 2014 12:08 pm
Re: A Long Air Travel Rant
I sympathize with your plight. I realize that sometimes you have make a stop in order to get to STT these days depending on where you fly out of. I learned years ago the San Juan is not where you want to stop in order to get to STT. If you can get to Newark, Boston, or JFK and take a direct flight to STT from there, you may be better off. You may pay more money, but your chance of arriving close to your anticipated time of arrival goes way up on direct flights. I was stranded in San Juan due to weather one time, and it sucked.
Re: A Long Air Travel Rant
We have already decided that next year we will drive to our daughter and son-in-law's in DC and fly direct from either Reagan or Dulles. We can leave our car safely with them and they will have an extra vehicle.
Rick, why do you drive all the way up to Boston or NY to catch a flight? I am almost afraid to hear your answer.
Rick, why do you drive all the way up to Boston or NY to catch a flight? I am almost afraid to hear your answer.
Re: A Long Air Travel Rant
I saw your post over at TA and replied with our recent Cape Air experience as well, which was not good.
It sort of pains me to say it because we were very happy using them a number of times over the past several years but will be taking a long break.
The short versions -
SJU to VG - Cape Air flight was delayed, we wanted our luggage back to take a different flight, Cape Air couldn't/wouldn't get our bags, took the Cape Air flight anyway, due to overbooked and weight restrictions the checked bags stayed behind for 30+ hours until they flew them to EIS.
VG to SJU - delayed flight ad misinformation flowing from Cape Air to customers (I could see what was not happening with our flight on Flight Aware) Had we listened to what the company was telling us, we would have missed our flight home and been stuck in SJU for at least one night.
My frustration with them was solidly with their operations, lack of communication and customer service. I think the company is having a hard time growing into their expanded market.
I have a credit with them that will go unused for our Jun trip because my husband said absolutely no to flying with them again.
I completely understand things happen with mechanical issues, weather delays and the like but the customer service breakdown really annoyed me.
It sort of pains me to say it because we were very happy using them a number of times over the past several years but will be taking a long break.
The short versions -
SJU to VG - Cape Air flight was delayed, we wanted our luggage back to take a different flight, Cape Air couldn't/wouldn't get our bags, took the Cape Air flight anyway, due to overbooked and weight restrictions the checked bags stayed behind for 30+ hours until they flew them to EIS.
VG to SJU - delayed flight ad misinformation flowing from Cape Air to customers (I could see what was not happening with our flight on Flight Aware) Had we listened to what the company was telling us, we would have missed our flight home and been stuck in SJU for at least one night.
My frustration with them was solidly with their operations, lack of communication and customer service. I think the company is having a hard time growing into their expanded market.
I have a credit with them that will go unused for our Jun trip because my husband said absolutely no to flying with them again.
I completely understand things happen with mechanical issues, weather delays and the like but the customer service breakdown really annoyed me.
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snorkeler525
- Posts: 186
- Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2008 10:40 pm
- Location: Wellesley
Re: A Long Air Travel Rant
We too had an issue with a SJU-VGI connection with CapeAir but most of the blame for ours lies with USAir who messed up our reservation. I will agree that CapeAir seems overwhelmed when something goes wrong or if they are super busy. We got stuck in SJU for one night on our way to VGI. USAir had our bags going everywhere other than to CapeAir even though they should have been transferred to CapeAir- we spent 4 hours in SJU looking for them!
The next day, it was pleasant at the CapeAir gate. Unfortunately, there had been an accident at VGI but CapeAir handled it well. They took our flight to Beef Island instead and had a private ferry waiting to take us to Virgin Gorda. Our flight back from VGI to SJU was fine.
The next day, it was pleasant at the CapeAir gate. Unfortunately, there had been an accident at VGI but CapeAir handled it well. They took our flight to Beef Island instead and had a private ferry waiting to take us to Virgin Gorda. Our flight back from VGI to SJU was fine.
Re: A Long Air Travel Rant
My wife chose our flights on one trip to and from St. John. The flight down was unexceptional. We were routed back through San Juan; hey, that happens a fair amount with Jet Blue; this time the connection from STT to San Juan was on Cape Air. Seemed reasonable. We were a bit puzzled when the gate agent asked us each how much we weighed, and then gave us our seat assignments based on our answers. Then we headed out onto the tarmac, to board what we had assumed was a normal, large jet. Not quite!
Wow, this was quite a bit smaller than we had expected, and considerably gaudier! Pink wings, a parrot, tropical fish, and a portrait of who, exactly? My bad; that's Ernest Hemingway, "of course"; this particular plane had apparently seen some time (hopefully, long after he passed) in the Florida keys. We stepped up and in to our weight-assigned seating, and actually had a great low-altitude tour across Culebra and eastern Puerto Rico.
That's our Cape Air story.
All the best,
Kevin
- Cape Air
That's our Cape Air story.
All the best,
Kevin
Re: A Long Air Travel Rant
"We noticed that many other patrons were ill prepared for going through the second check-in procedure required by the smaller aircraft of Cape Air and we thought how well the Cape staff handled what appeared to be several uneasy exchanges."
Now you have me nervous. We are flying Southwest to SJU and catching a Seaborne flight to STT. SW arrives at 1:50 and the Seaborne flight departs at 4:40. We've never switched airlines before. Any advice you can share would be much appreciated!
Now you have me nervous. We are flying Southwest to SJU and catching a Seaborne flight to STT. SW arrives at 1:50 and the Seaborne flight departs at 4:40. We've never switched airlines before. Any advice you can share would be much appreciated!
Re: A Long Air Travel Rant
You should have plenty of time to sort your way through the jumble of San Juan Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport. It is being expanded and is currently quite a bit larger than it used to be. You may want to give Southwest a call and ask for directions from your arrival gate to Seaborne's.
Based on what I saw on the tarmac at the airport, the Seaborne aircraft looked more like commuter aircraft than the Cessnas that Cape Air fly.
Also we do agree that the Cape Air staff handled the situation at the gate very well. We just wish they hadn't chosen us to bump.
Based on what I saw on the tarmac at the airport, the Seaborne aircraft looked more like commuter aircraft than the Cessnas that Cape Air fly.
Also we do agree that the Cape Air staff handled the situation at the gate very well. We just wish they hadn't chosen us to bump.
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equineannie
- Posts: 264
- Joined: Tue Apr 13, 2010 2:24 pm
- Location: Florida
Re: A Long Air Travel Rant
Look to Seaborne instead of Cape Air. I frequent the Caribbean, as a dive instructor, and avoid Cape Air if possible.
Re: A Long Air Travel Rant
As a fellow Vermontser, I feel your pain. That may be why in our 10 trips to STJ, we've never actually flown out of BTV. The first time was non-stop from JFK, and all the rest were either BOS or BDL. I would rather drive 3 to 6 hours to hopefully insure decent connections and airfares, than deal with 2 connections and a carrier change. Air travel just sucks; sorry you had to endure it all.
***The funny thing is that in all our flights to STT, we've only checked a bag once, and that was on the non-stop from JFK. AA somehow lost our bag. How do you do that on a non-stop? Never checked a bag since...***
***The funny thing is that in all our flights to STT, we've only checked a bag once, and that was on the non-stop from JFK. AA somehow lost our bag. How do you do that on a non-stop? Never checked a bag since...***
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snorkeler525
- Posts: 186
- Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2008 10:40 pm
- Location: Wellesley
Re: A Long Air Travel Rant
You should be fine but do plan to go right to your Seaborne flight even though it seems like you have lots of time - SJU is now huge with the construction and you will likely have to change terminals- see map http://aeropuertosju.com/en/mapas/.Chicken wrote: Now you have me nervous. We are flying Southwest to SJU and catching a Seaborne flight to STT. SW arrives at 1:50 and the Seaborne flight departs at 4:40. We've never switched airlines before. Any advice you can share would be much appreciated!
Is SW checking your bags through (if you have checked bags)? If not, you will have to collect them and take them with you to Seaborne. Even if you don't have checked bags, check in with Seaborne when you get to the gate. Our bags were checked through and we had boarding passes for our CapeAir flight so at first we didn't think we had to check in, but we did.
Re: A Long Air Travel Rant
SJU has some renovations going on and gates are changing. Check with your airlines and airport employees on the best way to get to your gate. Don't leave security unless you have to, that will add another security check in order to get to your departing gate. Southwest is in terminal C and Seabourne is in Terminal D. There is a small hallway that goes between them. If you're in doubt, don't exit through security and ask an employee for directions. Lots of chatter on this on tripadvisor and TTOL and lots of blown connections because of having gone through security.
Cheers, RickG
Cheers, RickG
S/V Echoes - Coral Bay - St. John, VI
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PatrickMcc
- Posts: 223
- Joined: Sat Jan 05, 2008 2:43 pm
- Location: Boston
Re: A Long Air Travel Rant
I feel your pain Bill. AA can be very unreliable also. I flew with them from Hartford to grand cayman last January and originally booked a 6 P M. Flight so that we would not miss our day care for the grandkids "job." They switched the flight to 6 A. M. It was a Friday so I am sure there were people who had planed to work that day and they messed up my daughter's schedule. I actually live close to Logan and recommend the Jet Blue non stop to STT. It doesn't fly all year or every day but it is great if it fits your schedule and budget. Some of the hotels close to LogAn have good park and fly deals if you ever consider driving from Vermont. Unfortunately if you fly JetBlue to SJU they connect to STT with Cape Air. Good luck with your future flights.