For those us who go way back, and those like pat and others who go even farther back, I wanted to share what we now pay in airport fees when leaving SXM.
I think my first visit the departure fee/tax may have been $5, I think others have mentioned it being as low as $3. I know things are going up and inflation is rampant here in the US and probably in SXM.
While recently looking at air for a possible fall trip, I noticed the current SXM Departure Fee/Tax is now $42. Last time I really looked, I thought it was $36-$39. I honestly don't recall what it was when I went in March but I do know it went up from when I booked in May of 2023 to my travel date of March 2024. In addition to the $42 there is also a $12.50 Airport Improvement Fee. I wonder where that is going and who is skimming from that? Then, you have the $12.73 SXM Passenger Screening Fee. This is a total of $67.23 to leave our favorite island.
To be fair, the US also imposes various fees that add almost $87 on the total fare. Whatever your base fare is, this is $154+ in taxes and fees that are added on.
In the grand scheme of things for a trip to SXM, this is not a lot of $$ but I do find it interesting that the continued increase in the departure fee/tax is kept very quiet and unless one looks at the fine print when booking a ticket, you never really know what all the "extra" $$ goes for.
.
