TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin SXM late afternoon departure

Our Feb 2020 departing flight has changed equipment and time.(737max DEP @ 1500 is now a 767 @ 1715) It may change again before we even leave home but we are hoping the late afternoon DEP stays the same as it gives us more beach / touring time and we still get home before the late news.

1. It would be nice to know how many others are departing around the same time as a guage on how busy the airport will be aside from our fellow 767 passengers.
Is there any site that lists all flights that are planned from SXM for a specific day?

2. We are presuming 2 hours prior to departure as the minimum to check in. Carry-on only as we will have left snow boots and Canada Goose parkas in our car back home.
Is 2 hours suffucient?

3. Suggestions appreciated for last day culminating with car rental drop off at airport.

Thank you.

There's a website called SXMAirport that gives departures and landing info, but I would doubt it would be useful that far into the future. Honestly, I wouldn't worry too much about this. Two hours should be plenty of time, and arriving any earlier than this would probably just be a waste of time. The last time we departed from SXM there were two Delta flights leaving one hour apart from each other in the afternoon -- one for New York and the other for Atlanta. The Delta check-in desks took the JFK folks first because this was the earlier flight. We waited maybe twenty minutes before the Atlanta passengers could check-in and we got through everything in about 30 minutes (security, etc.). We then waited about an hour before we could board and our flight departed almost on time (maybe 5 or 10 minutes late). If we would have arrived any earlier the two hours we would have just been sitting around with nothing to do.

you didn't state what day you will be leaving. Obviously, because of the timeshare industry on SXM, weekends are the busiest at the airport. If leaving midweek, much less crowded. Weekdays including late afternoon is the busiest time to be leaving. I would say you should probably figure at least 2.5 hours for departure weekends.....and weekdays two hours should be enough. Also...hopefully by February, the airport may be further along with rennovation, and will be more spacious than the areas they are using since the hurricane. Also....February, especially during the school vacations, is a huge week in SXM. Plan accordingly.

Thank you for thr comments.
We are leaving on Wed, Feb 12

I agree with Sammy. Look at the airport website for what other planes will be leaving around the same time, but wait until at least high season, say mid December, to look and check on Wednesdays. That is a later time than most bigger planes traditionally leave, so the airport may be pretty quiet, but check much closer to your time.

Actually it is very useful...shows, by airline, what day, what month dates, ARR DEP times, # of PAX based on equipment. It does show 7 fights in the same 2 hour window

By the airport site they are forecasting 372,245 PAX between Oct to May. Others may know if that is + or - previous years.

Again, what they are showing for now would be much different in February. As you said, though, you need to look at the type of plane it is. 7 Liat flights, versus 7 KLM planes, those are two totally different situations!

I have a Wed 5:08pm return flight in November. Will check it out.

ooops....reading comprehension sucks this AM....the airport site has not been updated. It only shows the 2018 to 2019 season..
will check back later in the fall