TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Best Laid Plans

Originally 5 of us were scheduled for a 07/2020 10 charter, which of course got bumped to 07/2021. Then the day 0 on the boat with 4-5 day quarantine was added. Not a problem, we canceled our Mariner Inn rooms to spend day 0 on the boat. We extended our trip by 4 days to cover the quarantine time and let us also visit our regular spots. Our flights were booked into St Thomas using mostly Delta miles. Two of our party are flying out of Denver with the other 3 coming from Houston.

Last week I looked at our flights and noticed Delta had moved the STT - ATL flight for our Denver folks but not for the Houston ones. Not a problem, hopped on the Delta website and got things rearranged so that all of us were on that flight. As a side benefit everyone would arrive home a couple of hours earlier. So as of 6 days ago, everything was lined up perfectly.

This morning Delta sends a notice saying the Denver folks have been moved to a later ATL - STT flight that gets them to St Thomas at 5:23pm which of course is too late to catch a ferry, probably even if things were fully back to normal. I'm not sure why. The Houston folks were still on the flight that arrives in STT at 3:32pm so I have to assume that flight still exists. The Denver to Atlanta flight arrives 63 minutes before the departure of the 3:32 flight to STT so I would assume that is still makeable on a Wednesday morning in Atlanta.

I'm waiting for a callback from Delta (only been waiting 4 hours but that is better than being on hold for that time!) to see what happened. Lots of bad options seem to exist. If the ATL - STT flight that arrives at 3:32pm is still an option, our Denver folks could catch a red-eye that arrives in Atlanta at 5:51am.

Another option that might be possible is to catch a water taxi but I don't know if they'll run that late and the amount of after hours cost.

For various reasons we prefer to fly into St. Thomas but Delta is making it tough.

Just got my call from Delta and here is what happened: We had 2 paid for first class seats on from Denver to St Thomas, one paid with miles, the other with good old fashion cash. The Atlanta to St Thomas leg was on flight 1925, which is the same flight as the other 3 of us flying out of Houston.

Delta yesterday decides to move the 2 of them to a later flight that doesn't arrive until 5:23pm which is too late to catch a regular ferry.

I called Delta who first claims the original flight doesn't exist. When I point out I still have 3 first class seats on the supposedly non-existent flight the agent goes and checks and says that yes it still exists. However the flight is sold out so they can't get back on it.

There is something inherently wrong with Delta selling two previously sold seats to someone else without notice. Next up is to find the Delta complaint department, as if that would do me any good.

For what it's worth...not sure if you are a Twitter user, but I have had MUCH better luck reaching Delta through Twitter Direct messages than the 6+ hour hold times I was quoted yesterday while trying to call...

Check with Dolphin Water Taxi. They may be able to accommodate your late arriving crew. Google their website and hit up the live chat. They were very responsive when I was making arrangements. 5:30 arrival is a little late, but again, they may be able to take care of you.

We are also flying down the beginning of July on Delta from JFK....arriving STT around 12:30. I'll have to check to make sure they haven't monkeyed around with that flight. Part of our group is flying in from Denver. I'll have them check their flights too. Hope you get it worked out.

Much to our surprise Delta just cancelled our return flight EIS ->SJU! So how to get back? We were looking forward to a nice trip JFK -> EIS -> JFK but now unnecessary stress... Thanks Delta.

I've checked with and heard back from Dolphin. They're willing to book a trip with a 50-50 chance of actually being able to get us to Tortola. There is a lot of uncertainty about after hour restrictions in the midst of Covid. Pre-Covid I guess it was strictly an immigration and customs issue but now it also involves testing and certified taxicabs.

One interesting note. I checked the Delta flight where our 2 Denver members were originally booked and their seats are shown as "unavailable", not "occupied". I doubt it is Covid thing but could be, or perhaps they've blocked out those seats for more important passengers. The Delta agent I talked to was confused by what the computer was saying about the flight. One place said the flight itself was canceled but when I pointed out 3 of us still had seats on that flight was told it was now full.

Right now my guess is we'll see about an air charter from STT to EIS, or if that is too expensive, spend the night on St. Thomas and get an early water taxi (doubt there will be an early ferry) to get us to Moorings.

Delta doesn't fly from SJU to EIS (or vice versa). Must have been one of their partners, maybe Seaborne. That airline may have changed a flight - maybe traffic is shifting to STT. Could you connect on Jet Blue?

Right - it was a flight with a Delta number but of course really Seaborne I guess. Now looking at STT and ferry.

It sounds like the seats may have been taken for Air Marshalls. Usually not done at the last minute but happens when they have schedule shifts.

Even though this was not a Delta flight that canceled. They own the problem and should rebook you on another option including non partner airlines or the must give a full refund.

I know nothing about Air Marshalls and their schedules but I'd be surprised if this is the case. I'm looking at the seat map now and 6 of the 20 first class seats, including the 2 that our members had booked show as unavailable. Coach has another 6 as unavailable and another 60 seats available.

Delta graciously offered to rebook them in coach and WOW credit us back for the cost difference but my point is that we bought and paid for a product that they then took away from us.

Delta added back a flight on another airline (Spirit I think) EIS->SJU. Confidence a little shaken, but we are back in business :-). Would STT and ferry be a more reliable combination?

If the timing works out. There is only one St. Thomas to Tortola ferry a day, at 4:00. We originally were going to fly through SJU to EIS (which we've done many times in the past including last December). However, the cost to fly to STT and take the Dolphin Water taxi option was significantly less and got us to Tortola earlier in the day. So that's our plan for our upcoming trip.

how far in advance can one buy ferry tickets at this point?

We have tickets purchased for May 17 CA-RT. We return on May 30, but tickets are not available yet. They said we should be able to purchase them this week. It's very fluid right now because they are unsure of demand. Smith's said the 50 person limit has been waived for the return to St. Thomas.

I was concerned about the original 3:32 arrival with the only ferry leaving at 4:00 so was figuring on Dolphin as our backup if additional ferry times weren't added. Now with 2 of us not arriving until 5:23, they're our prime option. We may be using their fly-in option if the water taxis aren't able to bring in folks after hours.

oh wow ok that is good to hear!!!! I envisioned being stranded at the ferry dock!!

Well it looks like i was able to come up with a resolution to our travel problems. First off I want to pass along kudos to the Delta agents, when I was finally able to get through to them, who worked very hard to make this work. Secondly I know these are tough times for airlines but if you can't get to a live person after literally waiting all day (12 hours in my case) then you might as well shut it down.

On Monday morning the seats and flights which had mysteriously disappeared over the weekend were back, including the 2 seats they'd yanked from our Denver travelers. The website wouldn't let me change the tickets online so I started my efforts to get through to an agent. Their voice system said I'd get a callback in 2 hours but 12 hours later, not a word. I called several times to see what the wait times were and they were pushing 5 hours.

Today I started at 7am where I was told it was a 30 minute wait. The seats were still available on the afternoon flight. By the time I got the call back at 9am, the agent informed me there was only 1 seat left so getting back the seats originally taken away by Delta was no longer an option.

So on to Plan B. Delta has a red-eye out of Denver that arrives in Atlanta at 6am which allows a connection to a 9am departure to St. Thomas. For work reasons our Denver folks couldn't leave a day earlier so this was the only way for them to get to St. Thomas in time for our planned Day 0 at The Moorings. The 3 of us from Houston will head to Atlanta a day early, spend the night at the airport, and meet up with our Denver folks for the trip down.

The advantage of this change is we get to St. Thomas by 1pm which allows us to make the regular ferry even if there is still only the 4pm ferry by that time.

While we probably won't need their services, the response from Dolphin water taxi and Island Birds charter to my quote requests was great.