TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Princess Juliana International.Airport arrival woes continue

The woes continue at Princess Juliana international Airport today for arrivals after their soft opening yesterday November 15.

Since Covid, I have arrived a dozen times at the airport, and the longest time has been one hour to exit the terminal building.

Today I have guests who arrived on WestJet flight 2652 from Toronto. They arrived at 2:52 PM. It is currently 5 PM and they are just entering the terminal arrival area in the building.

If this is new and enhanced, I don’t think any tourist will want that. A definite negative vibe coming to SXM at the beginning of your vacation.

I have seen the posts regarding this situation. I arrive next week after my guests leave. Hopefully I can report that it is less than two hours to get inside the terminal building.

🤞. Drphilsxm

I believe it's the departures hall that is new and enhanced. Arrivals moved to a temporary structure. I hope they figure something out before next month when things get really busy.

Yes, that is correct. It is the departure hall that was supposedly enhanced and improved. Unfortunately it has come at the expense of the arrival area which has gone backwards in time. It reminds me of coming to the island shortly after Irma. We used to go to a tent. They would bring the luggage to us by hand. At least that was quicker.

Drphilsxm

Phil--Wow, wow, wow. That's horrible.

Ah. The price one must pay to have a great time on island.

I wonder if the CEO, Brian Mingo is anywhere to be found? Perhaps some comment from him would be in order.

Just so you know the update, and the end of the story for the days travel.
From the time my guests landed on WestJet 2652 from Toronto until they arrived at my place in Maho, it was just over three hours.
Pretty sad scenario. I left a bottle of bubbly in the fridge for them so they are much happier now.🥂🍾

Drphilsxm

Thanks for the update. I surely hope they can do better in the future.

Finally, The Daily Herald has an article.

CHAOS

And then AA will be adding another flight in January…?

Supposedly.

Too bad the airport CEO can't come out and make some kind of statement, but who knows if it would be factual or not. Probably just more "lip service" like in the past. It sounds like the article in the Daily Herald had some less than accurate statements from whomever gave a statement on behalf of PJIA.

A person I know had friends arriving yesterday. He waited 3h 45m and they still were not out of the airport. They were first timers and he was meeting them. I bet that made a lasting impression!

Joyce, known here as Indi, arrived yesterday. Her husband had wheelchair service, so they got through in about two hours. She told me that there were extra flights arriving because of weather delays and cancelations, and that there was also a suspicious person that caused problems. Can't wait to see how the Sunday after Thanksgiving goes....

JD--there WAS a statement in that article from the airport, which was full of crap. "The airport’s operating company PJIAE did not recognise the passengers’ dismay, stating to the contrary in a press release on Thursday: “Passengers embarking from the new departure hall expressed their delight at the seamless check-in process, efficient security procedures, and overall look and feel of the facility.”

Interesting also that the article said that AA and Delta planes are NOT getting jetways. Why not??????

Correct, that is why I stated as I did as regarding the article. The passengers had one view; the airport spokesperson had a drastically different one. Seems Brian Mingo can't be found with a search warrant.

I believe the added AA flight from Miami arrives around 12:45. I originally considered changing my current flight that arrives at 2:53 on a Friday for that one but decided against it. Now I may have to reconsider.