TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Flights Cancelled/Delayed Wed. 2/7

Check your flights if you are traveling today. I checked a few AA flights and they are either delayed or cancelled. Delta still appears to be a go but that could easily change.

JD--Because of wind in SXM? Or weather in the US?

Probably wind in SXM but I am not sure as they do not give that information, at least not that I could find.

OK

I think If you look at the winds map it shifted so landings would have a very strong cross or tailwind which does work for many aircraft landing SXM. Over the lagoon not really possible . Right not it looks like a 20mph crosswind.

Would not be a very comfortable landing.

As of now, Delta is in the air, scheduled to land in about an hour. AA cancelled all three of their flights today. That doesn't make sense. I'm sure there are an awful lot of unhappy AA customers today.

Looks like AA is the only major airline that cancelled flights (4) .....WinAir cancelled a bunch but that's it....Strange

Edit: I should add that two of the AA flights are listed as "delayed".....yup, delayed until Thursday

Yeah, sorry, I meant all the flights from Miami. There was one from Charlotte too. And yes, delayed for 24 hours. That's some kind of a delay.

It seems the winds are all through the Caribbean, guessing Florida as well. We are in Eleuthera and the winds have been steady between 22 and 25mph with gust above that. Glass Window Bridge is closed because waves are crashing over it, very rough seas. We hear it is supposed to calm down tonight into tomorrow, hoping it does.

Todd--that sounds darn chilly, in the Bahamas in February, with that kind of wind. It is kind of gusty here in Central Florida, but nothing too extreme.

Not exactly beach weather with the wind, but the pool area is protected a bit. Mostly been in the mid 70's in the day and mid to upper 60's at night. Very comfortable, beats the low 40's at home and should get better starting Thursday. Like SXM, you can find enjoyment on these types of days, do things you normally would not do.

Todd-I guess not so bad compared to home, but I did tell you it might not be that warm there. Glad you're making the best of it.

Eleuthrra has been one of our must-do islands for years but based on our only trip to Sr. John and our only trip to the Bahamas I’d surely not go this time of year. StJ was a Dec to.Jan trip and it was cool. Bahamas wasn’t cool but chilly in the evenings and we’re spoiled by SXM and her usually warm weather and waters.
Carry on, Todd and MJ. We’ll continue to enjoy it vicariously through your comments and photos. 😊😊

Yes looks like Delta made it in and going out today. I think different aircraft have different landing requirements in certain types of weather. Delta normally flys down a 757 I think so it might be able to handle the winds better than the AA 737 types. Seems like lots of places around the world the weather is just not great or normal now.

Yes, Delta is a 757 while the AA planes are a smaller Airbus.

Someone 2 hours ago posted on Burger's Facebook page that Jet Blue missed a landing and was on hold as runway 10 was shut down till conditions improved.

Jet Blue #787 from JFK had difficult conditions today. Was scheduled to arrive at 5:46 and landed at 7:18. I noticed it arriving on Flightradar24 during the heavy downpour and thought I would watch the spray off the wet runway when it landed. When it got down to 825 feet on approach they aborted and went back up again. So I turned on the ATC audio feed and they aborted because of the westerly tail winds, so they circled and circled and circled.... for about an hour and forty five minutes before they safely landed. They said if conditions didn't improve they would have landed in San Juan. At least the passengers made it to their destination, but boy what a long ride!!

Delta flies the 757 to SXM. It is a very capable aircraft on short runways and in crosswinds.

Whale Tail--Wow, I'm sure that was VERY scary! Glad it all turned out OK in the end.

George--I was hoping you would weigh in on this topic. I don't want to put words in your mouth, but I guess you are saying that the 757 is a better plane for these conditions than the AA Airbus?

The 757 has a slower approach speed and higher crosswind limit. There is no narrowbody aircraft available today that can match its capabilities on short difficult runways and seat 200 people. The problem is it was designed when jet fuel was 25 cents a gallon. The current narrowbody choices above 150 seats are optimized for fuel economy at cruise. They have smaller wings and higher approach speeds. Their main gear are single axle verses tandom axle on the 757 to save weight. 4 verses 8 tires braking. The last 757’s were built in 2004. Most are approaching 25 years old. They are rapidly being retired. STT as an example was a sea of 757’s 10 years ago seating 190 to 200 people. It’s now heavily A319’s and 737-700’s seating 130 people. Since both STT and SXM don’t have any additional ramp space for more flights the available seats for sale has dropped dramatically leading to higher ticket prices.
Boeing was going to build an all new 757 replacement but the engineers got overruled by the accountants and opted for the cheaper strategy of stretching the 737. That has not gone well for Boeing. There is some discussion at Delta and I believe United to overhauling and life extending small 757 fleets for difficult airports. As the aircraft reach the 25 to 30 year old point the overhual required becomes quiet expensive. It’s literally a complete tear down and rebuild of the airframe. Not sure if the bean counters will approve that expense.

George-thanks for that info. Airliners are a lot more complicated than what we mere passengers know.

Very interesting, thanks.