TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin One more SXM airport thread

I have been reading about the lengthy wait times on arrival at SXM, and they prompted a couple of questions. We are flying in on a Tuesday on Delta around 4 pm. Given that timing, would you frequent flyers think that a VIP service is worthwhile, to expedite getting through the airport? If so, does anyone want to suggest a favorite one? I would pay $75 if it seemed likely that it would take 2 hours or more to get through.

Another thing I have read about here is the Mobile Passport Control. We have Global Entry, and fly home to New Orleans through MIA. For that situation, is it worth the trouble to get and fill out the free MPC?

[Thank you to those who posted the details to avoid long lines if making connections in MIA].

BSer

Tuesday soon, or sometime this summer? If it's this summer, I wouldn't bother, for sure. I'm pretty sure it's $75 per person for the expedited service. I personally wouldn't pay it, on principle, I guess.

As far as MPC, it costs nothing. I have seen several people state though that the lines for MPC were much shorter than Global Entry. Seems a no-brainer to me. Costs nothing and it could help.

Just my two cents...Tuesday at 4pm should not be a major issue for arrivals but all bets are off if there are delays for the biggies. And it does matter what date you are arriving

It will be in late May.

Some of our clients that owned their homes here just pay a fee , but you can also use wheel chair service and tip the guy.

IMHO, if you have checked luggage, the VIP service is useless. Some of the "VIP" services have gotten pretty bad reviews of late. I recently arrived on Delta and was out of the airport in about an hour with no special service.

I had Global Entry going home and was through within minutes. People with the FREE MPC were through at the same time. I went through ATL.

Lesley,
I’m sure you weren’t suggesting people should use wheelchair porterage if they don’t really need it and merely want to get ahead by doing so. And I would hope folks would only do so if they really need the service,

Sadly, it is a service that is being abused.

For sure. It also slows down boarding.

JD, Did you use the Global Entry app? If so, what are your thoughts?

No, I used the regular Global Entry card and breezed through. I have the app and also the MPC but had gotten GE in late Nov. and figured I would go with that since I had paid for it.

People using the MPC app were going through as quickly as I was.

Ironically MPC is what caused us to get GE. I could never get approved with MPC and we asked an agent why. He looked at his screen for a moment and said I would never get approved with MPC and the only way I could get expedited clearance was with GE. No explanation. I guess someone with my name or a similar name did something bad.

Or, the agent was a, GASP, Aggie!!

Could be. I do carry a burnt orange Longhorn carry on. Hook'em Horns.

I used VIP on a Saturday and hubby was not in a wheelchair and we passed all lines and wheelchairs and we were out on sidewalk to meet Leslie in 20 minutes. And we had landed minutes after Air France and KLM.

Would we use it again? Probably not. That is if we landed with few other planes. And if hubby doesn't get better we may use wheelchair service.

Rosemary--as I recall, you did not have any checked bags though?

No we did not have checked baggage. But who knows if the baggage might have been there long before those long lines finally cleared. If it had then we would have been ahead of many to get our luggage. It's really a crap shoot what one decides to do. I hope by our next trip there will be more luggage carousels.

If one has checked luggage, I really think the VIP service would be useless as they only unload one plane at a time for distribution on the loggage carousel.

Hopefully by this August , the new arrival area will be done . Best wishes and always a great pleasure meeting and seeing nice people.

I think the VIP service would assist in getting you into the baggage claim area quicker versus the large lines outside, possibly they also retrieve your baggage?

The bags have to be taken off the plane and brought either inside or to the carousel. When I arrived a few weeks ago, you did not enter the baggage claim area until your flight was unloaded. The baggage handlers unload the luggage not the VIP service. No sense being in the baggage claim area if your bags are not there, that is why they are doing it like they are. Well, and to cover for the ineptness of how the reconstruction process has been handled.