TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Airport Today

I came in today and the airport was ridiculous. Evidently someone forgot to tell 300 Air France passengers that they had to complete the entry form. So those of us who had completed the form had to wait in line with all these people who had to fill out the form at the kiosks. Thank goodness they had 3 people there to help out the 100’s. What was also interesting was that after I went through the hour wait and finally did my 5 second thing at the kiosk I went to retrieve my luggage and it still wasn’t there yet. It eventually arrived.

If AF landed and disembarked before you then they were probably first in line for checked bags being offloaded.

Hopefully the new system will function smoothly once the word gets out about the requirements. It’s got potential. But come on Air France. Get with the program.

Sadly, the airport continues to leave a lot to be desired. Who is currently the CEO of the airport as Brian Mingo was to step away at the end of 2024?

Exactly....I would say that plan needs some reworking....screws up the whole system. Zero passengers should go to the kiosks if they haven't filled out the form

Scuba's right about the luggage, AF and KLM always get precedence on how luggage is handled.

For those who've been through it, doesn't it seem like there should be a separate line for those who have already filled out the form? How hard could that be to set up? (Oh, silly me... These are the same people who took over 7 YEARS to repair the airport after Irma..)

We only have carryon bags and very happy with our decision

We must have been on the same plane. But we put our island patient faces on and sucked it up for 50 minutes.

Yes AA posted the requirement when I purchased my tickets in September.

I found this posted by one of the SXM politicians, it was from Dec. but it just adds to the confusion unless it is now 100% a requirement.

That's Theo's wife, who is the current minister of Travel and Tourism. That was certainly the statement that was made last month, and I have not seen any new statement from government, stating it is required. Some airlines are saying it is required, but it technically is not. HOWEVER, there should be a separate line for those who have pre-filled it out.

Yep, but it adds to the confusion between the SXM government, the airlines and immigration. Why does this not surprise me?

Talk about confusion, when we checked in for our flight yesterday, I was asked for a copy of the required immigration form. I politely informed the lady that I did have a print out of a screen shot that I had taken but I'm not aware of any requirement to print and show the form to anybody. There was not a print option to be able to do so. She examined it very closely for both my wife and I and simply said she was told it was required for us to get on the plane on our departure flight into Miami so the gate agents in Miami didn't have to deal with it. It was a friendly conversation but I'm thinking she was wrong.

Yes, they were wrong.

All this confusion is going to make tourist not wanting to come to SXM if they have to deal with it.

You got it.

I have asked two times now about who oversees the airport. Is it still the incompetent Brian Mingo or has he moved on to bigger and better things?

I'd be interested to know who is in charge at the airport now too.

Just an offhand comment… we were there in November, and yes people had not filled out the form and it slowed the process. Regardless of that, it took less time to get through everything, including baggage, in SXM than it took to get back through in the US. And it has always been that way. Relax, and enjoy. US return is usually slower.

It appears nobody is in charge.

There actually is...BUT....they let a LOT of overflow from the Pasport Control to use those lines and that makes for the cluster. Big signs in front of the lines "Pre-filled forms"

Oh, ok. Why am I not surprised?

Our whole Family came December 12 th and went back out on January 10th and no hassle and was great Holidays with them 😊👍. And did the Lounge but it’s not as good as prior Lounge .