TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Departure Experience

Our group of 5 had 3 different departure times so we juggled around that after having to check out by 10:00. Cody and I took Ann to the airport and got caught in a longer bridge opening when returning. Ann reported it took 20 minutes from drop off to gate and that was with a checked bag.

We returned to Royal Palm and had arranged to meet Hardy's Car Rental rep at 1:00. Once again, they provided great service. My AA flight to CLT was scheduled for 2:50 and I had checked in online and made sure I had TSA Pre-Check for CLT. I have Global Entry as well. The others were on the AA flight to MIA that was scheduled just a little later. Two of the others had wheelchair assist so they went to the head of the priority line. I was Main Cabin Extra and went to one of the two regular AA lines.

There were several wheelchair assist passengers and the people in the priority line were getting a little inpatient as they were taking them first. One of the regular lines was at a standstill as a family (2 adults and 2 or 3 kids and a PILE of luggage) were having some kind of issue. When it was my turn, another large family group with a PILE of luggage jumped from the priority line and went in front of me. A full 20 minutes later NEITHER line had moved and there was a lot of confusion. Each station had 2 people, and it appeared one might have been training the other. Those of us in the regular lines were getting a little frustrated, the line was getting longer and nobody was moving. Once the priority line died down, the agent then called for CLT passengers as we were within an hour of departure.

Once I got to the agent, I politely mentioned the delay and while she apologized, the agent dealing with one of the large groups gave me a very nasty look. I have no idea what the problem was but to tie up a line that long was uncalled for and when I had checked my bag and headed to security, there had still been no movement. Security went pretty smooth and I was at gate B2 (no jetway and no bus) with about 30 minutes to spare. I did eventually see one of the family groups in that area.

The cabin doors were locked, then unlocked as 6 other passengers came on late and then another couple with luggage that would not fit came on. They became indignant with the flight attendant over the bag situation. I think they eventually found space. I have no idea why 8 people were so late unless it had to do with the fiasco at check in. We taxied out and then sat for 40 minutes before finally taking off.

Potential bad weather had me concerned about making my connection in CLT but once we got to a gate and to immigration, it went pretty smoothly. Immigration was the least crowded I have ever seen in CLT. I have Global Entry and basically only stopped for the picture and had luggage 10 minutes later. Departure was from Concourse E (reginal jets) and was a hike, especially with the moving walkways in the areas being out of service. We took off a little late but got into DAY on time.

Overall, a good trip with the exception of the entry form situation with so many people not filling it out ahead of time and then the check in situation in SXM.

To address the often asked question about how early to arrive, if you have no checked luggage and everything goes as it should and it is not a Saturday, you should be good with 1 to 1.5 hours. If you have checked luggage, I would probably go with no less than 2 hours. With most flights at capacity, it is not worth chancing things and if you are lucky like me, you seem to get in situations that cause unnecessary delay.

Check in on aa always seems to be some kind of a cr*p shoot. Something is always amiss. Anyway, glad you go home OK.

When we left last week on AA, we just used the kiosk and printed our bag tags and boarding passes then took the bags to the self-service bag drop with no issues. There was no need to go to the counter for anything.

In retrospect, I should have done that.