TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin American Airlines

Thank you very much. I had read the text, but somehow missed the video/audio.

you may only get the sound but it is certainly 20 minutes worth listening to

We were scheduled out of Miami for 9/17 to SXM and to return on 9/24 - called on Friday 9/8 and immediately was refunded the entire roundtrip for two and refunded for the upgraded seats. Entire trip refunded back on to our credit card. Now I am working with the Villa owners to refund our week in Orient Bay. We really want to go to help out but we realize it will be 6 to 9 months before that is a possibility in our opinions.

not getting that link to video to work - it just keeps cycling with spinning wheel - anyone else having issues getting it to play?

http://www.kesq.com/news/former-palm-spr...artin/617720771

rewatching it right now there is no picture but the sound is there

It played for us with no issues.

A number of people share their thoughts and experiences on how fast things can recover/rebuild but I find this article very interesting http://www.cayman.org/ivan.html about Ivan hitting the Caymans and their struggles.

we're supposed to go down the last week of december, and we usually split our 2+ weeks between St. Maarten and St. Barths...we called AA a couple of days ago, and they told us they're not making decisions regarding flights in december yet...St. Barth will most likely rebound faster than SXM, so we may consider just spending our whole time there...but i've also already made back-up lodging reservations at our other favorite island just in case <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" />

damage to beaches, hotels, restaurants, bars, etc. is one thing, but dealing with machete wielding street gangs is another <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Toilet.gif" alt="" />

Do you mean AA is not saying whether or not their scheduled flights will fly into these areas? Or do you mean you tried to purchase a ticket and they are not selling them at this time?

The best I was able to get from AA supervisor was a waiver of change fees but no refund for Dec 3rd flight. We have a year to use the $1400 credit but it is "year from date of issue" which was June. I hate the airlines.

we purchased the tix to SXM several months ago...we called AA to ask about possibly changing our destination from SXM to another island...the CSR said they had not yet made an official decision about what they will do about flights in mid-late december, so would not waive any change/cancellation fees for our flights...we didn't press the issue since we're not sure what we want to do yet...hopefully as things settle down and everyone get's a clearer picture of the situation, they will come up with a better plan going forward

Wow... we must be special

I did not realize my husband has such clout....

See we did not ask to change... we asked to cancel

Then we rebooked someplace else

I am not sure I am understanding why they are jacking folks around.

Delta is doing the same thing. I dislike airlines.

If I may interject a thought here, and with regard to American Airlines but only because that's the airline I have the most experience with, over a lot of years and a lot of different situations, I've noticed they have different policies in place for different situations. That said, often the manner in which they interpret those policies may depend on the person you speak with and the mood they're in at the moment and most importantly, the manner in which you approach them.

This has been my experience over many years and I've always believed the old saying: "You catch more flies with honey......" I can't think of an instance they haven't ultimately seen things MY WAY and acted accordingly.

It can be frustrating, I know, but it really does make a difference in who you deal with and how you handle things. We have no airline status but they still always treat us well. Only hoping this time will be the same when I get to that point. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

but you used points to book, correct?...it's usually much easier to cancel/change a ticket bought with miles than with $s...getting them to waive fees or issue full refunds on purchased technically "non-refundable" tix will be a little trickier...but this is obviously a very abnormal situation, where the tix need to be changed/cancelled due to no fault of the passengers

Yes we used ff miles

And perhaps that was also a difference... I will tell you we have cancelled flights before that we did indeed have to pay a penalty for. Or flights we have changed that we had to pay a penalty for.

But I will tell you we had tickets that we paid for to Charleston last year and a hurricane was coming and we cancelled those flights no penalty.

I think pat is right.. I think it often depends on the representative you talk to at the airline.

My husband is executive platinum ... perhaps that's why he was treated so nicely... I don't know..

But I cannot imagine a refund of some kind for changing or cancelling a flight to complete devastation...

i just noticed this on AA's website:

https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/travel-alerts.jsp

Hurricane Irma - St. Maarten
Information current as of September 12, 2017

If you’re traveling to/through/from:

St. Maarten, St. Maarten (SXM)
The change fee may be waived if you:

Are traveling on an American Airlines flight
Bought your ticket by September 10, 2017
Are scheduled to travel September 5 - December 31, 2017
Can travel September 10, 2017 - September 30, 2018
Don't change your origin or destination city
Rebook in the same cabin or pay the difference
Change your trip

If your trip is eligible, you can change it online. Here’s how:

Find your trip
If your trip is eligible, you’ll see the option to ‘change trip’ in the toolbar

Exactly. So as long as you fly to SXM before the end of next September, then they will waive the change fees. Of course, many of us own timeshare there, with fixed weeks. We will probably not be going back to the island until November, 2018. I had planned to call today to see if I could cancel, but I'm just going to wait a while and see how things pan out. If the government halts tourist travel to the island, which I understand they did after Luis, then I think the airlines might be more accommodating.

"This has been my experience over many years and I've always believed the old saying: [color:"red"]"You catch more flies with honey......"
[/color]
Or as Woody used to say on the TV Series Cheers, he[/color] [color:"red"]"always had better luck catching flies with dead squirrels"?

You are special. Best deal we could get with AA was return our miles and refund our taxes all for the low, low fee of $175 to put back our 80,000 Frequent Flyer miles. Our problem was we booked our tickets on February 17. We could only switch to another location if we completed our travel by 2/16/18. The AA representative was really surprised we were canceling our November 6 reservation. "Your trip isn't until Nov. 6. I'm sure repairs will be made by then." Never booking a flight that far in advance again. Wish I could say "never flying AA again" but we live in Charlotte where AA controls 90% of the gates.

there's your answer right there...Executive Platinum members are always excluded from having to pay these fees regarding award travel changes/cancellations....nothing to do with the hurricane or anyone being nice, it's just one of the perks of that level

from AA site: The award reinstatement fee will be waived for Executive Platinum members using miles from their account

Well I guess those million and a half miles he has flown may have been worth it after all....

My scheduled flight in today was split...flight home Sunday Delta...I'm diamond and on miles, took a minute and refunded fully. American flight down today....6 phone calls, five times on internet, four apps for refunds....arguing with them as they refused to refund seat upgrades, until I yelled at them. Success and this on a flight hubbing through closed Miami airport that they cancelled both legs...otherwise, I was getting no where, it was a cash ticket. On Delta, they just moved my Feb flight to Roatan without penalty but again, I'm Diamond, but this was not a miles ticket....status has its privs, but American is the worst....I could tell you stories of an airline abandoning people in middle of night on diversions that even didn't pull the gate checked stuff off the plane...refused to do so...the stories get worse from there, but only midweek SXM airline right now

well WAS the only midweek SXM airline for me

Aa refused to give me anything

For what date of travel . Kinda makes a difference if it was next week or 6 months from now

And tell American to go F themselves we have plenty of other chooses

AA refused to reinstate our miles. They said they will be flying to SXM September 15th.
I spoke to a very nasty supervisor!! After waiting for 4 hours yesterday and 4 today....They wanted to charge $175 per ticket.

DELTA refunded us (cash) in 5 minutes!!!

I just read that the airport is closed for commercial flights...so how can that be? perhaps they need to read the statement the airport has put out.

Cathyg, they also said to give them the names of people who have been refunded. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" />
I said I could not do that.
She wasn't very nice.

Actually...someone else just told me in a
PM that AA told them the same thing...

I imagine they are being swamped with requests...

I am confident at this point that our refund is because of my husbands Exec Plat status...and the fact that he is gold for life.

I am really sorry everyone that you are having issues...if it were left up to me you would all get your refunds...

but like i said earlier...there have been times that we have also been penalized.

Earlier this year we went to Nola and there was terrible flooding coming back home...so we left early...we were penalized for changing our flights...even though it was weather related...and in this case we paid for the tickets.

Lurker, pretty sure that the AA supervisor I spoke to went to the same charm school as yours.

<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" />
We all need a good laugh-- Thank-you

My plan is to wait a few days. I think they're being inundated with demands (not requests) for refunds, and they're overwhelmed. I bought non-refundable tickets, so to expect a cash refund, regardless of the circumstances, is unrealistic. I'm guessing they won't be flying by the time of my scheduled flight (November 25), in which case they'll be forced to refund. However, if I can get the funds bank with an expiration of December, 2018, then I'll be satisfied.

Lurker, can I ask the dates ( in general) for you delta flights that were refunded? My contact to delta about our options were not positive, but we are a ways out yet

Our flight was for October 14th, 2017.

My Delta flight was a return on November 20th.
He almost laughed when I told him how much I appreciated it.

Georgia, ours is miles. I will wait for them to cancel our flight and call back.

They are telling people, who know someone who was refunded, to get their locator number and then they would be refunded or miles reinstated. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" />

Just a minor correction Terry re that last sentence. AA told me they would consider waiving the return fee. Sadly, I know now our situations are different because of their AA status as opposed to our non-status so I'm not terribly optimistic at this point. But ya' just never know...... <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" />.