Caribbean Sun Airlines?
Dec 19th, 2005, 09:49 AM
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Caribbean Sun Airlines?
I am going to Bequia in February. This is my first trip to the Grenadines and I have discovered that getting to Bequia is not easy. It looks like the least expensive (and most direct) way to get there is to take Caribbean Sun Airlines from San Juan, PR to St Vincent (non-stop flight) and then take the ferry from St Vincent to Bequia.
It is my understanding that the Caribbean Sun non-stop flight from San Juan to St Vincent (4 days a week) is fairly new. Can anyone tell me if they have experience with this flight and/or Caribbean Sun Airlines?
Specifically:
- Does this flight run habitually late? Can I plan on having enough time to connect with the last ferry from St Vincent to Bequia?
- How long do I need to allow for checkin in San Juan? Also in St Vincent for the return flight?
- Does the first morning ferry from Bequia arrive in St Vincent in time to connect with the return flight to San Juan?
- Recommendations/Comments from anyone out there with experience on Carribean Sun Airlines?
It is my understanding that the Caribbean Sun non-stop flight from San Juan to St Vincent (4 days a week) is fairly new. Can anyone tell me if they have experience with this flight and/or Caribbean Sun Airlines?
Specifically:
- Does this flight run habitually late? Can I plan on having enough time to connect with the last ferry from St Vincent to Bequia?
- How long do I need to allow for checkin in San Juan? Also in St Vincent for the return flight?
- Does the first morning ferry from Bequia arrive in St Vincent in time to connect with the return flight to San Juan?
- Recommendations/Comments from anyone out there with experience on Carribean Sun Airlines?
Dec 19th, 2005, 10:26 AM
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Caribbean Sun has a good reputation but like all of the small Caribbean comuter airlines, it has it's good days (on time departures) and bad days (delays). There's no telling what will happen the day you are flying. The main reasons are they don't have a very large fleet of planes, you never can tell in advance what the weather will be like on either your departure island or arrival island or if the flight will be diverted because of weather that developes while you are on-route or if there are maintenance issues on a given day - all of which can affect your flight's departure and/or arrival times.
As for checking in at Caribbean Sun in San Juan, allow at least 60 minutes (that's the minimum "legal" connecting time) if you are doing only carry-on (you can check-in at the departure gate and not have to go through security) and no less than 2 hours if you have to claim your luggage in San Juan and go into the main terminal before checking in at Caribbean Sun and going through security. Check-in at the Caribbean Sun desk is going to be slow - everyone seems to move on island time. If you are checking luggage call your inbound carrier and see if they have a baggage handling arrangement with Caribbean Sun (not all airlines do) - if so, checking your baggage through to your destination will save you some time.
Allow at least an hour for check in for your return flight in St. Vincent (it's a small airport). When you arrive back in san Juan remember you will have to clear Immigration & Customs and then check in for your flight back home so give yourself plenty of time (at least 90 minutes, more if you a flying on the week-end).
Sorry, can't help you with ferry times.
As for checking in at Caribbean Sun in San Juan, allow at least 60 minutes (that's the minimum "legal" connecting time) if you are doing only carry-on (you can check-in at the departure gate and not have to go through security) and no less than 2 hours if you have to claim your luggage in San Juan and go into the main terminal before checking in at Caribbean Sun and going through security. Check-in at the Caribbean Sun desk is going to be slow - everyone seems to move on island time. If you are checking luggage call your inbound carrier and see if they have a baggage handling arrangement with Caribbean Sun (not all airlines do) - if so, checking your baggage through to your destination will save you some time.
Allow at least an hour for check in for your return flight in St. Vincent (it's a small airport). When you arrive back in san Juan remember you will have to clear Immigration & Customs and then check in for your flight back home so give yourself plenty of time (at least 90 minutes, more if you a flying on the week-end).
Sorry, can't help you with ferry times.
Dec 19th, 2005, 10:30 AM
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The route you have chosen is one I often recommend although, in my case, I travel Caribbean Star (a sister airline) or LIAT from Barbados to St. Vincent and catch the ferry to Bequia.
My experiences with Caribbean Star have been pretty good...flights left on time, more or less, and it was easy to make the ferry connection.
The only negative is that they have a really crummy check-in procedure...seems to take ages to process payments for tickets obtained over the internet or by phone...and they don't actually process the payment until you check in.
In Barbados, I allow at least 90-120 minutes to get through immigration, find luggage, go through customs, walk around to the departure lounge, check in, get through passport control, go through hand luggage security check, and dash to the departure gate.
The return check in in St. Vincent is very easy.
I take an 8.30 ferry to catch my mid-morning Caribbean Star flight. Lots of time.
I realize my experiences are Caribbean Star via Barbados and not Caribbean Sun via San Juan, but hope this helps anyway.
My experiences with Caribbean Star have been pretty good...flights left on time, more or less, and it was easy to make the ferry connection.
The only negative is that they have a really crummy check-in procedure...seems to take ages to process payments for tickets obtained over the internet or by phone...and they don't actually process the payment until you check in.
In Barbados, I allow at least 90-120 minutes to get through immigration, find luggage, go through customs, walk around to the departure lounge, check in, get through passport control, go through hand luggage security check, and dash to the departure gate.
The return check in in St. Vincent is very easy.
I take an 8.30 ferry to catch my mid-morning Caribbean Star flight. Lots of time.
I realize my experiences are Caribbean Star via Barbados and not Caribbean Sun via San Juan, but hope this helps anyway.
Dec 20th, 2005, 02:58 AM
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We flew Caribbean Sun a few years back during Christmas break & the flight was full. As a result, the flight ended up being delayed as they took alot of the baggage off the flight in order to fit more people on board. Our luggage ended up lost in Puerto Rico and we didn't see it for almost two weeks. I wouldn't fly with them again.
Feb 27th, 2006, 04:17 PM
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We just returned from Bequia and the Caribbean Sun flights went off without a hitch. Both the flight from San Juan to St Vincent and the flight from St Vincent to San Juan were on time (or very close). The airplanes were comfortable and appeared to be well maintained. The airline personnel were professional and courteous.
As long as the flights are on time there is plenty of time to connect to the ferry boats (to/from Bequia).
We used paper tickets that we bought through Expedia so didn't have any checking problems either.
All in all it appears that Caribbean Sun is earning a reputation as being a better airline than LAIT.
As long as the flights are on time there is plenty of time to connect to the ferry boats (to/from Bequia).
We used paper tickets that we bought through Expedia so didn't have any checking problems either.
All in all it appears that Caribbean Sun is earning a reputation as being a better airline than LAIT.
Mar 27th, 2007, 05:47 AM
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I had a horrendous experience with Caribbean Sun last holiday season. I had "booked" a flight from Puerto Rico to St. Martin departing on Christmas Day and returning on New Years Eve. I say "booked" because CSA doesn't actually charge your credit card and allot you a seat until you check in. Of course, its website didn't indicate that.
Being a bit leery of flying a relatively unknown airline, the day before our flight I called to confirm our 1:15 pm reservation. The helpful operator said that everything was fine and that we had reserved seats. So we get to the counter at a bit before noon to catch our flight and find that the airline had "rescheduled" the flight to leave at noon -- meaning we were out of luck. Further, the ticket agent said that the rest of the flights that day (mind you its Christmas Day) were full, and that since the airline doesn't charge your credit card until you check in, they owed us no responsibility to honor our reservation and get us to our destination. The ticket agent said that there was nothing she could do to help us, and that we could talk to a supervisor when and if she could find one.
Furious, and scrambling to get where we were going, we headed to the American Airlines ticket office and booked two last minute stand-by seats to St. Martin at a much higher price that our CSA "reservation."
Once we got to St. Martin, I went to the CSA ticket counter to secure the return leg of our flight from St. Martin back to PR. After making me wait over an hour and a half to talk to anyone who could even remotely help me, I was told that I could not purchase the return half of our flight, that the flight we were booked on was full (even though we still had a reservation for it), that the only available flight was at some ungodly early hour and would cost more than double our original round-trip ticket, and that they would only take cash for the reservation. At this point there was no way that I was going to give this airline any of my money, let alone cash. I went to the AA website and booked two more one way tickets, from St. Martin back to PR (which, at this point, were cheaper than my CSA option).
If this is the way that they run the "customer service" portion of their business, I shiver to think how they run the maintenance department. I will never even consider flying them and urge everyone else to do likewise.
Being a bit leery of flying a relatively unknown airline, the day before our flight I called to confirm our 1:15 pm reservation. The helpful operator said that everything was fine and that we had reserved seats. So we get to the counter at a bit before noon to catch our flight and find that the airline had "rescheduled" the flight to leave at noon -- meaning we were out of luck. Further, the ticket agent said that the rest of the flights that day (mind you its Christmas Day) were full, and that since the airline doesn't charge your credit card until you check in, they owed us no responsibility to honor our reservation and get us to our destination. The ticket agent said that there was nothing she could do to help us, and that we could talk to a supervisor when and if she could find one.
Furious, and scrambling to get where we were going, we headed to the American Airlines ticket office and booked two last minute stand-by seats to St. Martin at a much higher price that our CSA "reservation."
Once we got to St. Martin, I went to the CSA ticket counter to secure the return leg of our flight from St. Martin back to PR. After making me wait over an hour and a half to talk to anyone who could even remotely help me, I was told that I could not purchase the return half of our flight, that the flight we were booked on was full (even though we still had a reservation for it), that the only available flight was at some ungodly early hour and would cost more than double our original round-trip ticket, and that they would only take cash for the reservation. At this point there was no way that I was going to give this airline any of my money, let alone cash. I went to the AA website and booked two more one way tickets, from St. Martin back to PR (which, at this point, were cheaper than my CSA option).
If this is the way that they run the "customer service" portion of their business, I shiver to think how they run the maintenance department. I will never even consider flying them and urge everyone else to do likewise.
