raeona

THE worst air travel experience of our lives! Don't fly Air Jamaica unless you leave yourself lead time at either end -- they overbook to an unbelievable extent. You also need to be ready to deal with rude, indolent help. (Just about everyone else we dealt with in Jamaica was pleasant -- but the airline ticket counter people had attitudes BIGTIME). <BR> <BR>Last Saturday and Sunday night flights, due to leave at 5 p.m. was four hours (at least) late on Saturday nite and five and a half hours late on Sunday. Plus, the overbooking situation is abominable! Never, ever, ever again would I consider using this airline to go anywhere!

michelle

We just got back from Jamaica and had problems with Air Jamaica also. Our flight was about three and one half hours late on our way home to the US. We wanted to upgrade using their lovebird upgrade where it is $75 per person one way. We had done that without any problems going to Jamaica from Philadelphia. We even asked the woman at the counter in Phily if we could upgrade one way leaving from Phily and then decide later to upgrade for our trip back. The Air Jamaica counter person in Phily told us that it would not be a problem. <BR> When flying out of Jamaica, we asked for the $75 ugrade to first class and they refused and said that it was only a promotion in the US. We were very upset because if we knew that we would have upgraded both ways while we could in Philadelphia. We explained the situation to the counter people in Jamaica but they just didn't care. They actually had the nerve to say that we could buy two one-way first class seats if we wanted. <BR> Besides the long wait to fly out of Jamaica and the disappointment of not flying first class home, we were satisfied with our service with Air Jamaica once we left the ground. The flight attendants were all nice and the service and food were good. <BR>The moral of the story is upgrade in the US while you can! <BR>

caz

I thought the weather was the worst of my vacation, until I got to the airport. A week spent de-stressing wasted. <BR> <BR>After a two-hour bus ride to Sangster International on the hotel's daily scheduled transport bus to the airport, we get to the gate, only to be told we were on "standby." Our flight from Jamaica to Newark International, with a stop over in Philadelphia, PA was at 5:55 PM; we arrived at the airport at 4:30 PM. Since the hotel, Sandals Dunn's River Resort provided transport, I assumed we would arrive in plenty of time. My tickets were purchased and paid in full 50 days in advance. The Air Jamaica staff said, "Sorry, it's first come, first served. We are overbooked." I told a supervisor, since the rest of the staff said they could no longer help us and refused to speak any further, "Our immigration forms state we are U.S. citizens, here only on vacation for a period of seven days. I had every intention of showing up for this flight." She replied, "all airlines overbook." I've never been bumped from a flight arriving 90 minutes before departure. It wasn't only our flight, a writer contracted to write a story about the airline, and a travel agent who accompanied him were also put on "standby" for their Air Jamaica flight to Chicago. The next flight was either hours later or the next day. There were no decent accommodations near the airport, and we were a two-hour ride from our hotel, the bus back to the hotel was long gone. The airline treated the situation like we were wrong for being upset. Instead of trying to accommodate us, they were rude and indifferent. <BR> <BR>When we finally reached a ticket agent, she was the first person from Air Jamaica that actually tried to help us. She searched for a flight or connection to any of the tri-state airports (EWR, JFK or LGA); there were none available. I now began to panic. I had already given notice to my pet sitter to return my dog and leave the keys in the house. If I could not get home to take care of my dog, a locksmith would have needed to be called in. Noticing my panic, she took our tickets and went to a different station, coming back a few minutes later. Miraculously, ten minutes before the plane was to take off two seats appeared a window and aisle seat, never the less. Now it was a race across the airport to the gate, if all this was not enough to deal with, the run through the airport in clothes suited for east coast November, not 80° Jamaica, aggravated my asthma severely. Once we were on the plane, we noticed there were a few empty seats. It looked like we were the last people to board the plane. I sat down immediately, needing to use my inhaler. The time was now 6:00 PM. It was raining heavily. <BR>The plane did not leave the gate until at least 6:30 PM. Turbulence plagued the flight and hot beverages were suspended for a time. We were scheduled to land in Philadelphia at 9:26 PM. 9:26 PM came and went. The captain told us we would be landing soon, leading us to believe that we were taxing for a runway. The plane dipped and circled, causing me to almost vomit. Close to 10:00 PM, the captain informed us of technical difficulties, that he said we would probably not understand. The out come was that one of the flaps on the wings was not working, that we needed to prepare for emergency landing. I read on an AJ Public Forum website that Air Jamaica knew of the problem, but allowed the plane to take off anyway. They tried to convince us there was no cause for alarm. For most airline passengers, that is alarming news. We were shown the correct crash position to assume, to take off eyeglasses, high-heeled shoes, etc. The flight attendants again showed us where the emergency exits were, and should we loose power, the lights leading to the emergency exits. <BR>A video monitor on the plane showed how fast we going during the landing, over 400mph. As the plane landed, emergency vehicles, fire trucks, ambulances and police vans, were standing by on the runway. After a rough, jolting landing, the plane rumbled to a halt, tires blown out. Then crawled to its gate. All passengers whose final destination was Philadelphia were let off the plane. All Newark passengers were kept on the plane. The captain announced that technicians or mechanics were looking at the wing, and if it could be repaired, we would be back in the air shortly. After such a rough landing you didn't need to be a technician to know that plane should not be going back up in the air. How could they expect anyone to stay on the plane? I could not conceive of the possibility of having to go through this again in less than an hour. Taking into consideration the events of recent weeks, how could they ask that of their customers? I considered risking arrest by opening an emergency exit, just so as not to be on the plane if it was cleared to take-off. At this point, I began to have a panic attack. I began shaking uncontrollably and was short of breath and needed to use my inhaler again. The person I was traveling with was able to get me water, refreshments were not offered. <BR>When asked if we could leave that we would rent a car and drive ourselves home, we were told Customs forbid us to leave because it was not our final destination and that our paperwork was at Newark. We were not allowed to step off the plane at all, I felt like a prisoner of my own country. All Newark passengers were kept on the plane for almost an hour. It was close to 11:00 PM when it was announced the plane was "grounded" and we were being let off. We were directed to go to the luggage carousel. There were still a few people whose destination was Philadelphia waiting for their luggage. The luggage carousel stopped, it was half an hour before Newark passengers saw their luggage. We all went through Customs, why it was okay then and not as soon as the plane landed is still a mystery. We were left standing around in the Ground Transportation area for another 45 minutes. An announcement made over the PA system was inaudible. I woman came down and announced to maybe the five people around her that buses were being arranged to take us to Newark. It was probably close to midnight, everyone was exhausted and irritable. I heated exchange was going on between the airport representative and a Newark passenger. With rep yelling "I've just spent the last 30 minutes trying to get buses for you people!" Were we supposed feel sorry for her? The airport was deserted, I saw no other passengers except for the inconvenienced Newark passengers. It was going to be another half-hour to hour before the buses got there and then a 2 1/2 hour ride to Newark. At this point we picked up a car rental courtesy phone and arranged for a rental car. I could not bear the waiting anymore; I just wanted to go home. <BR>On November 11th, I called the 800 number for Air Jamaica to speak with someone about compensation or refund for our flight. I explained the entire incident to the representative who picked up my call. Her response was "Ma'am, all airlines overbook, you obviously used your ticket, the plane had an emergency landing, it did not crash, you are fine and not entitled to a refund." Since when is Air Jamaica the spokes people for how all airlines conduct their business? And was she a doctor to diagnose me as "okay?" She was the second Air Jamaica representative to tell me how everyone overbooks. Is that a common response given to all discontented passengers? Then she tells me she has no authority to issue any compensation. When I first got on the phone with her, I specifically said I wanted to speak with someone with the authority to help me. She put me on hold for at least ten minutes before a gentleman named Desmond got on the line and gave me the above address. I found it ironic that there was no one to speak to directly, only a fax number or mailing address. <BR>

Julie

And I thought OUR experience with Air Jamaica was bad - yours was a nightmare!! All they offered us was a cheesy fifty dollar certificate off on our next Air Jamaica flight (like we would ever risk life and limb flying with them again!). It is next to impossible to talk to anyone - and the mail took forever to go back and forth. <BR>And, yes, the almighty Butch Stewart had already taken over, and we couldn't get through to him. Hey, Butch - we're STILL waiting for our champaigne and gourmet meal and everything else you promised in your brouchure, but didn't deliver!!

Diana

Oh My Goodness: <BR>I am now terrified. We are going to <BR>Jamaica in June and have booked our flight on Delta, but the flight out of Atlanta is Delta operated by Air Jamaica. I don't know what to do, I don't think there are any other airlines that fly from ATlanta to Montego Bay.

Brian in Atlanta

Not to discount the experiences of the other posters, but we had a pretty comfortable and uneventful flight from ATL to Montego Bay on Air Jamaica. Now this was about 3 years ago, so things may have gotten worse, but I doubt everyone's experience on Air Jamaica is as bad as these posters. <BR> <BR>So I wouldn't worry too much about it, Diana. It will most likely be fine and worrying won't do any good anyway.