tacotravel

We are going to Raffles on Canouan in June - am trying to arrange air. We are flying in and out of Barbados on Air Jamaica. Want to use Mustique Air to get between Barbados and Canouan. On the return, the Mustique Air flight gets in to Barbados "at 12:00 if it stops at Union Island, earlier if it doesn't." The AJ flight leaves Barbados at 12:25. Has anyone ever made this connection, or does anyone have experience with Mustique Air that might help me decide if I'm cutting it too close or OK?

Thanks!

PeggyE

I used Mustique Air before to Union but I did not have a flight to catch upon return to Barbados. I would ask Air Jamaica that question. I would think you have to retreive luggage & check in an hour or two prior to your AJ flight though. Better ask the airlines!

curiousx

In my considerable experience with Air Mustique, this is cutting it much too close.

Mustique Air's flights often miss their departure times and itineraries change in the air. For example, last year our flight left Barbados an hour late. As we were in the air, we were informed that the itinerary of Barbados, Bequia, Mustique, Union, Barbados was being changed to Barbados, Union, Mustique, Bequia, St. Vincent, Barbados. When we touched down in Union, we were told they were going to add a stop in Carriacou (presumably to pick up cargo since the plane was full and no passengers were getting off in Carriacou). Only a passenger revolt staved this off.

There were also many groundside inefficiencies getting passenger luggage on and off the plane. And boy was it hot on the ground in that wee plane !

Our one hour flight ended up taking four hours, including the delayed departure.

Unfortunately, this kind of shmozzle has been occurring more and more frequently ever since SVG/Mustique/Air Tran stopped competing with each other about three years ago and started sharing passengers and equipment.

OTOH, the return flight was on time, smooth and uneventful. So you never know. But where a connecting flight is concerned, I would not take the chance. You'd be better off to spend a night in Barbados, and be sure.

Also, I do not think that AirJam has an in-transit desk in the Barbados arrival hall. If I am right, that means you would have to go through customs and immigration and check in at the airline's main desk, instead of bypassing customs and getting a quick check in at the in-transit desk. This will add further delay.

mariasch

You might want to look into a Mustique Air charter-Raffles should be able to help you with that. It isn't cheap but well worth it. My husband and I usually travel to places that require a small plane hop. We add two nights on the main island to our trips to avoid that -little plane to the big plane- stress. Last trip we went to Mustique and stayed at the Coral Reef Club on Barbados for two nights on the return. Very nice. And when we found that our BWIA flight from Barbados was delayed (we called before leaving the Coral Reef Club) we jumped back into the pool. If we were coming from Mustique we would have been sitting at the airport.

TOS

Fly AA or Air Jam into San Juan, there is a connection to Canouan on AA Eagle. Painless.