I just flew with AJ for the first time and we had no major issues with the airline. My wife and I flew out of JFK (New York). Their policy is to close the flight at the ticket counter 60 minutes before the sceduled flight and we arrived about 5 minutes late. The ticket line official and the ticket agent took us in and were very helpful and polite. Our scuba case weighed 57 pounds. Just coming back from Iraq, I didn't realize that the airlines had reduced the max baggage weight to 50 pounds. The ticket agent said that it would be a $25 surcharge for overweight baggage, but then said if we could reduce our baggage weight to 53 pounds, she'd let us go without additional charge. So, I removed the reg case and we hit 52.5 pounds. Very nice customer service.
We flew to Montego bay, had a layover of about 50 minutes and then proceeded to Bonaire on the same plane--an Airbus A321 with 3X3 seating. Some seats were lumpy and uneven, some were fine. The flight attendents were hospitable. We arrived to Montego Bay and Bonaire on time with no luggage issues, although it took about 30 minutes to get our luggage in Bonaire.
The Flamingo Airport is an open-air type airport about half the size (if that) of a typical Home Depot. My house is bigger than the baggage claim area, which gets especially jammed on Saturday afternoons when AJ and KLM planes arrive roughly 30 minutes apart. With the increase profile of Bonaire as a diving destination, I think they are in desparate need of a larger airport.
The flight back involved a little more standing in line than I had hoped for. I arrived at the airport at 1:50pm to catch a 4:10pm flight. Keep in mind that Saturday is probably the busiest travel day on Bonaire. My wife and I waited about 30 minutes in line to get to the baggage search area. There were 2 security officers searching and sifting through your check-in luggage, so don't lock anything up or zip tie your luggage until after the search. Then we waited another hour in line to get to the ticket counter. Make sure you pay your airport tax before you get to the counter ($20 cash only per person). There's a round office right in the airport lobby by the internet cafe. The AJ ticket agents were trying to get people through as quickly as possible and did not even check the 50 pound per luggage weight limit. As long as you did not exceed 100 pounds per 2 peices of check-in, you were fine. After we got our tickets, we proceeded through immigration and the x-ray machines that scanned our carry-on luggage. The waiting area was air conditioned--ahhh!
Getting on the plane in Bonaire was almost a free-for-all. They don't call row numbers. They call for first-class passengers, people with young children, and people that require assistance first, and everyone else next. They loaded the plane from both ends. Due to the tremendous back log of passengers trying to get through the security checks and to the ticket counter, our flight was delayed for 30 minutes. At Montego Bay, we had an hour layover, but because we were to board the same plane, our flight was delayed 30 minutes there also. Passengers that had connections to other cities (Philly for example) basically deboarded and boarded their connections immediately.
We arrived JFK exactly 30 minutes late. The captain gave regular updates during the flight, the cabin crew were nice, but the seats were still uneven and lumpy. Our luggage arrived with no issues. All in all, my wife and I were very impressed with AJ and have no reservations with flying with them again.
