Air Jamaica?

[Tom Smedley]

I do the Caribbean two to three times a year and most always use AJ. By contrast to some folks on this thread - I like AJ. It is a wonderful airline with a cadre of warm and friendly staff. They serve hot food and they wait for you when your connection is late.

AJ is in financial trouble - everyone in the Caribbean is in financial trouble after last summer and the machine gun hurricanes. AJ flew relief freight for free during the Ivan recovery period. Instead of just giving them some money and giving them time to get back on their feet the government nationalized them. Everything the government touches they screw up.

Instead of adding flights and encouraging more customers they cut flights and fired staff. They took planes out of service for "Inspection" look on their web page and read the letter from the government guy that took Butch Stewart's place. In an effort to service customers who already had reservations they contracted Delta to fly from cities such as Atlanta to MBJ. Problems occurred when the Delta planes that they chartered were not as large as the original Airbusses that would normally be doing the routes. If you were late at the gate in many instances you were out of luck for the night.

Last week I took sixteen folks from Atlanta to Bonaire via MBJ and return. At the last minute we were switched to Delta from Atlanta to MBJ. We were an hour late getting to MBJ but they held the Bonaire flight for us. We transferred in a run and made it to Bonaire an hour late. We had a hard piece of bread and some mystery meat on the Delta flight. On the AJ flight we had a hot meal of chicken and rice. My butt was against the seat and my knees dug into the seat in front of me on the Delta plane. The Airbus A-320 belonging to AJ gave me plenty of room.

On the return trip we showed up early to check in baggage. I stood in line fifteen minutes. Then I went back to Kralendijk for lunch. I rode around and took some more pictures and showed up at the security check at 3 pm. The AJ flight was on time. We got to MBJ and were handed boarding passes for Delta in the stairwell. We immediately boarded the Delta charter and were on our way to Atlanta. It took a little longer than suited the Delta crew who were vocal about it to load luggage but when I got to Atlanta mine and my companion's luggage were within the first ten bags off the plane.

In spite of the circumstances I think that AJ is doing a great job getting their self reorganized. When you consider the alternatives, pray for them that they will succeed and continue to function as the Caribbean's premier airline.

Sometime fly first class with them and visit the Love Bird Lounge in MBJ. Red Stripe on draft in frosted mugs - Yum Yum!!!!

Air Jamaica - Hooah!

 

[H2Andy]

i flew from Miami to Bonaire and back with Air Jamaica, and it was ok... we didn't
have a bad experience.

we did get delayed in Montego Bay for like six hours, but there was a storm
moving across lower Florida and the Bahamas which was throwing things off.

overall, i'd say they were ok to good

that was before the government takeover, of course... i've heard bad things since.

however, Air Jamaica has been doing poorly financially for quite a while, at least
since September 11, 2001, not just after the hurricanes. I believe what prompted the
re-nationalization by the government was that in December, 2004, the FAA grounded *half* of Air Jamaica's fleet traveling to and from the US.

also, the FAA had asked that Air Jamaica perform heavy maintenance every 15 months
(per plane) but Air Jamaica asked and received approval from the Jamaican
Civil Aviation Authority to do heavy maintenance every 18 months. then the
JCAA retracted itself and ordered Air Jamaica to do their maintenance every 15
months, so AJ had to stop flights to Grenada, St. Lucia, and Barbados, in order to meet the maintenance requirement on the rest of the fleet. this was the latest
development, in mid-March.

here's a bunch of articles on the recent events:

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&c2coff=1&q=Air+Jamaica&sa=N&tab=wn

 

[RickSp]

We just got back from Bonaire having flown Air Jamaica both ways. It wasn't great.

The flight down wasn't so bad, an hour or two late as I recall. The flight back was painful. Instead of landing in Newark at 9 PM we took off from Montego Bay at about 9:30 PM. Made it home about 2:30 AM instead of our planned 10:30 - 11 PM.

It hasn't always been this bad. When we flew Air Jamaica a few years ago we had no problems. Here is an article about their current situation:

Air Jamaica Not Going Out Of Business – Chairman

 

[Natasha]

I do the Caribbean two to three times a year and most always use AJ. By contrast to some folks on this thread - I like AJ. It is a wonderful airline with a cadre of warm and friendly staff. They serve hot food and they wait for you when your connection is late.

AJ is in financial trouble - everyone in the Caribbean is in financial trouble after last summer and the machine gun hurricanes. AJ flew relief freight for free during the Ivan recovery period. Instead of just giving them some money and giving them time to get back on their feet the government nationalized them. Everything the government touches they screw up.

Instead of adding flights and encouraging more customers they cut flights and fired staff. They took planes out of service for "Inspection" look on their web page and read the letter from the government guy that took Butch Stewart's place. In an effort to service customers who already had reservations they contracted Delta to fly from cities such as Atlanta to MBJ. Problems occurred when the Delta planes that they chartered were not as large as the original Airbusses that would normally be doing the routes. If you were late at the gate in many instances you were out of luck for the night.

Last week I took sixteen folks from Atlanta to Bonaire via MBJ and return. At the last minute we were switched to Delta from Atlanta to MBJ. We were an hour late getting to MBJ but they held the Bonaire flight for us. We transferred in a run and made it to Bonaire an hour late. We had a hard piece of bread and some mystery meat on the Delta flight. On the AJ flight we had a hot meal of chicken and rice. My butt was against the seat and my knees dug into the seat in front of me on the Delta plane. The Airbus A-320 belonging to AJ gave me plenty of room.

On the return trip we showed up early to check in baggage. I stood in line fifteen minutes. Then I went back to Kralendijk for lunch. I rode around and took some more pictures and showed up at the security check at 3 pm. The AJ flight was on time. We got to MBJ and were handed boarding passes for Delta in the stairwell. We immediately boarded the Delta charter and were on our way to Atlanta. It took a little longer than suited the Delta crew who were vocal about it to load luggage but when I got to Atlanta mine and my companion's luggage were within the first ten bags off the plane.

In spite of the circumstances I think that AJ is doing a great job getting their self reorganized. When you consider the alternatives, pray for them that they will succeed and continue to function as the Caribbean's premier airline.

Sometime fly first class with them and visit the Love Bird Lounge in MBJ. Red Stripe on draft in frosted mugs - Yum Yum!!!!

Air Jamaica - Hooah!

Tom I agree with your experiences with AJ, and agree with everything else you said. We need AJ. I have flown them several times, and have sent more people on AJ then any other airline servicing the Caribbean. I pray they continue to operate without Butch as their owner.

 

[mike_s]

I didn't know they had been taken over by the Jamacian governement.

That really scares me as Jamacia has trouble even paving it's roads, much less running an airline. (the "highway" from MoBay to Negril was "dirt" and under construction for years).

 

[scubaaaronh]

Well we had a horrible experience with Aj and i would prefer to swim rather than depend on them again. Flights not on time were the first problem, smart ***** employees when we tried to ask when the plane would leave from atlanta. Coming home they changed the flight totally rerouted us through other islands, cancelled our flight to Atlanta because there wasn't enough people to fly there. We were rerouted to Newark and arrived there three hours late. Oh and the flight to newark they didn't even have a plane and they cancelled a flight to chicago to get us to newark. They also had no clue which gate which plane was at and had to off load a plane because they boarded it wrong. We were on a ghost flight that they made arrangements with newark as it was being prepared to fly there this wasn't a planned flight. Then we got to newark and we were supposed to be all set for the next day to fly back to grand rapids MI and they never made the arrangements. AJ SUCKS and that is all i have to say. We talked to a rep from AJ and he said that since the Gov took over don't depend on a flight existing as they make and cancell flights like the wind blows. That is a quote from the rep. He said that since the gov took over they are like they were ten years ago. Good luck getting to where you need to go with AJ. We were with some people on bonaire that it took them three days to get home which shold have taken them about 10 hours.

 

[Natasha]

rohn:
That is very bad news. I have not flown them since the Gov take over. What a shame. They used to be great.

 

[chrisc]

Several of the people we met in Jamaica last week has some "experiences" with AJ, most of them were flying out of Boston and NY. One group has a 10 hour delay out of the East, not exactly sure from where, but stated it was a bad experience i.e gate changes, then mechanical, then waiting for another plane to arrive. Also, another stated they were to depart on Saturday morning, but didn't depart until Sunday. We've flown them in the past from LA without a problem, but that was a couple of years ago.

 

[SubMariner]

In the past the AJ flights we had from Atlanta to Jamaica were satisfactory. If the flight was late leaving ATL, they held the connecting flight in Jamaica for the Bonaire-bound passengers. A couple of times the Bonaire flight was VERY late heading out of Jamaica.

However, the worst experience came this past Feb. We get to the airport in Bonaire only to be told that our flight has been CANCELLED. No explanation. A few hours later they tell us that they are diverting the Aruba-Jamaica flight to Bonaire to take us to Jamaica. And that "everything will be taken care of when you get there". But of course we are in the dark about what will happen about our connecting flight to ATL.

So naturally the AJ staff in Jamaica claim to know NOTHING about the situation when we arrive. Like it's every day the Aruba flight makes a detour to Bonaire enroute to Jamaica, right? And of COURSE the ATL flight is long gone. And they "can't" hold the other plane that was NY bound. About 40 of us are stranded there.

Hours go by. Eventually some people wind up getting on AJ flights to US destinations. They promise us rooms & food vouchers at a nearby hotel. And flights out the next morning to the US on another airline.

Well, the hotel has trouble finding our rooms. When they finally do, they're not sure about food. We get fed, but barely and fall into bed exahausted.

Early the next morning we do indeed get to the States on the other airline: Miami. Then a connecting flight to ATL a couple of hours later.

Oh yeah... AJ... right... :froggy:

 

[DiveGolfSki]

:06: Has anyone here traveled on Air Jamaica? how are they etc. I"ll be flying down on the 24th. with them...and i've heard that they are really a bad airline. any help would be appreciated.

I and 7 other golf buddies go to Jamaica every year on Air Jamaica. This last trip (March) was the only delay we've ever had. No problems. No chickens. No goats. Some Rusty's but a whole lot of northerners who can't wait to get to Negril.