Cayman Airways - MIA to Cayman Brac

[AggieDiver]

I was a big SWA fan for over a decade because their customer service was second to none in my experience. However, they lost their way during Covid and have become just another airline when it comes to screwing over their passengers and refusing to compensate them for it. I still have over 250,000 reward points in the bank with SW, but I will be losing companion pass for the first time in several years at the end of this year. I just don't trust them to fly anywhere that I really need to get to right now. We had three trips between 2020 and 2022 where they screwed us over with major delays or last-minute cancellations and cost us significant money that they refused to compensate us for. If their operations across the country get screwed up for 3-4 days by a thunderstorm rolling through DAL, I know they will refuse to compensate me when they leave me stranded with cancelled flights or missed connections and will say it was a weather-related delay, even though it is really an operational issue. The have finally cut their schedule back to something they can more reliably fly, but for several years they were running so tight that one set of storms at one of their major hubs would scramble their schedule nationwide for many days and they would call every cancellation and delay, even several days later "weather related" so they didn't have to pay out for meals or hotel rooms for stranded passengers.

Right now I am using a United CC and flying with them to build up miles for a reward flights to Micronesia sometime in the next few years. Their customer service has become much better than it was a few years ago and I have not had any major issues with them since I stopped routinely flying SWA.

 

[KathyV]

Hi Guys,

I'm working on booking our spring trip to Little Cayman. I was looking at maybe flying into Miami and then taking Cayman Airways into Cayman Brac....to dodge Grand Cayman. I'm guessing it'd probably be cheaper to go through Grand still, but I'd pay more to miss that hassle.

Has anyone else done this? Curious if anybody has had a bad experience and I should just deal with the mania in Grand or not. I know I'd have to book a flight from CB to LC (hopefully the little planes will be running by then and we won't have to ferry).

FYI, I don't know when it will go into effect, but it appears that American Air may start offering direct flights from Miami to Cayman Brac:

3rd Twin Otter Plane, a Cruise Port, & USA Direct Flights Planned for the Sister Islands

https://www.caymancompass.com/2022/12/09/third-prop-plane-planned-for-sister-islands-cruise-on-the-horizon/ Third prop plane planned for Sister Islands, cruise on the horizon Big plans for Cayman Brac By James Whittaker -December 9, 2022 A third Twin Otter plane will be purchased to help...

scubaboard.com

 

[tursiops]

FYI, I don't know when it will go into effect, but it appears that American Air may start offering direct flights from Miami to Cayman Brac:

AA has those MIA-CYB nonstops showing on their schedule already, for Saturdays through March 18. but nothing showing after that, yet.

 

[js1221]

Well, I hope AA starts soon because I was just notified by them that my 3.5 hr layover connection in Charlotte has been reduced to 40 minutes.

 

[BrackaFish]

Thanks @tursiops on the return flight do you have to switch planes in GCM? Guessing your probably on a smaller plane from LYB to GCM? I was hoping to not have to step foot in GCM

Maybe the thing to do is fly into LYB via miami/cayman air then on the way out just deal with it and fly normal..... I dislike GCM on Saturdays.

You will have to swap planes in Grand for a couple of reasons.
Firstly because only the Twin Otters fly into the airport at Little Cayman which happens to be a private airport operating under a temporary arrangement with the government since forever.
Secondly as others have mentioned, because security at the Sisters Islands airports are not at the same level as Grand, all international passengers leaving the Cayman Islands will have to pass thru Grand on their way out of the country.
One other thought is that luggage space on the Otters can be limited at times, so maybe flying from Little to the Brac and then on to Grand might be the answer. Having said that, I have had pretty good luck with both Cayman Airways and Cayman Express sorting things out when things go sideways. Good luck and give us a report if you can.

 

[Hoag]

I just spent a week in Cayman Brac, and I have a question. If you are looking at taking the Miami to Cayman Brac flight, why not just make Cayman Brac your destination? Never mind. That is none of my business, but it might be worth considering.

It is impossible to totally avoid Grand Cayman. If you hope that flying through Cayman Brac will help you avoid it, you will only be partly correct. You will be able to avoid Grand Cayman on the way there, but on the return leg, the flights will go through Grand Cayman where you will have to exit the aircraft and go through security again before getting right back onto the same aircraft and continuing on to Miami. This is because Cayman Brac does not have a TSA level security at its airport so it can not have flights from Cayman Brac coming into the US.

 

[tridacna]

I just returned from a week at LCBR. I love the resort.

But I will never return until Cayman Airways gets its act together. Everyone flying there (I had 21 divers with me) were impacted in a bad way. (@mbs was there with me, he can relate).

People had flights cancelled and rescheduled for departure times before they arrived. Travelers were stuck at the airport for hours with no info from Cayman Airways. It was a giant clusterfu(k. It cost me an additional $400 to stay at a hotel on island because of their inefficiency.

Yes, I understand that they are missing an Otter or two but that does not stop them from scheduling flights that will never take off anyway. My advice is to stay away from Little Cayman until this joke of an airline gets fixed. Brac seemed OK because they can use the larger SAABs to land there. LC has no runway lights prohibiting flights from landing after dusk and it's too small for anything but the Otters. Don't even get me started about bags. Make sure that you pack your regulator and computer in a carry-on backpack. There is zero chance of your bags getting there with you. Because of the scarcity of planes, they're taking maximum pax and minimized baggage. It's such a pity because I love LCBR so much.

 

[Hoag]

Brac seemed OK because they can use the larger SAABs to land there.

I was just in Cayman Brac at the end of November/beginning of December and Cayman Airways are flying 737-800 and 737-Max8s in and out of Cayman Brac.

 

[tridacna]

I was just in Cayman Brac at the end of November/beginning of December and Cayman Airways are flying 737-800 and 737-Max8s in and out of Cayman Brac.

Not from Little Cayman!

 

[Hoag]

Not from Little Cayman!

No. I never said that 737-800s or 737-Max8s were flying into or out of Little Cayman. I said Cayman Brac.