Dutch Caribbean Airlines any good?

[Phantom Phish]

I am booking a trip to Bonaire in a few weeks, and trying to settle on transportation. I was last in Bonaire about three years ago and flew on ALM, so I'm aware of the problems that can occur with ALM. My LDS says they can book me on "Dutch Caribbean Airlines". I'm thinking this is the same airline as the old ALM, is that true? Have they done anything other than change the name? Do they have the same poor customer service habits as ALM, and unannounced flight cancellation policies?

 

[cstreu1026]

I'm anxious to see what others have to say as I booked my interisland flight to Curacao on DCA. I hope all goes well as I will be on my honeymoon.

 

[SubMariner]

We've been to Bonaire about 6 times. With the exception of this time, we flew AJ. (We live in Atlanta.) THIS time we flew DCA, which replaced ALM. Despite all it's "warts", AJ still wins.

Yes, AJ has been late on several occasions. However, since the connecting flight from Montego Bay is pretty much exclusively for the people coming from Atlanta, they hold the plane. And yes, we've had to sit & wait several hours on the way back from Montego Bay to Atlanta. But it beats the DCA mess.

There is no direct flight to Bonaire via DCA. So we went Delta to Aruba; DCA from Aruba to Curacao then on to Bonaire. The people manning the desks for DCA have no clue whatsoever as to what they are doing. And despite showing up with tickets & PC printout from the travel agent in hand, they still spent huge amounts of time sorting things out. On the way back we were so late that we almost missed our connecting Delta flight in Aruba to get back home.

Like it's predecessor ALM, DCA cancels or changes flights WITHOUT NOTICE. On the way back if we hadn't called the day before to DCA we would never have known our flight had been cancelled and we needed to be at the airport for an earlier flight. And this was after the itinerary had already been changed once prior to our departure from Atlanta.

So, next time it will be back with AJ. And we will avoid DCA like the plague!

~SubMariner~

 

[herman]

There is a direct flight from Miami to Bonaire on DCA (it does stop on Curacao sometimes). We flew DCA last June and were pleased. They were 20 minutes late both ways BUT they said it was due to T-storms they had to bypass. Can't say for sure on outbound but I saw them on the return. I can give any airline that. I have heard of others that have had good experiences with them lately. I am still gun shy of them but I really don't have any other good option at this time. With the PITA flying is today, I am not going to do an overnight stay in Miami or Atlanta to fly AJ (which I would rather do). I hear that a new carrier is starting a flight between Miami and Curacao in the spring, something like Dutch Express. I have also heard that Delta is starting service to Curacao as well. Flying them to Curacao and flying Divi Divi Air to Bonaire may be the best option in the future. I have tickets on DCA in July, keep up posted.

 

[scubamax]

Last May we flew DCA from Aruba to Curacao and back. We could not book through our local travel agent for some reason, and were told to book on the web. The web site booking was not working at all, so our agent was kind enough to call them direct to book the flights.

We had to go to their ticket office in Aruba to actually purchase the tickets, and that process took a long time...like the previous post from SubMariner you need to make sure you have a lot of time to get the booking and ticketing done...also their ticket booth in Aruba was not easily identifiable.

As for the flights they were short and without delay. The aircraft and crew appeared to be in good shape, and all safety procedures were, as far as I can tell, followed.

There have been a lot of airlines in that region which have not been financially successful, and as such a lot get reincarnated into new carriers or folded into someone else. Remember, the level of counter service you get on an island with a local carrier may not be up to your expectations!

scubamax

 

[Phantom Phish]

Well here's the follow up to my question...

We returned from our trip to Bonaire last weekend.

We flew Air Tran from Atlanta to Miami the weekend before, and then on to Bonaire nonstop on DCA. The DCA flight was about an hour late leaving Miami, but got there without any major problems. The interior of the plane looked a little worn and beat up compared to other carriers, but not too bad, although it made me wonder if they were keeping up with the maintenance of the rest of the plane.

The return flight left Bonaire on time, and went through Curacao. There was an hour layover in Curacao, for which they made everyone get off the plane. But the plane left Curacao on time and got into Miami on time. All in all a good flight.

Can't say the same for the return Air Tran flight. It was almost two hours delayed leaving Miami for "minor mechanical problems". That always makes me nervous, after all, they thought it was a minor mechanical problem when a few tiles fell off the space shuttle. Finally got into Atlanta about two hours late, and they had seven or eight Air Tran flights trying to unload all there luggage through 1 baggage claim turnstile at the same time. It litterally took an hour and a half just to get our luggage.
:upset:

In summary, I'd give DCA a grade of "B", and Air Tran a "D" on this trip.

 

[herman]

Thanks for the report. I have that same flight booked for July. I am beginning to wonder about my AA tickets to Miami however.

 

[reefman]

fair service and flights consistantly late is the word here in south florida. same complaints with air jamacia to the netherland antillies. good luck,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

reefman key largo

 

[Ronsch]

We flew ALM six years ago and while the outbound flight from Miami was fine, we had a few adventures with the return. The layover in Curacao then was 5 hours, not one so we threw our carryons in a locker a took a taxi downtown to sightsee for a while. On our return to the airport we were late getting boarded and then proceeded to sit on the tarmac for two hours while they tried to resolve a baggage/passenger count discrepancy. They finally found two bags that were plainly marked Lisbon for the KLM flight and we were on our way. However, the whole thing made the authorities in Miami suspicious and drug-sniffing dogs were awaiting both the passengers and luggage in Miami.

We are schedule on an AirTran/DCA combo May 31 - June 7. We'll see if DCA does any better.