SXM Airport Operations

[Kamfish642]

My wife and I on the February 2 Odyssey cruise out of Sint Maarten.  Does anyone have an update on airport arrival and departures issues since the terminal apparently reopened? 

[wcsdkqh]

Depends on how many aircraft are arriving in a short period of time. We landed on an AA flight out of Charlotte on 1/5, and there were 4 other international arrivals within a few mins. Very crowded and a real mess claiming luggage, only 1 carousel serving all flights. Took over an hour just to claim luggage. At least it was all there😀

[scamper]

Not sure what you're asking, specifically, but flights are operating pretty much as scheduled.  Jet bridges are operational; there's still stuff to be done, of course.  Luggage delivery is in a sad shape, but that was my only issue.

[Catlover54]

My post #23 on the SB forum about my recent Odyssey trip which ended 1/5, a Saturday, described the difficulties at the SXM airport in gory detail ( in my case compounded by a several hour flight delay). 

 

Seating is very limited,  security long ( no fast TSA precheck  track), there are almost no places to charge your devices if delayed, overhead announcements are shrill, loud, and continuous, food is poor, chairs hard and uncomfortable if you can get one at all, no disability seating if you need it that is respected by pax. Prepare for all contingencies in case it is not better by your trip.

 

Arrival was not so bad, main issue was one hour luggage delay when tired and the scrum getting a cab ( we shared one going in the same general direction, unfortunately the three girls in it were loud and traffic was awful so it took over a half over to go a few miles to our hotel) .  If you can, reserve a private car with AC and perhaps tip extra to keep the driver off his cell  and radio while driving.

 

As others have said, if you could leave on a day that is not a Saturday, might be better.

 

Also be sure and have a printed copy of your itinerary to show immigration ( not just on a device).

 

 

[wcsdkqh]

We used a company named BestPriceTaxiSXM. Andy Martina is the owner. He met us just outside the terminal with a sign with our names. We were a party of 6 adults with 10 pieces of luggage. We had 8 passenger van that easily accommodated us and our luggage. Very reasonable price to get us to the port and unload luggage to seabourn porters. Andy was superb.  Email him at bestpricetaxisxm@gmail

[chessie4588]

We flew out of SXM on Saturday, January 19. Our experience was similar to above comments. One thing I would mention is that we were warned to arrive at the airport early so we arrived 3 hours before our departure only to discover that we couldn't check in until about 2.5 hours before the flight and once check in opened just about everyone got in line so we ultimately waited for a half hour or so until the line shortened. After that, getting thru their TSA and immigration was easy and only took a few minutes.  As an aside, food services after security are way better than the services in the check in area.

[PZetz]

Ditto to the above comments. We flew out of SXM last Saturday on Delta to ATL. Check-in for the 3:45om flight doesn’t begin until 1pm so no need to rush getting there. We took the Seabourn excursion that offered an island tour before dropping off at the airport at 12:30...plenty of time! The check-in and security lines moved quickly....then you are deposited into a huge, crowded hall to wait until your flight is called for boarding. We lucked out and found two seats but many did not...two hours of bad WiFi and we were finally on our way. The boarding was chaotic and all flights were using buses and outside stairs. Not a great experience but still worth it for Seabourn!

[Kamfish642]

Thank you all for your responses.