St. Maarten avec la famile, Week of May 11, 2008

[mirrodie]

This was our second trip to the Friendly Island. Our son's first passport stamp.

Quick flight review. Truth be told, I'd rather skip it since AA has really become no different from any other airline and it many ways have gotten worse. But I feel obliged.

The way there:
AA667 JFK-SXM was what it was. We brought our own snacks, Sebastian had his own seat. One flight attendant was a, well, let's just say this is the kind of person AA needs to get rid of. Very turbulent ride for 35 minutes before calming down. Upon landing, the F.O. walked off with us, really nice guy. We chatted a bit as he engaged us in conversation.

The way home:
Returned on AA660, with the same F.O. (excellent) and the same FA lousy aforementioned FA (boo) who treated us just as poorly.
- We departed SXM 45 minutes late. The Capt. blatantly lied that the delay was due to the large aircraft used by other airlines what were taking off in the reverse direction on the runway. Meanwhile, the Af340 and Corsair 747 flew the usual 09 departure. Why the lies? Should have known then something else was cooking.

-Supposed to land 850PM at JFK,- Arrived at 940PM
- was a quick run through Customs as the LHR and Santo Domingo flights just got in after us. Yeah, you are getting all excited too, right, thinking, they beat the rush! Right?! NOT :borat: AA was just getting ready to send it into dry.

-The luggage carousel STARTS to RUN at 1045 and kicks off 8 bags. (NOT A TYPO) (Meanwhile AA's LHR and Santo Domingo flts got their bags before us and arrived AFTER us.)
-Carousel stops. Restarts at 1115 (I can't make this up) By 1130, all luggage is OFF...And yep, ours is still in SXM... and that my friends, is probably why the pilot lied.
-over to the baggage counter. This is the fourth time AA has done this.

So we landed at 940 PM and got home at 1230 PM. That is the AA experience. Now do that with a 15 month old. Thank goodness he's a really good kid.
Tell me why I should continue with this fallen flag of an airline? And the complete apathy that starts in the head office just filters down through their front line employees. It's a sin how no one is held accountable

And I don't find Jetblue to be the panacea. But after 30 years of flying AA, losing luggage 4 times and treating my family like crap after I brought them another 2 flyers, they've shown that loyalty is not measure in years, but in segments+miles divided by time. And I'm simply not worth it to them. Might as well let jetblue try and lose my stuff for a change, right?

End rant, let's rewind and go back to the trip. It was great.


Here are a few pics. The waves at Maho were insane. One moment I'm walking with my son while he splashes at the sea foam and the next, a monster wave came out of nowhere.

A second after this, he was airborne (in my grasp) and the water was at my waist as I held on for the subsequent undertow.
http://www.nycaviation.com/hosting/Boysbigwave.jpg

The planes buzz over here like flies.
http://www.nycaviation.com/hosting/close.jpg

Apparently he's never heard of jetblast. I love his flying strap.

http://www.nycaviation.com/hosting/guypic.jpg

What kind of plane was this? Dc-6?:
http://www.nycaviation.com/hosting/bar.jpg


Didnt know I'd run into Joe Statz and Christian Egers here. Good times.
http://www.nycaviation.com/hosting/mess-of-photogs.jpg

Loud little visitor
http://www.nycaviation.com/hosting/n464st-2.jpg

escaping the cloud on the reverse takeoff
http://www.nycaviation.com/hosting/n664-aa-05-15.jpg

Daddy, I wanna see, I wanna see!
http://www.nycaviation.com/hosting/n664aa-seb.jpg

while making Guavaberry coladas, in came....
http://www.nycaviation.com/hosting/n922uw.jpg

I cannot WAIT to jetski next time! look at how high this guy is going!
http://www.nycaviation.com/hosting/jetski.jpg

My favorite
http://www.nycaviation.com/hosting/PH-KCE-05-17.jpg

Carnival was in town for the day.
http://www.nycaviation.com/hosting/pj-MDA-05-16.jpg

Love the Fokkers with the red tips
http://www.nycaviation.com/hosting/PJ-DAA-land-05-17.jpg

He can't get enough of them! Couldn't get him to look at the camera.
http://www.nycaviation.com/hosting/planewatchsebastian.jpg


It's never to early to learn how to exit the plane....in the highly unlikely event of an emergency.
http://www.nycaviation.com/hosting/sebastianreads.jpg

Nice crisp day with another Isle in the distance
http://www.nycaviation.com/hosting/n12109-05-17.jpg

Taken from the French side.
http://www.nycaviation.com/hosting/apt.jpg

Questions? Please.


Comments? Please.

[moose135]

Very nice, Mario. Looks like a great trip!


Our son's first passport stamp.
Where did they stamp him?

[MarkLawrence]

What fantastic shots Mario! That MD-11 is incredible...have to work a trip there somehow!! :)

[Iberia A340-600]

Mario... That KLM MD-11 shot is just about one of the best shots I've ever seen, I love it! :borat:

[cancidas]

why does it look like you photoshopped the AF tail into the shot where sebastian is holding the safety card?

[mirrodie]

Because I "photoshopped the AF tail into the shot where sebastian is holding the safety card."

Just look up Occam's Razor.



I didn't like the window view, so out of boredom I changed it. :P
But I'll stick to my day job.

[JetBlueAirwaysFan]

Everything is great!

[LGA777]

Mario, you have some really nice shots here, nice variety. As far as your AA experience with no disrespect to AA777 or to my friends on here who love flying AA but not my employer your experience sounds common, they have a good F product but many, many service problems. My own employer (US) often takes a bad rap really no US carriers seem to be free anymore of real problems with their service.

Looking forward to my next SXM visit sometime in the future. I assume you where happy with the time-share property, would really like to stay their one day.

Cheers

LGA777

[Matt Molnar]

Great stuff, Mario. Definitely gonna try to get down there this winter. What kind of currency do they use there anyway?

[LGA777]

Mario, forgot to mention in my first reply, the green plane on the road into town is a YS-11, Japanese 60 seat Twin engine Turboprop.

Cheers

LGA77

[JetBlueAirwaysFan]

Also, congratulations on your son's first passport stamp! I have yet to get mine.

[T-Bird76]

Very nice pictures! But why take a picture of some fat dude? LOL

[eric8669]

Nice Report Mario. Nice shots.

[mirrodie]

THanks Eric. Welcome back. Looking forward to your stuff.

Thanks for the words everyone. They inspire future TRs.

MAtt, currency down there is Netherlands Guilder and Euro on French side. BUT the American dollar is THE form of currency. Further, some places on the french side work out a special deal where they honor $1 to 1 euro. NOT BAD. So there is absolutely no need to exchange $$.

Tom, I thought you liked chubbies? :wink: I just though this guy was nuts to stand in the jetblast with his gear. I have stood in the jetblast and tis phenomenal. Really its more fun than skydiving. But not with my gear!

[Matt Molnar]

Wow, $1 per Euro = :borat:

[adam613]

Mario, these shots are just incredible. And your kid is ridiculously cute.

Um...what lens were you using for the KLM shot? The EXIF data says your focal length was 17mm :shock:

[Alex T]

Great Report Mario! Glad to see you have fun!

While not making excuses for American, it is often you fly them the most, correct? Odds are you are likely to see your bag damaged, missing or lost on AA then other carriers.

Had a guy complain to me SWA lost his bags 4 times also, I checked his reservation and I inquired about his travels and he stated he flew SWA about 5 times a month and mostly only flew SWA, well odds are if we are usually the only airline he travels, we are prolly gonna damage or miss his bag too at some point.

However, I have had two bags damaged on American also and Southwest myself. Every airline has their share of "disasters" waiting to happen.

Pictures were gorgeous and hopefully my AA flight in July goes well!

Alex

[mirrodie]

Hi Adam,

A little birdy let me borrow his 10-22 mm lens. So I had a bit of fun with it.
Thanks for the comments. I threw up a few new photos at jp.net.

Alex, I am glad you pciked up on this and I held back a bit. I only fly what, 1-4 times a year?

Really an average of 2 times a year. It is statistically improbable for me to have them lose it again. A guy traveling 5 times a month is understandable.

losing bags at some point is one thing. But if I have flown 20 times in 10 years and they lost baggage 4 times, that is statistically a bit high.