Same exact thing happened to me with Delta and SXM. Booked award flights and one month prior to travel, Delta canceled all flights to SXM and canceled the route. Wouldn't rebook us with other carriers because it was an award flight even though it was accommodating paying customers with flights with other carriers.

We had to scramble to get down there so we wouldn't lose our non-refundable expensive hotel accommodations.

Delta ended up restarting service shortly thereafter. Seems to be a typical cycle for them.

Um, what?! How is any of what you stated even remotely true? How am I being either (a) overly dramatic or (b) irresponsible.

As others have stated, there has been dramatic decreases in Delta coverage and American Airlines coverage to SXM, STT, and several other Carribbean islands for the Spring/Summer of 2011.

How bout you do a little fact checking before blindly throwing mud?

Interesting, your situation sounds EXACTLY the same as mine. Luckily for me, the trip isn't until May 2011, so I can wait a bit before making a decision. We are definitely going since I am in the wedding (part of the wedding party) and have to be there, plus both my wife and I really want to go.

I guess worst case, we'll cancel the ticket and get all of our miles back (free of charge, right?) and then rebook the award ticket from SAN-ATL and ATL-SAN, but then have no idea how we are going to get from ATL to SXM...

And yes, we have to go in and out of Atlanta because we'll be dropping off our child with the grandparents while we're in the Carribbean.

You could do Spirit from ATL-FLL-SXM or USAIR ATL-CLT-SXM


OR, take Delta ATL-ANU then take a Liat airlines hopper to SXM

Luckily you do have time. They may restart the service again and then tell you they have no award tickets . We ended up having to go through EWR with Continental but that is no longer an option since they left Skyteam. I would see availability to some other Caribbean island from ATL and use liat or Caribbean airlines to island hope. Definitely cheaper than trying to fly completely on cash.

American Airlines has year-round, twice-daily MIA-SXM; daily JFK-SXM; and daily SJU-SXM. This has not changed.

How about you do some fact checking? AA has not cut any capacity to SXM or STT, even with the recent reduction in SJU flying.

Calling American's recent SJU cuts "drastic" is ridiculous, because almost all the capacity to the non-SJU stations has been replaced by more seats from MIA and JFK.

Is there a way to find out how much of the total cost is taxes/landing fees? These little countries could also be raising taxes on planes, causing the airlines to cutback.

Depending on how one wants to count Caribbean destinations Delta offers service to 25-28 airports. You referenced frequency reductions to one airport. 'Coverage' is a little vague in typical airline usage. A destination is still served (covered) if frequency drops from 4x daily to 1x daily. By that standard a reduction in daily flights to some destinations represents no change in coverage at all.

If the reduction in SXM to less than daily flights aren't convenient to you, you should know the range of options available.

I don't believe the circumstances add up to a Huge decrease in (Delta's) Caribbean Coverage.

I know they have done BNA for a couple or years now. They were trying to do something with the planes coming in Friday night that they had to have, so some either had to fly empty or sit until Sunday. The flight is pretty full, being booked vie travel agencies/ Delta that sell packages.

Thanks.. Apparently, American's flights are now back in the system, but they were definitely "unbookable" when I looked last time.

Also, we looked at USAir as well. Thanks! I'll check out Spirit too.

Spirit is just like Delta... only flies to and from St. Maarten on Saturday's...

USAir is now $1,200 per person to go there... next!

It looks like it's down to American. The times suck coming back, but whatever.

chasesfish, what on Earth are you talking about?? The majority of Caribbean islands would be loss making destinations if run the way most other flights are done to "real" places. Except for the larger islands there is generally little "O" in O/D passengers and most Us airlines only choose to serve the average Caribbean destination only if they receive one of three (or all three) of the following: Straight cash sudsidy from the government involved, Guarantees of bookings from either national tourism associations or travel agents, or binding business from cruise lines. If these things are not in place an airline will choose NOT to serve the island in general. Any taxes you refer to are generally instituted by the local governments to soak the actual tourists in order to claw back some of the money they put out to get the airline to continue to service their island.

Delta also completely cut out trinidad and tobago this year (not sure if they plan to make it seasonal for carnival season)- we ended up having to take american from ATL with connection in MIA

This is one reason why it is a good idea to have miles in a few different plans. While I rarely fly AA, I do have a nice chunk of miles with them that are pretty easy to use. Certainly much easier than DL.

US Air miles are also quite cheap to obtain with their almost constant sales of miles. Last year, I think you could get a US Air mile for about .6 cent with their special promo and Track-It-Back purchases.

Are you serious?

Umm, yes.