Bahamasair
Jan 23, 2004 | 5:02 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Huntington, WV, USA
Programs: Delta, HHonors
Posts: 26
Bahamasair
Does anyone know anything about Bahamasair? Any comments and/or suggestions? I will be travelling with them from Miami to Nassau in March. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Oct 21, 2004 | 1:28 pm
#3
Moderator, Omni, Omni/PR, Omni/Games, FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Between DCA and IAD
Programs: UA 1K MM; Hilton Diamond
Posts: 72,674
I've flown Bahamasair four times (two roundtrips, one MIA-MHH and the other booked as PBI-MHH) and have had one good experience plus one awful one.
I had no problems traveling from the States to the Bahamas on Bahamasair; it's getting back that has been the problem. They seem to have a bad habit of waaaay overselling flights on very busy travel days. I understand overbooking and can see why they oversell the 8am flight--a lot of people apparently oversleep or get held up at this or that. However, the problem is overselling the later flights in the day.
In my situation, they didn't even know they were oversold--I was going through what goes for security there when my fiancee (on the same record locator no less) was denied a boarding pass. So were the next 7 people waiting to check in. They had just found out a DeHavilland Dash 8 was oversold by 30% on the busiest travel day of the year, and the agent had no clue what to do (nor did her supervisor). They even tried to get us to pony up and charter our own flight!!!
I did a VDB, returning my boarding pass since they had no clue how or when they'd get my fiancee to West Palm. There wasn't any option of staying the night and catching the morning flight (as the agent suggested) since they were unwilling to arrange accommodations--not that any rooms were available as it was; the homes rent Saturday-Saturday and are fully booked that time of year, as are the few "hotels" in Marsh Harbour. Finally, they got us on a flight through Nassau (crummiest airport I've ever seen, BTW) and into Miami, 12 hours late, with no compensation offered. Delays in Nassau pushed us to 17 hours late getting back, and we had to bug every agent along the way just to get our ground transport ($220) paid for via vouchers.
Sorry for the long rant ... I just wanted to point out that flying Bahamasair can be hit-or-miss, and when they miss, don't expect the agents or supervisors to have a clue or be willing to help.
That said, SUMMER travel is OK; the load is much less and thus slip-ups don't show as badly. WINTER travel is a bad idea, basically from Thanksgiving until early Spring, as the islands are jam-packed at that time of year, the staff is stressed out, and mistakes can wreck the entire trip.
I had no problems traveling from the States to the Bahamas on Bahamasair; it's getting back that has been the problem. They seem to have a bad habit of waaaay overselling flights on very busy travel days. I understand overbooking and can see why they oversell the 8am flight--a lot of people apparently oversleep or get held up at this or that. However, the problem is overselling the later flights in the day.
In my situation, they didn't even know they were oversold--I was going through what goes for security there when my fiancee (on the same record locator no less) was denied a boarding pass. So were the next 7 people waiting to check in. They had just found out a DeHavilland Dash 8 was oversold by 30% on the busiest travel day of the year, and the agent had no clue what to do (nor did her supervisor). They even tried to get us to pony up and charter our own flight!!!
I did a VDB, returning my boarding pass since they had no clue how or when they'd get my fiancee to West Palm. There wasn't any option of staying the night and catching the morning flight (as the agent suggested) since they were unwilling to arrange accommodations--not that any rooms were available as it was; the homes rent Saturday-Saturday and are fully booked that time of year, as are the few "hotels" in Marsh Harbour. Finally, they got us on a flight through Nassau (crummiest airport I've ever seen, BTW) and into Miami, 12 hours late, with no compensation offered. Delays in Nassau pushed us to 17 hours late getting back, and we had to bug every agent along the way just to get our ground transport ($220) paid for via vouchers.
Sorry for the long rant ... I just wanted to point out that flying Bahamasair can be hit-or-miss, and when they miss, don't expect the agents or supervisors to have a clue or be willing to help.
That said, SUMMER travel is OK; the load is much less and thus slip-ups don't show as badly. WINTER travel is a bad idea, basically from Thanksgiving until early Spring, as the islands are jam-packed at that time of year, the staff is stressed out, and mistakes can wreck the entire trip.