I Come Not to Bury Air Jamaica...
Written: Nov 22 '05
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Direct flights, good food, efficient service, quick check-in, on-time departure/arrival.
Cons: Seriously, this was as good a flight as on any US carrier. I have none.
The Bottom Line: Other may experience trouble again I suppose, but for our money and time, Air Jamaica performed and at times out-performed expectations. Fly them.
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| adshubert's Full Review: Air Jamaica |
...but to praise them (apologies to Bill S. for the license). That's right, we just got back from a week at Beaches Sandy Bay (a wonderful destination itself, but for a different review) and flew Air Jamaica round-trip from BWI, and the flight was absolutely normal in every way. At no point in time did we experience the chaos, delays, rudeness, or any of the other troubles that the other folks writing here have suffered through. Maybe we got lucky, maybe it was a quieter period, maybe AJ brass reads these things and decided to make an effort to dramatically improve (we found out the management at out resort does read online postings for areas to work on), but whatever the reason, it was simply a perfect all-around experience.
The Setting
Three of us including our nearly 3 year old son (now 3), traveling from Friday Nov. 11 to Friday Nov. 18. Two pieces of checked bags, three carry-ons. Roundtrip non-stop service from Thurgood Marshall BWI to Sangster Montego Bay on Air Jamaica. Flight time is approx. 3 hours.
BWI Check-In
Having read the recent postings in this forum, we were bracing ourselves for what would seemingly be the most unenjoyable part of our trip—the AJ portion. We arrived at the check-in counter for the 8:30am flight around 7:00am and encountered a fairly long line snaking out of the teller line and into the terminal. “Here we go,” I thought, “this line will take forever, our luggage won’t make it, we’ll miss our plane, and the vacation is already finished. Thanks a lot Air Jamaica….” By 7:20am we were checked in with a smile, a friendly greeting, a cute exchange with our son, and well wish, and then off the security. No line at security (BWI’s international terminal is pretty quiet) and to the gate which was just next to security. Flight boarded on time, smoothly and orderly. We were about 10 minutes delayed getting off the ground as the catering company delivered too few meals, then away we went. Equipment was a well-maintained, clean Airbus 321, and we had 3 seats across in row 14.
BWI-MBJ Leg
Great day for flying as the skies were clear and the weather chilly. After 10,000 feet, flight attendant got up and first thing he did was bring a coloring book and crayons to our son—never, never seen that happen on any other carrier. Then drink service (with the “Champagne service”), and then breakfast. What kind of breakfast could we expect? Choice of eggs or French toast, we all elected for the FT, and it was as good as one could want on an airplane. Our son scarfed up his portion and mine. It was accompanied by side meat and yogurt. Service was efficient and quick (not always with a smile, but I’ll take the trade), though I think the flight attendants did run out of French toast as they got to the back of the plane (very common and normal occurrence on all carriers who offer food, and those in the back rows should come to expect this by now—it was a very full flight). After the trays were cleaned up, it remained a very normal standard flight. There was a movie shown, but very few of the audio channels worked, though the in-flight magazine said there would be. The captain let us know when we were flying over Cuba and explained there were three flight paths allowed over the island, told us what was to the east and west, and that it would take about four minutes to pass over the island. Before we knew it, we were descending into M-Bay Airport, and a smooth, on-time landing. Just a great flight, with great service.
At this point, I will not go into detail about the immigration or baggage process for M-Bay Airport since it is not related to AJ or its performance, but it is the only part of the process that gives you that Third-world feel. The government seems to be trying to expedite and in general improve the process, but it definitely needs some work. We were fortunate in only having a 30 minute wait to get to an immigration agent; a bunch of planes landed at once and we got in before the major rush. I could definitely see those who were looking at an hour or longer before they made it through. Baggage was an adventure as well. Try to revert into island mode when you get to baggage claim and keep your sense of humor if possible as there were some true amusing moments of watching bags stack up and slide off the conveyor belt.
MBJ Check-In
After being dropped off by our van driver, we were eventually approached by a redcap who grabbed our bags and moved us quickly through the terminal and got us to the correct check-in line for BWI (AJ has flights north taking off in 10 minute intervals, and the line where you are supposed to be is not clearly marked although there was AJ staff located to assist), and set our bags in the front of the line to wait for us until we made it to the front. As for the line, there just wasn’t one. We waited about 4 minutes to get to an agent who expertly and efficiently processed us and our bags. We could have been anywhere in the U.S. in terms of modernity and professionalism. In a matter of two minutes or so, boarding passes were in hand, and we headed to security. A wait there certainly, right? Nope. A few people in front of us, and off we went through the metal detector, and then each person was wanded again. Nothing untoward was getting through. Headed to an available emigration agent (could have been done better, but we had a lot of time) and with a massive amount of time to spare, we were in duty free and headed to the gate.
MBJ-BWI Leg
AJ doesn’t announce the gate until about an hour before the flight, so we headed to the general waiting area to sit (there aren’t that many gates and a quick stroll down the concourse and you can guess by the planes waiting at the gate where you’re going to be). It is pleasant and comfortable, the bathrooms are fairly clean, you can get a cold soda or beer and a snack, surf the internet, grab some coffee, head back to duty free, etc. And when waiting, what else do you need in any airport? About 20 minutes before our departure, our flight was called. It was an all rows/all seats call, and I immediately got an annoyed feeling as everyone gathered at the gate to board. “OK,” I thought, “this is it. This is where it breaks down. Everything has gone well, and now we’ll have a bad taste in our mouths.” And what happened? Well, naturally, the line moved very quickly, and we waited about 10 minutes before we were on the plane and seated. Plane was about 40% full, so just like in the U.S. the gate agents did a cattle call. Made sense. We were seated and on board, everyone else arrived and got settled, and we backed out from the gate as an on-time departure.
About 45 minutes into the flight, they brought food, and it was good, especially for airplane food. One entrée was fish, breaded and with a barbecue sauce that was pretty good. On the side was rice, greens, and fried plantains—a nice touch. The other entrée was chicken, baked and tender with a sauce I am unsure of, and with the same sides. For all airlines, I think it would be nice to offer children’s meals, with hotdogs, nuggets, or other similar items, because there was no way we were getting either one of these entrées into my son’s mouth. We brought multiple provisions knowing this in advance, but it would be a good touch. There was a movie shown, and again the audio channels did not work for other programming, but not that big of a deal. And the rest of the flight? Normal, normal, normal. On-time arrival, easy processing through immigration and customs (the size of the immigration area at BWI indicates tremendous ambition).
So, I don’t know what to say to all of the trouble everyone has experienced recently. Again, maybe it was luck or maybe AJ has really tried to improve recently. But for certain, we would not hesitate to fly them again and in fact recommend them for travel to Jamaica.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
adshubert
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Reviews written: 3
Trusted by: 0 members
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