News of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands

Dealing with St. Thomas airport

Whether American Airlines really means it when they suggest you arrived at the airport four hours ahead of departure, to insure your bags get on the plane with you, there are some things you can do to reduce the stress of the airport.

• Log on to AA.com where you can print your boarding passes the night before you are set to fly.
• Try to live with one carry on bag.  How much room do shorts, underwear, t-shirts and sandals require, anyway?
• Use the automatic check-in machines at the airport.  An agent will sticker the bags and you’re on the way.

Got any other ideas?  Pass them along here.

Update on American Airlines' 4 hour policy

The customer relations office of American Airlines is not on board with that notice from the St. Thomas AA people about your having to show up at the airport four hours ahead of departure. 

AA’s Debbie Mahan e-mailed a News of St. John reader saying, “In looking at our Web site, aa.com, it states ... "(for) flights departing Hawaii and the U.S. Virgin Islands, recommended check-in time is at least two hours prior to scheduled departure.” (It also says the baggage acceptance cut-off time is one hour.)

In other words, the “four hour” announcement about 11 days ago is not official airline policy. But, it is also not without reason.

Anyone who’s gone through check-in, Customs, and then TSA/Baggage screening at STT knows it’s a nightmare.  Random searches of carry-ons and suitcases sure can gum up the works.  (Here’s the TSA list of what’s not allowed in your checked baggage and which can set off alarms and stop the process.)

TSA is working in a fairly confined space with just a few X-Ray machines.  The work area can easily get inundated because so many flights bound for the mainland have scheduled departures between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m.  The Inquiring Iguana has been told a ‘significant number” of pieces of luggage have been left behind as a result of such baggage screening crunches, insuring VI-vacationers arrive at their home airport with more than the glow of their tan wearing off after what may have been a great vacation.

The VI Tourism department, although publicly silent about the local American statement, has been talking with AA corporate about what the VI Port Authority can do to make leaving paradise less stressful.

American wants you at the airport 4 hours early

It's always a huge PITA to get out of the St.Thomas airport, right?  Well, it's going to get more painful.

American Airlines this week issued a notice saying it recommends passengers departing the USVI check in at the baggage counter "at least (4) four hours prior to scheduled departure." 

And if you're not there early, you may really be out of luck because, says AA, "All flights ... out of St. Thomas will close for check-in ... 60 minutes before any departure."  It sounds like, "If your bags don't have tags an hour ahead, you're staying in STT for the night."

Someone leaving on American's flight for Miami at 11:20 a.m., and staying on St. John, is going to have to get the 6 a.m. ferry and pray. The rest of us will have to pray that US Airways, Delta, Continental, and United Airlines don't follow the lead of American.

Download AA release here.

St. John's Accommodations Council members were surprised by American's new policy statement, some wondering if the Department of Tourism may get involved.  After all, having to be at the airport clearly puts the islands at a disadvantage with tourists.

Update: Help has arrived. A little bit.

This morning, Thursday, the Tourism Department's list of news releases works. 

It's really odd, tho ... instead of clicking links to see the story, you have to click either the "Word" or the "PDF" button to get the text in those formats.  No other web site I've seen does this.

Wonder what the Department doesn't like about Web pages.  Could it be that this way, converting it to two formats, takes more time and makes more work?

Yesterday's post:

The government could do better promoting tourism in the Virgin Islands.  Perhaps that's the reason the Commissioner of Tourism, Beverley Nicholson-Doty will make an appearance at a lunch meeting of the Territory's top advertising people.

An e-mail from the American Advertising Federation of the U.S. Virgin Islands (formerly known more simply as the 'Ad Club') says Doty will offer a look behind-the-scenes at the work she and JWT, the island's advertising agency, are doing.

"It seems the stateside image of the U.S. Virgin Islands needs to be changed," the advertising group said. "Commissioner Beverly Nicholson-Doty of the Department of Tourism will show us what people’s perceptions really are and how our advertising needs to be repositioned."

From my surfing on the Web, it appears JWT is a new player this year.  The Tourism Dept.'s Web site says M. Booth and Asssociates of New York are the PR contacts for the Territory.  In the past, however, JWT has worked for the Tourism Department, as long ago as 2001.  There was a change for 2008 and JWT is back, and now has some research and opinion polling which will help inform its promotional efforts for what appears to be a new campaign for the islands.

Lord knows, efforts have been pretty minimal recently - despite declining tourism and cutbacks in airline service.  The "official" tourism Web site still sucks: no fresh content, nothing posted daily to keep people interested in what's happening on the islands, God-awful slow to load pages and the Department's "Press Room" hasn't had a new release in months, offering media nothing new to write.  Even the Events Calendar is blank!  ("Nothing to see there folks, move along.")

But, the #3 press release on the page touts an award to Commissioner Nicholson-Doty, in June, naming her an "Outstanding Woman in Travel." Here's a link to that story: http://www.onepaper.com/stcroixvi/?v=d&i=&s=Business:St.+Croix&p=1212899165.  Ironically, you can't read the Department's own release about that honor - because none of the links on the Press Room page work, at least on my Mac and its two browser.

Don't get me wrong.  I want the Commissioner and JWT to do well at the lunch.  And I want them to do well in promoting the islands over the next year.  And I REALLY want them to do much better than they have.

Jet Blue offered nonstop NYC to STT

The VI’s could have had a direct Jet Blue flight from New York ... if the Virgin Islands government had agreed to guarantee the company $1.5 million.  That proposal was reported by a committee appointed by the Governor working to maintain air service to the Territory in the face of cutbacks.  The “offer” was rejected.

Jet Blue was not alone in trying to pry cash from the Territory in  exchange for scheduling flights into St. Thomas.  Continental Airlines wanted $1 million for a weekly flight from Newark. US Airways ”considered dropping one weekly seasonal Charlotte-St. Croix flight” if it didn’t get $1 million, according to a report published ion the Virgin Islands Daily News.

Now, we know the airlines are in trouble.  United is asking as much as $9 for a “fresh” snack.  Now we learn the airlines are asking for cash for service.  The Tourism Commissioner said there have been no such payments. But the VIs have committed $1.6 million in marketing partnerships with four airlines to promote their flights in Atlanta, Boston, Miami, and Ft. Lauderdale.

This Daily News story (read it here: http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/index.pl/article?id=17627816) just makes the airlines sound thuggish, desperate and heavy-handed.  Without air service, the islands’ tourism business goes in the dumper. You could say the airlines have their foot on the throat of the local economy.  Is Vladimir Putin running the airlines?

Airline Adventures

As Steve Allen said, you can't make this stuff up: Airlines to begin selling ads on boarding passes

Small airline plans big VI service boost

Cape Air plans to increase its daily service between St. Thomas and San Juan by 71 percent, according to a report by the Virgin Islands Daily News. (Read it here.) 

The small airline’s vice president of planning said increasing the number of daily round-trips to a dozen is a move to capitalize on the flight cuts being made by other, larger, airlines serving the Territory.  Cape Air is based in Cape Cod and its primary business is serving New England vacation spots like Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.  But it’s being flying in the Caribbean for nine years between Puerto Rico, the VI’s and Tortola.

The airline flies small planes.  So small, you probably never get to 5,000 feet.  It is a wonderful ride!  I took a flight from San Juan to St. Thomas a few years ago, and the plane probably held no more than a dozen people.  It flies so low, you have an unbelievable view of the coral reefs, sparsely inhabited islands and cays, sailboats and yachts, and so much more.  It is a lot of fun.

Cape Air’s decision to add service is one good thing that’s coming out of the current squeeze on airlines, fuel, and wallets. Here’s another reason to applaud Cape Air’s expansion.  It already has a co-marketing agreement with Jet Blue, transferring passengers from its own planes to Jet Blue from new England to the mid-Atlantic.  Oh, wouldn't’t we like to see Jet Blue see Cape Air do even better in the VI’s, and decide to make its own foray into the marketplace.

Some relevant airline items

• American adds $20 fuel surcharge
• Jane Packer floral displays at Caneel?
• Best Coach Class Award to American Airlines

American agrees to exempt liquor boxes

The territory’s largest airline has reportedly said it will not count a duty-free box of liquor as a second piece of luggage, and therefore will not charge an extra fee for them.  St. John Source reported that the exemption from AA came after Delegate Donna Christensen wrote a letter to an American Airlines executive.  She said taxing liquor boxes as luggage would have a “disastrous impact on the tourism economy.”

It’s good to see AA make this move and even better to see that the Delegate made her move.  Executives pay attention when they receive requests from Members of Congress.  The island’s economy is fragile enough without the kind of blow to retail sales the baggage fee would have been.  And a downturn in sales of rum would doubly hurt, because the VI’s receive as much as $80 million a year in excise tax rebates from the US government.  So the liquor box exemption by AA is a triple-A good thing.

Airlines drop 2nd and 3rd shoes

Two more airlines servicing St. Thomas have announced cutbacks. 

Besides American Airlines, which announced its moves last week, now United and Continental will lay of employees, mothball old airplanes, and reduce flight schedules.

Bloomberg News reports:

• Continental Will Ground 67 Jets, Eliminate 3,000 Jobs
• United to Cut Fleet, Shut Low-Fare Unit, Person Says