Divi Divi Air

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abernat

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There's been a few posts about Divi Divi Curacao<>Bonaire so I thought I'd add my experience with them. As always this is a small sample and your expectations and experiences may vary.

We have flown Divi Divi since American Airlines quite flying to Bonaire; a half dozen or more times.

They have always been essentially on time with no significant delays.

They do not interchange baggage with American Airlines which is a pain - you have to collect your luggage and go through immigration and customs rather than via the in-transit route. Depending on who landed before you, this can be a significant delay.

They do not include the departure tax from Curacao in your ticket so you have to go to the window and pay. If you are just in transit, keep your arrival boarding pass and you pay a slightly smaller tax. All airline tickets include the departure tax from Bonaire now.

Their ticket counter opens about an hour before the flight so you might have to sit in the departure area with your luggage depending upon when you get there (although the area is now air conditioned which helps).

You pick up your luggage plane side when you arrive and take it into immigration/customs.

On our last trip Curacao > Bonaire, two suitcases (we were bringing extra used gear to give to folks) didn't make it onto the Divi Divi flight which was the last of the day. They told us it would come on the 6:00 pm Insel Air and they would delver it via taxi. Nothing came that night and I was starting to figure out how to track it down. At 6:30 am there was a knock on the door and the taxi driver was there with our luggage. On departure we spoke with the baggage handler and he said Insel had arrived late, after 10 pm, so he decided not to have the luggage delivered until the morning.

Divi Divi is a small operation and at times responsiveness is slow but we've had great experiences with them and will continue to fly them happily.

Andy
 
I agree. Have always had a positive experience with Divi Divi. They have been good with getting extra bags over the next day. Flights might not leave exactly on time but they have always gotten us over the hop within an hour of schedule.

Have had much worse luck with Instel.
 
One issue that I always wondered about was luggage transfer if we weren't there to do it (American Airlines lost a bag inbound or it didn't make the return Divi flight from Bonaire due to weight restrictions). Divi says they can take care of that if necessary.
 
When we have travelled with them, we picked up our own luggage at the carousel and then took it to the Divi Divi check in. Reverse on the way out. Seemed a pretty minor inconvenience.
Never had a lost bag or delayed bag issue with them so cannot comment.
 
There's been a few posts about Divi Divi Curacao<>Bonaire so I thought I'd add my experience with them. As always this is a small sample and your expectations and experiences may vary.

We have flown Divi Divi since American Airlines quite flying to Bonaire; a half dozen or more times.

They have always been essentially on time with no significant delays.

They do not interchange baggage with American Airlines which is a pain - you have to collect your luggage and go through immigration and customs rather than via the in-transit route. Depending on who landed before you, this can be a significant delay.

They do not include the departure tax from Curacao in your ticket so you have to go to the window and pay. If you are just in transit, keep your arrival boarding pass and you pay a slightly smaller tax. All airline tickets include the departure tax from Bonaire now.

Their ticket counter opens about an hour before the flight so you might have to sit in the departure area with your luggage depending upon when you get there (although the area is now air conditioned which helps).

You pick up your luggage plane side when you arrive and take it into immigration/customs.

On our last trip Curacao > Bonaire, two suitcases (we were bringing extra used gear to give to folks) didn't make it onto the Divi Divi flight which was the last of the day. They told us it would come on the 6:00 pm Insel Air and they would delver it via taxi. Nothing came that night and I was starting to figure out how to track it down. At 6:30 am there was a knock on the door and the taxi driver was there with our luggage. On departure we spoke with the baggage handler and he said Insel had arrived late, after 10 pm, so he decided not to have the luggage delivered until the morning.

Divi Divi is a small operation and at times responsiveness is slow but we've had great experiences with them and will continue to fly them happily.

Andy

My next Divi trip will be .... Wednesday. American Airlines to Curacao first.

On arrival in Curacao: If there is a big line at inbound customs and you are on a tight travel switch (i.e. American got you to Curacao late, or a KLM 747 just unloaded, or both) grab a Curacao customs personnel and tell them you are on a tight transfer. They have walked me to the front of the line each of the 2 times I have asked.

When you get to the tax window at Curacao speak up and tell them you are in transit to Bonaire before you pay - that way they will
charge you the correct (lower) tax. Another tip - have US$1 bills to pay the tax exact change. If you pay with a higher currency US$ bill, they will
give you change in Antillean guilders.

My last Divi trip, they sent my bag on Insel to arrive at 7:30 and I had to wait it out at the BON airport for 2 hours for its arrival. This is the only time
this has ever happened on multiple trips.

Every Divi flight I have ever been on has been exactly on time in each direction.
 
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