Seaborne Airlines.

[agilis]

I am planning a trip to Dominica this winter. I've been there many times, but always flew American Eagle from San Juan to Melville Hall. Because AE is no longer flying out of San Juan, I've been considering Seaborne, which seems to fly the same schedule to and from Dominica.

I would very much appreciate any information, experiences, or thoughts from members of this board who have actually used Seaborne.

 

[jc60625]

i have the same question (also a former AE flyer)... looking to get into St. Croix from San Juan and they have the best fares.

 

[Rhone Man]

Seaborne are a US operation based out of St Croix. They have agreed to take over many of the old American Eagle routes to try and preserve the AA network when AA pulled out of its Caribbean operations, and they are codeshared with AA.

That said, I have never actually flown on Seaborne myself (I prefer Cape Air). However, I have various friends who have done so, and none of them have reported any complaints, so read into that what you will.

 

[jc60625]

Just got back from St. Croix using Seaborne as my SJU-STX link... worked pretty well, saab turbo prop, comfortable enough. $25 per bag up to 50lbs, add that to a $120ish round trip and not a terrible deal.

 

[greylion]

I just got back from Dominica and Seaborne is the best airline serving the island now, Liat, is a nightmare with bags always getting delayed and several hour delays normal. Everything went smooth on Seaborne from San Juan. Nice planes and looked to be in good shape, I'm an old air force mechanic, so I'm not a complete novice on the subject, I'd fly them again with confidence in the equipment and flight schedules.

 

[Scubavid]

I just returned from Dominica December 29. From what other Dominicans and other travelers have told me Seaborne is the way to fly. We flew LIAT from Antigua. I would not recommend flying LIAT. The flight was an hour and a half late getting into Antigua. Then LIAT bumped us off the plane and overnighted us in Antigua causing us to miss the first day of diving. There was no reason for this. It appeared to us that there were at least 6 LIAT crew dead heading on our flight. I guess LIAT doesn't care about it's paying passengers. People who have flown Seaborne tell me that it has a good on time record. I think the best route is to fly from the U.S. to San Juan and take the Seaborne flight non stop to Dominica. I wish I knew about Seaborne before I made my reservations.

 

[metastasis_d]

Does anyone know whether it's better to price and purchase tickets earlier (say this Summer) or closer to the departure time with such a small airline like this? I know with large airlines it's pretty much better to always buy earlier, but I've never bought tickets with such a small airline.

 

[georoc01]

I fly Seaborne into Dominica and LIAT on the way out. Had no problems with either airline and I actually like LIAT's larger planes that hold 68 passengers. The downside was we had to stop in Antigua.

But having Seaborne as part of the AA system is definitely a plus in that could book straight through, bags transferred w/o any problems whereas with LIAT, we had to claim our bags, even when we had an additional stop in St. Martin on the return leg before heading back to the US.

If you are booking through AA, I'd say the earlier the better.

 

[RevolutionFD]

I've flown Seaborne (SJU-STX) with no issues. Sadly they are relocating their HQ from STX to Puerto Rico.