Flying Air Jamaica…Not quite

The weekend before this one that just passed, I went to Jamaica for a long weekend to visit family and friends. After booking relatively late because work did not allow me to make definitive plans earlier, I spent entirely too much money on a round tripper from JFK Airport to Norman Manley International Airport. For fear of ridicule, I won’t even disclose how much I spent for my mom and I to fly down together. It was her birthday as well as a few other family members. It was going to be a great trip right?? Wrong!

The first issue was that we found out the hard way that Air Jamaica no longer flies out of Newark International which has been the most convenient way for me to travel. This happened when I was hunting down tickets and couldn’t find anything out of Newark. I usually park and ride and get to the airport in less than 1 hour normally. I can get back at any time at night and get home in relatively short order because the NJ Transit system is on pointe. However, Air Jamaica no longer carries service from Newark, NJ. I am figuring that gas prices are partly to blame this time, even though I know that the issues are far deeper than that (i.e. bad fiscal management by Air Jamaica, incorrect government intervention in Air Jamaica affairs, throwing good money after bad in a failing and unsustainable company, etc. etc. etc.) I am still guilty for believing that somehow we could eventually turn Air Jamaica around with loyal support instead of going to the competition. As it turns out, I would soon not have a choice in the matter.

So anyways…I’m stuck getting up at 3:30am to take the same train to Newark Airport, then get on a shuttle at 6am from Newark to get to JFK in NYC for a 9:30am flight directly to Kingston. But, I’m still good because at least it’s direct flight. So here I am standing in line at the ticket counter and the attendant starts handing out flyers that says that we won’t be flying on Air Jamaica. Instead we’re going to be on North American Airlines. Who?? “North American Airlines!” I never heard of them.

Oh well, as long as we have our Lovebird service, we should be good to go….not really. North American airlines doesn’t have first class and business class and economy. They have one class. The seats were very worn and the leather was peeling. Needless to say, it wasn’t the best alternative out there given the fact that I spent so much money. In their defense, they still managed to get a couple of the Air Jamaica flight attendants and essential personnel on the flight. However, somehow…we know that it isn’t the same. Not by a long shot.

Here is the joke. An older gentleman slides down the one passageway because they don’t have 2 aisles to walk down. He said: “What the hell is dis?!! Dem trick we!!! Dem trick we!! It have Air Jamaica sign pon di seat, but dis ah nuh Air Jamaica!!” —- *DWL* Everybody was rolling.

Next joke. Another older couple comes in trying to find room for their bags in the overhead bins. “I can’t believe dis! Dem tell wi first class and dem nuh ‘av nuh first class. Is one class dem ‘av and dem ‘av mi money!!” —- *DWL* again!! Near tears this time because obviously these people were never really aware of what was going on with the airline at all. Air Jamaica didn’t even have the decency to send out a mailer or an email to people who booked months in advance to prepare them for such drastic measures. But what do I know about good service? I am only the customer.

Needless to say, I didn’t want to laugh because this is serious, but I couldn’t help it. Don’t they know that Jamaicans don’t know how to act when we get irritable? Didn’t they know this? All these years of lethal ignorance and they couldn’t pick a better carrier since they are going bankrupt? Well, in any case, I guess they don’t care anyway.

All I know is that flying to Jamaica will never be quite the same again. No more rice and peas, just dry so-so white rice now. No more rum punch for our tourist friends. The cost will continue to go up and we will get less. Such is life I guess.

This is a sad day, but we must admit that we had to have seen this coming given the major woes in the airline industry.