Early Booking Sale from Air Jamaica Vacations

DO NOT FLY AIR JAMAICA! I understand that people need to make a living, however, my husband and I were forced to endure the consequences of this strike. We had flown to Jamaica to experience our dream wedding and spent a lovely week in Ocho Rios. Upon departure, we were due to fly out at 11:30am on 03-25-08, and were not told until 11:35am that the flight was canceled, even though the airline knew about the strike as early as 5am that day. We had to wait in line for 4 hours while 150 impatient Jamaicans mobbed the Air Jamaica customer service desk and the Americans got screwed for being courteous and patient. We were finally given a boarding pass for the next day’s flight and told the chances of flying out the next day were 50/50. We were shuttled to a Holiday Inn, where we were checked in but then told they had no room for us. We then waited 1.5 hours for the shuttle to come back for us, and then were bused to a second hotel. Upon arrival, we were told that they too had no rooms for us. All 5 flights had been canceled that day, leaving over 1000 travelers with nowhere to go (except those who lived in the area), and we were all competing for rooms. We were shuttled back to the airport, where we demanded a quick resolution from Air Jamaica customer service, and then were made to sit on a bus without AC for 2 hours. We were then shuttled to a third hotel, where we were finally given a room. We didn’t get into our room until 7pm. We were exhausted, hungry, and frustrated as hell. We tried calling Air Jamaica several times for information but there was no answer that night or the next morning. They had told us they would send a shuttle to pick us up the next morning to go back to the airport, but it never came. There was still no answer at the Air Jamaica phone line. I tried several different ways to call our travelers insurance company for help, but apparently it’s impossible to dial an 800 number from there and we didn’t have the direct long distance number. We finally paid for a taxi and when we got to the airport, had to wait in line for another 1.5 hours. When we got to the counter, we asked the Air Jamaica customer service supervisor to reschedule our connecting flight from Fort Lauderdale to Phoenix. She told us she had done so and we were so relieved. Then went through immigration and customs all over again. Then the flight was two hours delayed taking off. When we arrived in Fort Lauderdale that afternoon, we were told we were not booked for any connecting flight. Apparently the Air Jamaica rep in Montego Bay had been lying when she said she had rebooked us. We went to the Air Jamaica desk for help and were told a supervisor would be out shortly to assist us, but he never came out after waiting 45 minutes. Not only that, but the other Air Jamaica reps at the counter were EXTREMELY rude and refused to help us, despite what we had been through. It is truly unbelievable how uncaring and detached ALL of the Air Jamaica reps seem to be. We finally gave up and went to US Airways, who got us onto another flight. We waited another 4 hours, then had to fly to Las Vegas, arriving at 12:30am, then to Phoenix, arriving at 1:15am. We live in Tucson, so had to drive to my father’s house halfway because we were too deliriously tired to drive. We got there at 3am and didn’t get home until noon the following day. Meanwhile, our 3-year-old son, who had stayed in Tucson with his grandmother, thought we had abandoned him for good. My father had to miss a day of work in order to pick us up in the middle of the night. My husband missed two days of work because of this. Of all the Air Jamaica reps we met, either in Montego Bay OR Fort Lauderdale, NOT ONE of them ever apologized on behalf of the airline for our troubles. In fact, they treated us like were were second class citizens and like we should be grateful to them for their service. Now you tell me why I should feel sorry for these people.