"staff were average at best"
K Simpson (United States)
✅ Verified Review | Insel Air - horrible experience. From the minute we got onboard, it was extremely hot and the AC didn't kick in until we had been on the runway for a few minutes. Even worse, we sat at the gate for an extra 20 minutes sweating while the aircraft waited for "parts" (per the pilots announcement). The staff were average at best, with customer service. The drinks were offered early but there was no alcohol because the "machine was down". They could not accept cash either. There was no inflight entertainment or monitors. No wifi options. Pretzels and peanuts were offered as the only snack (3 hour flight 3-6pm). The snacks were extremely stale and the peanuts were so stale they were soft. The expiration dates were 5/5/2016 and 5/10/2016 respectively which were two months post expiration as of the date of our flight. They shouldn't have even been served. But this was "all they had". Needless to say, this was not only the worse flight I've taken, and least accommodating, but it's the only time I have gone online to provide such feedback about any airline, restaurant or service. I'm still in shock.
Type Of Traveller | Couple Leisure |
Seat Type | Economy Class |
Route | MIA to CUR |
Date Flown | July 2016 |
Seat Comfort | 12345 |
Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
Food & Beverages | 12345 |
Ground Service | 12345 |
Value For Money | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"sitting with no information"
Jon Prentice (Australia)
✅ Verified Review | Insel Air is probably the worst airline I have flown. I had a ticket from Caracas to Curacao on June 23 leaving at 10.30pm. A week ago they changed the flight time to 07.40am. I emailed them to say that this didn't suit me because I had a connecting flight that afternoon but received no response. To leave Venezuela I had to forfeit my ticket and purchase another ticket out and could only get a ticket to Aruba at short notice. When I arrived I went to the Insel office to explain my situation. They said I had to pay a $110 penalty to fly to Curacao to make my connection. The flight from Curacao to Santo Domingo was delayed 2 hours, finally after leaving and 1 hour into the fight we turned back to Curacao because of mechanical problems. Right now we are sitting in the transit lounge with no information about what happens next. Avoid this airline at all costs.
Aircraft | MD80 |
Type Of Traveller | Solo Leisure |
Seat Type | Economy Class |
Route | CUR to SDQ |
Date Flown | June 2016 |
Seat Comfort | 12345 |
Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
Food & Beverages | 12345 |
Ground Service | 12345 |
Value For Money | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"no communication, leadership or guidance"
S Porter (United States)
✅ Verified Review | My Insel Air flight from Paramaribo to Curacao was on time. The next leg, to Kingston was delayed by six hours. There was no communication, leadership or guidance of any kind provided to passengers. There was not even a gesture of apology. The counter staff were calloused and rude. My return flight was also delayed. Whoever is in charge of this Airline, hopefully they bother to read reviews, need to correct these consistent delays, public relations insults, and ticketing glitches, from the top down as soon as possible.
Type Of Traveller | Solo Leisure |
Seat Type | Economy Class |
Route | PBM to KIN via CUR |
Date Flown | June 2016 |
Seat Comfort | 12345 |
Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
Food & Beverages | 12345 |
Inflight Entertainment | 12345 |
Ground Service | 12345 |
Wifi & Connectivity | 12345 |
Value For Money | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"delays were not communicated"
H Michaels (Germany)
✅ Verified Review | Curacao to Bonaire with Insel Air. Original flight time 9:10 AM - 9:30 AM. We chose it so we could get enough sleep and still be at our destination early enough to go scuba diving that day. 2 days prior to departure we were informed by email that our departure time was changed to an earlier hour, i.e. to 7:15 AM. Since Insel Air asks you to be at the airport 3 hours prior to departure, we got up at 4:30 AM in the morning. There was no request to confirm that you had received said email. As soon as we arrived at the gate in the airport, we were informed that the flight was delayed from 7:15 AM to 8:45 AM. We were quite annoyed because that meant we could have just as well slept long enough. After waiting for an hour, we were informed that the new departure time was now 09:40 AM. We were also informed that the 07:15 flight was cancelled and everybody was simply booked onto the next regular flight. Everybody got an $8 snack voucher. Until then, the communication at the gate had been relatively professional, every delay was displayed on the gate monitor. From now on, however, no more communication. Departure gate was changed from gate 2 to 6, but until departure it was never shown on the gate monitors. We had to follow the crowd to find our new gate. All additional delays were not communicated in any way. At 09:45 AM still no boarding. When we asked at the gate, we were informed that there was an additional delay and departure time was now scheduled for 10:15 AM. At 10:15 AM, we were not boarded. Boarding finally started at 10:20 AM, departure around 10:40 AM, arrival around 11:00 AM. On the plane, we were told that all seat reservations were cancelled and that everybody should just sit down wherever they wanted. We were lucky to be early so we could still find 2 adjacent seats. After arrival at Bonaire airport, we were shocked to learn that there had been no luggage at all loaded into the plane. Insel Air somehow managed to fly about 100 passengers but left all of their luggage in Curacao. There was now a long queue in front of the "lost baggage" counter. When we were up, our boarding pass number was written down on a piece of paper, nothing more. When we asked about the further proceedings, we were informed that the luggage could not be brought to our hotel. Instead, we would have to come back to the airport and pick it up. They could not tell us at what time that would be possible, and only after repeatedly asking, they wrote down our phone number and promised to call us when the luggage was there to pick up - they never called. After not hearing anything from Insel Air, we drove to the airport at 15:00 PM and luckily, it was there
Type Of Traveller | Couple Leisure |
Seat Type | Economy Class |
Route | CUR to BON |
Date Flown | June 2016 |
Seat Comfort | 12345 |
Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
Ground Service | 12345 |
Value For Money | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"don't use Insel Air"
W Matthews (Netherlands Antilles)
✅ Verified Review | Curacao to Bonaire with Insel Air - this is a 15 min flight. My flight was at 7am. I needed to check in before 6am. At check-in they simply told me the flight was now at 9.15am and boarding at 8.45am. No reason, no sorry, nothing. I had to wait 2 hours and was to late for my business meeting. Great thing about CUR-BON is you receive your return ticket at departure check-in. This means you can usually walk in 15 min before flying and you're still in time. This usually works great, but I received a call from Insel Air at 6.40pm when just starting with my main course at my business dinner. Your flight is leaving 1h15m earlier. I had to be in at 7.30pm instead of 9pm. Hurried my dinner and business meeting, turned in my car and was in at 7.29pm. This was stupid of me of course because Insel Air never do what they say. I flew at 9.20pm (5 min later than my normal flight). Meaning I hurried for nothing and lost a total of 5 hours of business in Bonaire on a round flight of only 30 min. I really hate this airline and don't understand that they can do this everytime. They cancel flights like it's nothing just to fill up 1 plane. If there is another alternative please use it and don't use Insel Air.
Type Of Traveller | Business |
Seat Type | Economy Class |
Route | CUR to BON |
Date Flown | May 2016 |
Seat Comfort | 12345 |
Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
Ground Service | 12345 |
Value For Money | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"avoid this airline like the plague"
A Draken (Trinidad & Tobago)
✅ Verified Review | This was my worst experience since travelling. On my arrival in Trinidad, instead of collecting both pieces of luggage for me and my husband, we only received one. We filled out a PIR form. We were first told the next day Wednesday another flight will bring it. The next day I called and they said the flight is coming in at 4pm. When I called again, they said 6pm instead. I called again, and they said 1pm the next day Thursday. I called again and they said 1pm on Fri. They also confirmed that Curacao said they have the luggage. When I called at 2:15pm on Friday, they said the flight is coming in at 11pm. An agent called my husband and told him Curacao said they do not have the luggage. I call soon after and another agent said he has to resend the e-mail to Curacao, that they got no response from Curacao, but the flight is coming in at 11pm and hopefully our luggage will be in it. They will call us. Well I am waiting to hear what other story they are concocting next. Please avoid this airline like the plague. If you want stress you can travel with them.
Type Of Traveller | Couple Leisure |
Seat Type | Economy Class |
Route | SXM to POS via CUR |
Date Flown | May 2016 |
Seat Comfort | 12345 |
Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
Ground Service | 12345 |
Value For Money | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"long and disturbing story"
K Treaber (Antigua and Barbuda)
✅ Verified Review | Kingston to Santo Domingo via Curacao with Insel Air. A long and disturbing story, our scheduled flight was for around 10.00 yesterday morning but the flight was delayed until 10.30pm! We asked if we could go on the Copa Airlines flight at 3.30 pm via Panama but we were told that Insel had no arrangements with Copa and so the answer was no. We were then left stranded for more than 12 hours. When we returned to the airport at 8.00 the flight did not leave until almost midnight, delivering us in Curaçao 2 hours 45 mins later. Exhausted we left the plane and were directed by one of the ground staff to a lady who asked a couple of questions but continued to go about her business - after a while I asked her what was going on and could I please have the vouchers her colleague told us that she would give to us? Reluctantly she started to write out a set of vouchers out of which she gave us - I also asked her if I could have the third which was a taxi voucher to tke us to our hotel, this she refused to give us as she said she couldn't as she had to wait for other passengers. I told her that my wife was recovering from surgery and it was imperative that we got to our beds as soon as possible but she basically said it was "her way or the highway!" After about an hour we decided to take the cab ourselves and armed with our hotel voucher and our return taxi voucher we went looking for a cab - we found one but the problem was that for this 10 mins ride they wanted 50USD and didn't tke a credit card. We had no choice but to return to this lady, clearly we couldn't go back through customs and so a customs officer called her - she didn't come immediately but when she did she verbally abused my wife and I suggesting she was doing us some sort of favor This abuse took the form of speaking Flemish and continued all the way up to the cab stand sounding off to anyone who would listen. We entered the cab and for a full 5 minutes she continued this abuse with our cab driver as she reluctantly wrote out our voucher. We left that airport in the cab nearly an hour and a half after landing at 3.00 in the morning, only to be taken to a hotel that was closed? This story goes on and on but we didn't get to a bed until after 5am. This member of staff was a disgrace and a complete opposite to another lady who eventually arranged our hotel room. To sum up if Insel Air is employing staff such as the one we encountered, this sends a clear message that the airline does not care for its stranded passengers!
Type Of Traveller | Couple Leisure |
Seat Type | Economy Class |
Route | KIN to SDQ via CUR |
Date Flown | April 2016 |
Seat Comfort | 12345 |
Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
Ground Service | 12345 |
Value For Money | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"attendants kind and attentive"
Jonathan Beaumont (Netherlands Antilles)
We were flying Insel Air from St Maarten to Curacao. We quickly passed through check in and security. The flight was delayed by 2-3 hours coming from Santo Domingo so we just sat in the almost empty terminal. We boarded via the stairs. The aircraft wasnt the cleanest, and it had the not so pretty green Alitalia seats and there was water leaking from the AC vents a few rows behind me. We were served a little snack on the flight and there was a raffle in which you can win back your ticket. The flight attendants were kind and attentive.
Aircraft | MD-82 |
Type Of Traveller | Family Leisure |
Seat Type | Economy Class |
Route | SXM to CUR |
Date Flown | May 2015 |
Seat Comfort | 12345 |
Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
Food & Beverages | 12345 |
Inflight Entertainment | 12345 |
Ground Service | 12345 |
Value For Money | 12345 |
Recommended | yes |
"cabin service adequate"
L Shaffer (United States)
We read all the bad reviews but our flight to Bonaire left about 15 minutes late from Miami which is not unusual for most carriers. We changed flights in Curacao and that flight to Bonaire was on time. Our return flight also was uneventful however the air craft was what appeared to need some work on the cabin (minor repairs). The flight cost was at least 400 dollars cheaper than flying Delta. The cabin service was adequate.
Aircraft | MD80 |
Type Of Traveller | Couple Leisure |
Seat Type | Economy Class |
Route | MIA to BON via CUR |
Date Flown | April 2016 |
Seat Comfort | 12345 |
Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
Food & Beverages | 12345 |
Ground Service | 12345 |
Value For Money | 12345 |
Recommended | yes |
"satisfaction is a foreign word"
Peter Welter (Germany)
We flew from St Maarten to Bonaire via Curacao. When we checked in we were told that the flight would start 7 hours later. In fact, the delay came up to 8 hours. We got a voucher 8$, but in St. Maarten you cannot buy much more than a cappuccino for 8$. Because we started so late we had to stay Curacao overnight in a hotel were the bar was already closed, so we had to drink water from the tap. We reached Bonaire a day later. The staff could give us no reason for the delay of the flight and the so-called Supervisors were disinterested, unfriendly and incompetent and arrogant. There was no compensation for the rental car and the hotel already booked on Bonaire. Customer satisfaction is a foreign word for "Island air".
Aircraft | MD 80 |
Type Of Traveller | Couple Leisure |
Seat Type | Economy Class |
Route | SXM to BON via CUR |
Date Flown | March 2016 |
Seat Comfort | 12345 |
Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
Ground Service | 12345 |
Value For Money | 12345 |
Recommended | no |