poppy B.
I wanted to like Silver Airways, but some things are unacceptable
I wanted to like Silver Airways, I read bad reviews and gave them the benefit of the doubt. But if you can avoid or can chose another option please do! I flew from Newark to Puerto Rico round trip on JetBlue, then Puerto Rico to St Croix round trip on Silver Airways. Going down was awesome, no delay, everyone in Puerto Rico was lovely, we arrived in St Croix 20 minutes early. Great experience. Coming back was where I saw the true Silver Airways! I was supposed to fly on Tuesday at 6:05pm off Island, arriving in Puerto Rico before 7pm to catch my flight with JetBlue back to Newark leaving at 10:50pm, plenty of time, even a slight delay and I'm good. Between 10am and 11am, I get multiple emails telling me the departure time was delay, to 6:20, 6:40, 6:10, back and forth, that's fine, then I was put on the 4pm flight off the island, I could make it so that's fine, I'm leaving the island. Then 5 minutes later, I was told cancelled altogether and that I was put on the 6:05pm flight off island the day after (Wednesday). 3 flights off the Island through Silver, 8am ish, 4pm ish and 6:05pm. Luckily Newark airport was having issues, so my JetBlue flight could be modified free of charge. So, I move that flight and have the same itinerary the next day. Extra day on the island, I'm staying with family friends, so accommodation was sorted, totally fine. I called silver and they said they flight was on so I didn't doubt it. All Wednesday morning I'm checking my emails to see if there is any change to my flight like the day before, no communication, I'm hopeful. I have my boarding pass. I go to the airport and happen to go to the Silver counter to confirm the flight is going before going to TSA, they said they have been trying to contact me all day, to tell me there is a chance the flight will be cancelled. Told me the flight won't fly out if taking off after 6pm (even though the original flight was scheduled for 6:05pm, and they couldn't tell me why). I got no email, no text, nothing, which was shocking because the day before I got around 10 communications. The flight isn't cancelled yet, but they still rebook me for the 8am on the next day (Thursday). We go and sit in Turtleback Brewery (the unofficial airport waiting lounge on island) checking to see if the flight from Puerto Rico is on its way, cause if it comes to Island, it has to go back. Still no emails or communications. At 5:06pm the flight leaves Puerto Rico, great! We are also checking and you can still purchase a ticket online for the 6:05pm flight, on Silver's website, this tells me the flight is still on and not cancelled. We drive back to the airport to speak to ladies on the Kiosk, they now say, yeah, it's coming over, but it's going back as a "re-po" flight, no passengers. They did not tell us that originally, if they did, I would have understood a little more but they told me just "it might be cancelled". We tried to ask why, if they had paying passengers scheduled for this flight. They were very rude again about the whole thing, telling me its a re-po, no passengers, "you have a flight tomorrow, what's the big deal" - I am 2 days late going back, 2 extra unplanned days out of work, thank goodness I'm staying with family friends because that would have been 2 extra nights in a hotel. Now my JetBlue flight can't be moved again in the app, or cancelled, I call them, I have to pay a $100 cancellation fee, get a small refund, then have to rebook myself on another flight out of Puerto Rico Thursday afternoon. Thursday morning, I go to the airport, there are lots of other passengers there, all flying Silver, so I am more hopeful. The rude lady is still being rude to everyone she speaks to, so I know it wasn't just me and the situation, it's how she treats everyone. But I didn't have to speak to them this morning. 3rd times a charm! We take off on time, land early, I sit in Puerto Rico from 9:30am to 4:20pm because to fly to Newark you take the 4:55pm or 10:40pm, and I'm back where I'm supposed to be, almost 48 hrs later. My issues: - Employees lying about the situation - Being very rude when I was just trying to understand why - If you have paying customers on the flight, and it HAS to fly back to Puerto Rico, why take them off and send it back as a re-po flight? - I will get no compensation from them even though I was delayed leaving over 36hrs - If you've ever been to St. Croix, you know there are not many flights off the Island, by 4pm, I had no other options to get out. I was relying on my booking to go through. Now I know, Silver can only slightly guarantee you will get off island with them if you book the 8am flight. I will stick to American Airlines, JetBlue or Spirit to get off Island next time.



