The Difficulty of Traveling to Little Cayman

Flying from Grand Cayman to Little Cayman and back has always been fraught with problems. Cayman Air never seems to have enough planes, can't keep a schedule, and is generally confused, so often that you can lose a lot of vacation time.

I'd guess that 90 percent of the travelers to Little Cayman are divers loaded with luggage. My traveling companions and I had tickets to fly from Missouri to Little Cayman on the same day. However, for some, it took a day-and-a-half more to get from Grand Cayman to Little Cayman. A few were taken first to Cayman Brac, where they had to be housed in private B&Bs for a day. It took another day for their luggage to be transported from Grand Cayman to Little Cayman. In other words, they left home on Saturday, arrived Monday in Little Cayman, and their dive bags arrived Tuesday.

Getting home from Grand Cayman's airport can often be a mess. We arrived from Little Cayman at the American Airlines desk three hours before departure, only to stand in an unmoving line for four hours without explanation. Finally, they told us the flight had been canceled due to a "crew availability problem." After six hours in the terminal, we were given one-night vouchers and transported to the Holiday Inn, about the cheapest hotel on the island. The next day, still without flight information from AA and no additional vouchers, we had to check out. In the parking lot, my compadres and I contemplated our homeless status. After several calls to AA, we learned there would be no flight. We would be put up for another day, we were told. The following day, when the hotel had received no room or meal vouchers from AA, we had to pay.

What happened is a typical and unethical trick airlines pull. AA changed the cause of our delay to "weather," so costs for the second day were on us. But when our first flight was canceled, we had insisted on getting documentation that the initial delay was "crew availability," so no matter what subsequent problems developed, costs incurred by travelers are the airline's, or so we expect. I'm still waiting for my second-night reimbursement.

Finally, on Monday, two days after my planned departure date, AA flew us to Miami. I eventually made it home, only after getting rebuffed twice by standby flights that did not have room. It was a long, long day.

If you want to go to Little Cayman, you would be wise to avoid the usual Saturday-to-Saturday schedule, which groups and many individuals follow. Instead, try a Thursday or Friday arrival and a Sunday or Monday departure. Booking may not be easy because the Little Cayman hotels are popular with Saturday-to-Saturday divers. If you can't arrange that schedule with your destination hotel, ask their help to find a room for the extra nights elsewhere on the island. Rooms are scarce on Little Cayman.

- D.D.