Review of Frontier Airlines flight from Christiansted to San Juan in Economy

Welcome to my flight report for Frontier’s new service between  Henry E. Rohlsen Airport on the island of St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands and San Juan, Puerto Rico! This route has been established as part of Frontier’s new crew base and expansion in San Juan, funneling passengers like me from the US East Coast  to San Juan, and across the Caribbean. 

The Hop between the islands

We were in a super rush after an abortive attempt to grab one last lunch at La Reine Chicken Shack. We parked our rental car at 1:05 at the airport (thanks, Judi of Croix!), and boarding was supposed to start at 1:28. Following the signs to departures, we found a small lobby with a snack shop and a bathroom. A nice clerk at the snack shop told us that our gate (gate 6) was through a different door, which had a healthy line spilling out.  We had our work cut out for us, but STX is a very small airport, so we were up for the challenge. We checked in online, but airline check in desks are outside, under a pavilion.

The line moved slowly but surely, entering a small room, and then into a larger area with cordons. In STX (and any other airport in the USVI), one must pass through Customs and Border Protection to leave the island for Puerto Rico or the mainland.

This part is important: you can get through Customs easily with Global Entry IF AND ONLY IF you have your Global Entry card! Usually you almost never need it if entering the USA from abroad. I happened to have mine, and got to go straight to a Customs agent. The non-Global Entry line had about a dozen people in it.

After a short interview about my final destination and purpose of entry into the US customs zone, I went to TSA. The Pre-check line had one other person in it, while the main line had about a dozen people. I was through in 5 minutes.

STX airport’s gates 5 through 10 are all in one medium-sized departure lounge, with bathrooms, a snack bar, and some high-table seating. The snack bar filled the room with the delicious smells of Crucian pates (2 syllables, last one rhymes with “cachet”) which were likely much more expensive than they are outside the airport. People board planes by walking out the glass doors and across the tarmac, with one last glance of St. Croix’s mountains and the few other planes on site.

Climbing up the stairs and into the plane, I got situated for the roughly 30 minute hop to SJU. Seats on this 5-year-old Airbus A320 are tightly packed, with a heavy metal bar restricting legroom to a minimum. The flight wasn’t completely full, and only 30 minutes, so it’s not a huge deal. 

We got off the ground at 2:28, a few minutes late. Regrettably, in an aisle seat, I didn’t get any pictures of the takeoff, but here are some from my arrival into St. Croix. It was just as beautiful on the way out.
There is no wi-fi, streaming, or in-flight entertainment. Needless to say, no food or drink service was offered.

We began our final descent at 2:57, while making a loop around town, and flying over San Juan’s western suburbs. We had a remarkably smooth landing at 3:00 sharp in la isla del encanto. I had a layover, and didn’t have the time to go out and see San Juan, but did find a quiet corner in the D gates with some free outlets to do some work.