Intro
Welcome to the first report of Caribbean Airlines business class on this site! The series of next 4 reports will be a lot of firsts!
Following an interesting time in Georgetown, Guyana, it was time to head off to the next stop of the Caribbean tour. Caribbean Airlines is an airline that isn't reviewed much but operates out of its hub, the Port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago. I was extremely excited to be flying on the Max 8 between Georgetown and the Port of Spain, as there isn't much on the internet about the airline.
With that being said, oh my gosh, is Caribbean Airlines one of the best airlines I have ever flown on in the Western Hemisphere? Honestly, I was blown away by the service, the small details of the seats, and the free-flowing Moet champagne in Business Class. My only issue is that they don't fly to enough destinations😂.
How I Booked
How I booked was actually quite a weird, complicated process. The original ticket was booked from Georgetown-Port of Spain-Grenada in economy, all for 253$, which I found to be reasonable. However, days before departure, I was monitoring how much last-minute upgrades were to business and found a minimum bid for this flight of 80$. I went ahead and put it in, not expecting it to clear.
Georgetown
Caribbean Airlines has 3 flights a day, but the early morning one is operated by a Max 8 featuring a business class cabin. When I say early, I mean 5:00 Am departure early. With a 2 am wake-up call at the Marriott…
we made good time to Cheddi Jagan, and I was at the airport by 3:15 Am.
There was a separate check-in line for business-class customers, and I was checked in within minutes. Unfortunately, Caribbean Airlines doesn't have a lounge, but the agent offered me a 20$ voucher for food, which I thought was a really generous offering. The first sign in which they go above and beyond…
Around Georgetown Airport
Once check-in was completed, security and immigration were the next steps. Anytime I travel, I factor in a 25-minute buffer for both of these, but I was through both within 5 minutes.
Eerily quiet on this morning
Mstr BA…
Agave Sky Bar
Agave Sky Bar is the lounge "per se" at Georgetown Airport for Caribbean Airlines customers in Business Class. You will find it upstairs in the area that guides you to gates 4-8. Honestly, the bar was reasonably priced, with my chicken tenders and coffee coming out to about 18$. For an airport, it's not bad, and the tenders were delicious (I am still a kid inside).
Boarding
Boarding commenced at 4:30 am for our 5 am scheduled departure. Thankfully, our gate was located right next to the Agave Sky Bar, and seeing as I wanted to make this report as thorough as possible, I stood in line to be the first on board to take some cabin pics (also, I think most people were half asleep since it was before 5😅).
Once my first foot was through the door, the flight attendant, Ashley, greeted me with a warm Caribbean welcome onboard.
The Seat/Cabin
Stepping onboard, I was mesmerized by just how beautiful the cabin was for a Max 8. I am not sure I have seen a cabin that looks this beautiful on a -800. Business Class is laid out with 16 seats across 4 rows in a 2-2 configuration.
I peeped my head into the economy, which looked well above average for a carrier. Economy seats looked modern and had plenty of padding, which is becoming less and less on narrowbody aircraft.
I settled into my seat and found the seat controls easy to locate, as well as a small privacy divider between the seats. This was a huge dealbreaker, and why I love the seat so much. Caribbean Airlines put a lot of thought into this seat over the other airlines, and it shows.
Amenities/IFE
Apart from headphones, no other amenities were offered on this flight. In some way, a flight of 354 miles shouldn't have any amenities, but perhaps a pillow for my back would be nice (I might be 22, but I'd like to keep my back that way😅).
The IFE was some of the best I have seen outside of Asia and North America. Plenty of options were available on the seatback screen…
Hold on, how modern are these cabins? I located a remote underneath the armrest in the middle so that I could control the IFE. For a narrowbody, wow!!!!!
Snazzy colors if you ask me…
Additionally, Business Class passengers are offered a small amount of Wifi, but additional plans are available for purchase for business and economy passengers. I did choose not to connect on this flight for reasons you will see later in the report.
Departure
The cabin crew came around after boarding was completed to introduce themselves and offer business class passengers a bottle of water. Interestingly, only 4 people were seated in the nose, and I would estimate that economy was half full this morning.
Boarding was completed 15 minutes before scheduled departure, and we ended up pushing back 8 minutes early at 4:52 am. Oof, it was early and still pitch black.
By 5:05 am, we were airborne
Sunrise
Seeing as it was pitch black and I didn't know much about this airline, I was about to doze off for a little nap. Well, as it was a low cloud cover, we ended up clearing the clouds in virtually no time, and I saw the sunrise distantly out of 4F's window. As no one was sitting in 4F, I made my move to admire one of the most unbelievable sunrises I have ever seen in my life. HOLY ****.
Unreal…
Meal Service
This is an extremely short flight, where we spent about 25 minutes cruising altitude. With that being said, Ashley (the flight attendant) took our order before takeoff and mentioned there was only a small bite to have for breakfast.
20 minutes after takeoff, breakfast was served.
Oh my gosh, can we talk about the Moet Champagne that Caribbean Airlines serves!!!! And the wonderful coffee mugs and beautiful pastries. Branded wine glasses? Good Gosh, Caribbean Airlines, you have impressed me…
WHAT A VIEW…
Everything was delicious. This wasn't the best breakfast I've ever had on a plane, but watching the most beautiful sunrise I have ever seen from a plane while enjoying Moet Champagne and all for an 80$ upgrade was not a bad morning at all if you ask me…
It's as if the beauty just kept getting more beautiful
Sunrise PT 2
Reeling in the beautiful views, I decided to switch back to my original seat (4A) and enjoy the rest of the sunrise. I inquired if I could get another baby bottle of Moet, and Ashley said he had closed up the cabin for arrival…
Minutes later, another baby bottle of Moet appeared😍.
Can this flight go a little longer?
Arrival
By 5:45 am, we were on initial descent into the Port of Spain. Honestly, I didn't want this flight to end at all.
Hey, wanna see wanna the edge of Venezuela looks like? Check it out on the picture below!
We touched down at 6:05 am local time in the Port of Spain. Welcome to Trinidad and Tobago!
By 6:10 am, we had arrived 5 minutes early at our gate in the Port of Spain. What a cool name for a city by the way!
Surprisingly, immigration was efficient, and I was in a taxi by 6:30 am. Perhaps it is only Seoul these days that has a shocking immigration scheme.🥴
Routing
Flight routing
- 1
- 2
- 3BW463- Business- Georgetown- Port of Spain- Boeing 737 MAX 8
Thanks for reading🙂
If you want a quick instagram video recap which I posted, check it out here:
https://www.instagram.com/ktfxrce/reel/DBAYPn2PseE/?locale=ne_NP&hl=ar
Greetings, jettoajet.
Thanks for this Flight-Report! Here's an airline I completely forgot existed 😅
That *is* four whole rows of short-haul business class, eh? Way more premium than one would assume! China Southern has a sub-fleet of A321neo aircraft with just a single row of business, meanwhile.
RE: your sunrise photos. Gorgeous, but... did they forget to turn the landing lights off after takeoff?
No lav check? I understand lavs on board 737 MAXes are typically cramped, and I've yet to see any airline (even SQ) buck the trend.
Thanks again for your F-R!
Hi Razza, thanks for your comments!
Completely agree, it's an airline that isn't really talked about so therefore I think it slips the mind.
Completely agree, I supposed since they serve premium markets on these MAX 8's such as JFK/MIA/YYZ they might be able to fill them up? INteresting, didn't know China Southern operates a single row, thought the lowest I've seen was 2 rows.
Uh oh, I guess they did haha
Kinda got carried away, my apologies 😅. Guessing this would probably be the same as all the other MAX 8's as you mention. If SQ can't make it premium then I wonder who can.
Thanks for stopping by, and have a lovely day 🙂!
Very nice to see a review of BW in Business! Very solid product overall! MiQ seats are a popular short-haul J (and long-haul Premium Economy) since it's a pretty versatile seat and mostly comfortable. I really like that the in-seat power is under the central armrest on MiQ seats, allowing devices to stay plugges in during taxi/takeoff/landing.
Nice that your minimum bid cleared! Heck, I can easily drink $80 worth of champagne so totally worth it haha.
Very impressed to see real stemware, in addition to the already impressive Moet they serve. I can't think of any other North American carrier that serves real champagne on short-haul! Nice snack for a 1h flight...by North American standard.
With all that and the seatback IFE, this is one of the best short-haul narrowbody experience in the Americas! Very nice.
Thanks for sharing!
Hi Kevin, thanks for your comments!
it's a fantastically designed seat that certainly shows they thought of everything. All airlines should do this, as well as the small head partition.
Ahh, I see we are on the same page😅.
Yeah, we have to keep it real, compared to carriers in Asia or even BA...
Thanks for reading and have a lovely day!