FLL outbound 11/21/2015

[NoVa Mimi]

Little did I realize when I planned our B2B that we would be flying home on the Saturday before Thanksgiving...oh boy! We will be on Emerald Princess arriving back at Ft. Lauderdale. I am trying to book a flight to D.C. that gets in at a somewhat reasonable hour, rather than 11:00 pm. What have the more recent experiences been leaving FLL? Prices for tickets jump so much after 10:20 am flights until the evening flight. I am thinking that we could probably make a 10:20 flight, as the airport will just get busier as the day goes on. Any recent experiences and/or creative flight planning ideas? I understand that it would be a bit stressful, perhaps, but living in the D.C. area, our lives are full of stress ;)

[kenish]

Prices are higher from 10am through the afternoon because of the spike in demand from cruise ship passengers. Add Thanksgiving travel on top of that. "Recent experiences" aren't very relevant because you're traveling on one of the busiest travel days of the year. You probably need to plan to be at the terminal by 830am; 900am at the absolute latest, since I've heard security at FLL really backs up on busy travel days. Someone else with more FLL experience than me can comment.

 

Stress isn't caused by missing a flight....it's caused by the consequences (money, time, etc) if that happens. If you arrive at the airport or gate too late, you will be treated as a "no show" and have to purchase new tickets at the very expensive walk-up fare. (Southwest allows you call up til 10 minutes before departure for most of their fares and not be considered no-show). In any case, the next *available* flight may get you home well after 11pm, or even the next day. Only you can decide if this is a serious consequence or no big deal.

[waterbug123]

"Recent experiences" aren't very relevant because you're traveling on one of the busiest travel days of the year. You probably need to plan to be at the terminal by 830am; 900am at the absolute latest, since I've heard security at FLL really backs up on busy travel days. Someone else with more FLL experience than me can comment.

 

 

I fly in and out of FLL frequently and it's very hit or miss, IME. I've gone when I thought it would be busy, and walked right through security with no line. I've gone at other times and the line has been wrapped around the building for no apparent reason. The TSA agents there are also among the worst I've encountered anyway, as far as general demeanor and making up rules as they go. If you're getting off Oasis/Allure, can self disembark and have no mobility issues, I'd be reasonably confident you can make a flight at 10:00. If it's another ship, much will depend on how early the ship docks and how soon you can disembark.

 

When people ask how early of a flight to book in general, some of my general suggestions of things to consider include:

 

What time is the ship scheduled to dock?

Is it a transatlantic crossing? (usually takes longer to clear)

How many ships are in port that day?

Can you and will you self disembark?

Which airport do you fly from and how are you getting there?

Do you have the ability to check in ahead of time?

Are you checking bags?

Do you have priority check in status with your airline?

Do you have TSA Pre Check and/or the ability to use a priority security line?

[Keith1010]

Might you make the flight? Yes. Could you miss it? Yes.

 

All of this comes down to how much stress you want.

 

Remember, it will be a busy day at the airport so you need the extra time for check in and getting through security.

 

Look at the cost difference of staying over a night and flying home the next morning versus taking a later flight.

 

Keith

[kelkel2]

Might you make the flight? Yes. Could you miss it? Yes.

 

All of this comes down to how much stress you want.

 

Remember, it will be a busy day at the airport so you need the extra time for check in and getting through security.

 

Look at the cost difference of staying over a night and flying home the next morning versus taking a later flight.

 

Keith

 

I agree with this wholeheartedly. This airport is so random. There's just so much that can go wrong. I mean we have done self disembark from port of Miami and been there in enough time to make that flight, but then other times we have checked in only to walk to security to see a ridiculously long line. It was still pretty early and I'm sure cruise ship passengers had something to do with it, but I would say it was too early for it to all be cruise ship passengers making the problem that bad. When we got up there the TSA agents were being overly picky. Inspecting people's iPads, iPhones and computers one by one. I've never seen them do that before. I've always just ran it though the bin, but this time they were inspecting them all. Like someone else said, they just kind of make up their own rules. You can't argue you just have to let them do it. The line was moving so slow because people wanted their valuables back in hand before they moved along. Don't blame them...

[NoVa Mimi]

Thank you all for your kind input :) we have cruised often and we always arrive at the airport early so as not to encounter any issues. I think a 10-10:30 while likely doable may be difficult given it will be the Saturday before Thanksgiving. I did find that fares were less expensive from 10-11:00 and then they began to creep upwards. I was able to find a flight departing at 12:49 pm and booked it. I have confidence that we will have sufficient time as we typically don't hang around on the ship that last morning. Thank you all again!