12:41 San Juan departure

[MikeBayAreaCa]

We have a 12:41 flight out of San Juan booked through RC Air2Sea.

 

Other than a delay in the ship arriving does anyone see any other issue with that time?

 

Thanks,

 

Mike

[CruiserBruce]

No, there should not be any problem with that flight.

[Keith1010]

I agree with CruiserBruce.

 

I would still be one of the first ones off the ship and allow a lot of time at the airport for check in but that flight should be fine.

 

Keith

[slidergirl]

I would make absolutely sure that you are the in the first group off of the ship. You're going to have to get in queue for a taxi, you will be going through Ag Check and TSA with a LOT of people (people getting off your ship and maybe one or two other ships in addition to the non-cruising people). There are only two TSA checkpoints at SJU - one at the JetBlue terminal 1 and one at terminal 2 for everyone else. I was at SJU last month twice for departures (fortunately, I got to bypass TSA on flights to/from Vieques) - I was at T1 waiting for my airline's desk to open around 9am - I saw that the TSA line was snaking around quite a bit. When I left to come home, the line at T2 at 9am again was nasty long.

 

Which airline are you using? If other than JetBlue, if you end up lucky and have no lines, you can spend some time picking up duty free stuff, sitting at one of many restaurants and bars airside at T2… I can't comment on JetBlue because I got to bypass TSA at T1 for my flight (we got walked directly from the counter out a door to the tarmac) so I did not get to see what they had airside.

Edited May 15, 2016 by slidergirl

[MikeBayAreaCa]

We are on United.

[slidergirl]

We are on United.

 

Then, you will be using T2. Get there early, go through the TSA indignities, pick up some Don Q at Duty Free, and then relax. There is large Margaritaville-ish place right when you turn the corner after duty free.

Think of all the people getting off your one ship and the possibility of one or two other ships debarking at the same time. Think of all those people trying to grab a taxi. Think of all those people, I'd bet the majority, heading to T2. I'd bet most are casual travelers who don't have PreCheck. Think of all those non-frequent flyers mucking up the TSA line because they forget to take off their shoes, removing hardware, not taking out their kippie bag, having water bottles not empty, having full-size sunscreen in their carryon….

 

Why I advocate getting there early and then just hanging out!!!

[MikeBayAreaCa]

We are going to do self-disembark since we are traveling light this time. So we should be able to get off the ship early 7:45 ish.

[Fattony]

Remember that at the airport there's an added agriculture check you have to take your luggage to. Like Hawaii. No big lines when we went, but that was maybe 4 years ago. You will line up transportation beforehand? A lot of cruise passengers may add to lines for taxis, and at the airport.

Edited May 17, 2016 by Fattony

[slidergirl]

Remember that at the airport there's an added agriculture check you have to take your luggage to. Like Hawaii. No big lines when we went, but that was maybe 4 years ago. You will line up transportation beforehand? A lot of cruise passengers may add to lines for taxis, and at the airport.

 

I mentioned the Ag Check in one of my posts. I did neglect to say that, when I was there the other week, there was ONE machine for T1 and ONE machine for T2. It could be a backup if everyone off of a ship shows up...

[MikeBayAreaCa]

We are planning on walking off with our luggage with the first group so we can hopefully get to the airport by at least 9:00. I would think 3 and a 1/2 hours before a flight would be fine. We are flying first class so check in with airline should be quick.

[slidergirl]

We are planning on walking off with our luggage with the first group so we can hopefully get to the airport by at least 9:00. I would think 3 and a 1/2 hours before a flight would be fine. We are flying first class so check in with airline should be quick.

 

It's not the check-in that is long; it's the Ag check and TSA choke point. I honestly do not remember a special line at SJU at T2 for First class people to go through Ag and TSA. Unless you get PreCheck, you may still end up waiting in the long line at TSA. 3.5 hours will be fine, though.

 

I was reading some news articles last night at work about some TSA issues at a few airports - some lady said she was at the airport 2.5 hours prior to her flight and STILL missed it because of the long TSA line. TSA is doing a "work slowdown" right now to try to extort more money from Congress for their budget. It's been reported that lines will just get longer as the summer tourist travel season kicks in. A few airports are thinking or starting to hire contractors to do things like give out the bins and "bark" (tell you to take out that Kippie bag and take off your shoes) so that those TSA clerks doing that may be able to work the nude-o-scopes and inspect bags.