Early flight after cruise from San Juan

[goofydiz]

Hi, What's the earliest I can expect to arrive at SJU after a cruise from San Juan.  I had a flight booked with AA to depart SJU later in the day, but this morning received an email saying they changed my flight to an early flight at 10:20.  Can I even make my flight?  What is the usual time for early arrival at the airport?  

Edited March 12, 2019 by goofydiz

[PRH]

What does your ship itinerary say?  Usually you can take your own luggage off not too long after the posted arrival time—once clears security.  Then, you must go through agriculture inspections before TSA security inspection at the airport.  If your ship is in by 7am, you should be ok—especially if there are no other ships in port.  The questions below can guide:

what cruise line and ship?  Do they offer self debarkation?

day of the week debarking?  

what time does your ship arrive and at which port?  Pan American or old San Juan?

Edited March 12, 2019 by PRH
Auto correct changed tsa to gas!

[goofydiz]

Carnival Cruise out of Old San Juan

The itinerary shows we should dock by 7:00am and they usually offer self debarkation.  

We debark on a Sunday.  

[PRH]

You should be good.  Have a great cruise!

[audome78]

Just did this yesterday, off the Freedom of the Seas.

 

Left the ship at 8 am, grabbed a porter in the terminal, got luggage and breezed through customs (Porter's have their own line for customs). Taxi to the airport. Another porter who essentially took care of everything, from ag inspection to printing luggage tags and boarding passes. They have their own line at Jet Blue to drop off luggage, too, at SJU.

 

We were at our gate at 8:41 for our 10:10 flight.

 

Using Porters is key

[LittleYiaYia]

I agree with the above.  We always use porters when debarking.  You can do self disembark on the Fascination.  Just did it two weeks ago.  As soon as you reach where the luggage is, get a porter.  They will take you through customs with no wait in line. Then they will take you outside to a taxi.  Same at the airport.  Grab a porter curbside, and they handle everything till you get to security.  Small price to pay if you are in a hurry!

[RunnerGurl615]

On 3/18/2019 at 9:45 AM, LittleYiaYia said:

I agree with the above.  We always use porters when debarking.  You can do self disembark on the Fascination.  Just did it two weeks ago.  As soon as you reach where the luggage is, get a porter.  They will take you through customs with no wait in line. Then they will take you outside to a taxi.  Same at the airport.  Grab a porter curbside, and they handle everything till you get to security.  Small price to pay if you are in a hurry!

 

What would be a fair price for the porters at the pier and airport?  Jetblue changed my flight time to 9:56 a.m.

[LittleYiaYia]

We normally tip $1.00 per bag. They do not have curbside check in at SJU, but the porters will be waiting curbside when you pull up.  They will handle everything, agri-check, bag check in and boarding pass printing without waiting in line.  Definitely worth the tip.

 

[PhoenixCruiser]

We usually tip $10

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[EKRAFT22]

I did this my cruise last August and although my anxiety was at an all time high that morning, it ended up working out perfectly. I did it again this year haha

[Vineyard View]

Our AA 10:12A flight in October was cancelled and moved to 7:14A!  I think there are a lot of changes happening with the 737 situation. We are trying to determine how early we should leave for this flight on a Thursday. Great information here about the porters at the airport. We have Global Entry but this expedites prior so thank you. 

[alfaeric]

9 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

Our AA 10:12A flight in October was cancelled and moved to 7:14A!  I think there are a lot of changes happening with the 737 situation. We are trying to determine how early we should leave for this flight on a Thursday. Great information here about the porters at the airport. We have Global Entry but this expedites prior so thank you. 

7:14 am from San Juan???  The only way I'd take that is if we were staying at the airport hotel (which we have done more than once).  

 

That kind of move should allow you to freely re-book the entire flight.

 

If you can swing a late flight, we just flew out at 4:30 Sunday, and the airport was mostly empty by then- no lines for security at all.  Gave us a nice morning in San Juan.

[Vineyard View]

We are staying in Old Town for two nights after our cruise. We could take a different flight because the scheduled flight was cancelled by AA, but the later flights get us back too late that night to get commuter bus back up to where we live. Thank you for the suggestion though. As our TA said, who knows if this is the end of flight changes with the 737 situation and to be prepared that it could change again. 

[bouhunter]

Even before the 737 situation we've noticed AA changes flights/times more than any other airline the past few years.

 

If your flight departs SJU at 7:14 you'll probably want to get to the airport by 6:00.  We would probably get there a little sooner just to be sure.  Don't forget to run your bags through the USDA scan before checking in.

[Vineyard View]

Thanks for the tip. We haven’t flown out of SJU in a long time. Does Global Entry have a presence there, and help expedite the process? We will be checking bags, so not sure if 6:00 might be pushing it? 

[njhorseman]

1 hour ago, Vineyard View said:

Thanks for the tip. We haven’t flown out of SJU in a long time. Does Global Entry have a presence there, and help expedite the process? We will be checking bags, so not sure if 6:00 might be pushing it? 

Global Entry is for entering the US after having flown from a foreign country.  That isn't applicable for a flight from Puerto Rico , which is part of the  US, to anywhere else in the US. In any event Global Entry works upon entering the US after you disembark your flight,  not before your flight.

 

Having Global Entry provides you with TSA Precheck. Do you mean TSA Precheck ?  If so, the answer is yes...but as at any airport a TSA Precheck line may not always be open, and that is quite likely to be the case if you're flying early in the morning when the airport isn't busy.

Edited July 9, 2019 by njhorseman

[alfaeric]

Having flown out of SJU a few times that early, TSA Pre was open.  But the airport is pretty darned empty at that hour, as well.

[Vineyard View]

Thanks to both of you. I did not think to separate the two with TSA being included with Global Entry. There is a difference and it is important. We have Global and know it will be TSA in SJU when we are there at o’dark’thirty for our flight!  Good to know it is generally easy at the airport at sunrise! 🤷‍♀️🤦‍♀️