Can we make an 11:25am flight out of LGA?

[KateQ22003]

Good morning,

 

We will be sailing on the February 2nd Norwegian Bliss out of New York. When we return on Sunday the 16th, one of the only direct fights out of NY back to Maine is at 11:25am. Do you think we could make this flight? The next flight isn't until 6:00 in the evening. Would it help if I hired car service to get us back to the airport for the earlier flight, or is this taking too much of a risk?

 

Thanks to anyone who has some experience with this!

 

Kathy

[njhorseman]

22 minutes ago, KateQ22003 said:

Good morning,

 

We will be sailing on the February 2nd Norwegian Bliss out of New York. When we return on Sunday the 16th, one of the only direct fights out of NY back to Maine is at 11:25am. Do you think we could make this flight? The next flight isn't until 6:00 in the evening. Would it help if I hired car service to get us back to the airport for the earlier flight, or is this taking too much of a risk?

 

Thanks to anyone who has some experience with this!

 

Kathy

Assuming you have a 7 am scheduled arrival... no guarantees, but if you line up early for self assist walk off with your baggage on a Sunday morning you should be able to make it. Major potential roadblocks are the ship arriving late or CBP not clearing the ship for disembarkation in a timely fashion. 

Edited November 7, 2019 by njhorseman

[Noxequifans]

NY traffic on a Sunday is usually the lightest of the week. Taxis are available across 12th Avenue but there will be others wth the same intent. Perhaps car service (Dial 7 or Carmel) or Uber would be a good alternative.

[KateQ22003]

1 hour ago, njhorseman said:

Assuming you have a 7 am scheduled arrival... no guarantees, but if you line up early for self assist walk off with your baggage on a Sunday morning you should be able to make it. Major potential roadblocks are the ship arriving late or CBP not clearing the ship for disembarkation in a timely fashion. 

I thought about that, but there is no way I can carry all of my baggage off from a 14 day cruise! I would either hurt myself or anyone in the general vicinity of me 🙂 

[KateQ22003]

1 hour ago, Noxequifans said:

NY traffic on a Sunday is usually the lightest of the week. Taxis are available across 12th Avenue but there will be others wth the same intent. Perhaps car service (Dial 7 or Carmel) or Uber would be a good alternative.

I think I will arrange for car service. We still may not make it, but I think our chances will be better if we have a vehicle waiting to take us to the airport. Thanks for the input!

[mjkacmom]

If you can’t walk off with your luggage it might be a problem.

[mking8288]

23 hours ago, KateQ22003 said:

I think I will arrange for car service. We still may not make it, but I think our chances will be better if we have a vehicle waiting ... 

 

Plan for, traffic permitting, 30 - 45 minutes ride from 12th Avenue/curbside pickup to LGA terminal.  

 

There is really no waiting/staging area for Uber/Lyft or any other car service (Dial 7 or Carmel, which we recommend & use) to park; or, you will be charge extra for waiting time if you insist upon, by specifying a pickup time (the driver/vehicle will likely wait curbside at a nearby side street - get called to come over & will still take 5 to 10 minutes to work thru local traffic to the pickup spot).  

 

There is a little bit of room but not much - way too many elements external to the cruise, beyond NCL and/or even control of port.  I am going to side with others that the best way to beat the clock is pack & travel light, do laundry on the ship and walk off the ship yourself, as a a seasoned NCL'er (from your profile) *** see one of our many disembarkation stories for NYC.

 

Also, mega/+ ships tend to face more challenges maneuvering into the pier from the Hudson River due to strong currents & tidal changes, plus Bliss & ship captain probably new to docking in NYC.  

 

We came back on a nearly identical itinerary this January on the Escape - and, the ship was back from Cozomel super early (3 full sea days) & docked early, very - folks expected to walk off the ship by 7:15 to 7:30 a.m.  Well, CBP had to greenlight & the ship wasn't cleared for various reasons.  Express Walkoff off to a late start for self-assist with luggage.  Even with Priorities, we waited in a lounge & didn't get called until 8:35 a.m. to skip ahead to exit.  More backup off the gangway - near those double set of doors into the building for the "down" escalators to luggage.  We hailed a porter to take our 3 bags to breeze thru CBP - out on 12th Avenue - 30 minutes for this stretch.  Lines were short for waiting taxi, (didn't have to cross the wide street) got into ours around 9:20'ish - curbside dropped at our house just before 10 a.m. (past LGA airport) ... You might have less than 90 minutes to do TSA security, check-in & get to your airline's gate; whereas, the "official LGA airport advisory" is to allow extra time and plan to arrive at least 2 hours prior to departure time.  

 

Facial recognition now used by CBP at MCT is making the disembarkation faster & easier, according to others - and, there are post-cruise reports from others that they made it out quickly ... sitting inside the airport at 9:30 or 10 a.m. with time to spare.  It's your choice to change the odds to your advantage. 

[KateQ22003]

Thank you everyone for all of the great information. I think we will opt for the dinner time flight, and if by chance we are at the airport early, maybe will be able to find a couple of seats on the earlier one.

[waterbug123]

21 hours ago, KateQ22003 said:

Thank you everyone for all of the great information. I think we will opt for the dinner time flight, and if by chance we are at the airport early, maybe will be able to find a couple of seats on the earlier one.

 

The airline may not let you standby for an earlier flight if you have checked luggage, and since you didn't think you could do self assist when debarking the ship, I'm assuming you will have checked bags for the plane. 

[KateQ22003]

2 hours ago, waterbug123 said:

 

The airline may not let you standby for an earlier flight if you have checked luggage, and since you didn't think you could do self assist when debarking the ship, I'm assuming you will have checked bags for the plane. 

That's true, but a lot of times you can get on the earlier flight if you check in with enough time to do so.

[waterbug123]

6 hours ago, KateQ22003 said:

That's true, but a lot of times you can get on the earlier flight if you check in with enough time to do so.

 

Correct.    To help clarify for others:  If you can't get confirmed on the earlier flight at check in though, the airline usually won't let you stand by for an earlier flight if you check luggage, due to the requirement of needing to fly on the same flight as your luggage for security purposes.  Your luggage would already be tagged for the later flight so they expect you to be on that same flight.  Of course, exceptions are made to that rule when there are disruptions to your flights mid-itinerary and the airline is trying to accommodate you to help you make a connection you would otherwise miss; in that situation, standing by to get on a flight that may not include your checked bag isn't an intentional decision by the passenger to fly separately from their luggage so it's usually allowed.

[njhorseman]

37 minutes ago, waterbug123 said:

the airline usually won't let you stand by for an earlier flight if you check luggage, due to the requirement of needing to fly on the same flight as your luggage for security purposes. 

The positive passenger bag match requirement for domestic flights was eliminated about 15 years ago when TSA determined that their xray and other screening procedures were sufficient to to prevent terrorist attacks caused by luggage explosion. While airlines make a reasonable attempt to match luggage to passengers it's no longer mandated by TSA for domestic flights.

Edited November 10, 2019 by njhorseman

[waterbug123]

RE: positive passenger bag match...It may not be mandated any longer but airlines are known to still enforce it anyway, which is certainly within their rights.  It may not be enforced 100% of the time, but in my experience it’s often enough that one shouldn’t automatically assume they’ll be allowed to check a bag and still stand by due any earlier flight (outside of a case of irregular operations mid-itinerary.)

[Richpontone]

11:25 am flight from LaGuardia is cutting it too close.

Got off from the Norwegian Dawn, a 2400 passenger ship, on a self assist on Saturday, November 9th, and left the Manhattan Terminal by 10:30 am.

Believe me, Norwegian was starting priority disembarkation at 9 am but the first passengers were not allowed off the ship until 9:30 am.

Very, very disorganized disembarkation and with only 4 TSA counter persons, the lines were very large and moved very slowly. Apparently, TSA did not want to put more of their staff on to expedite the disembarkation.

The Bliss has 4200 passengers and so, you will move out even slower.

I would give 45 minutes to ride from the Manhattan Cruise Terminal to LGA.

As you must check in through airport TSA about 2 hours before a domestic flight, I believe you will miss your flight.

Maybe a later flight will give you some quality time to visit NYC

 

 

[kpark895]

Than I guess I have the same question regarding the Bliss arriving Manhattan Sunday, March 29th, flight out of Newark is scheduled for 12:15 PM.  Chances of making it?

[njhorseman]

58 minutes ago, kpark895 said:

Than I guess I have the same question regarding the Bliss arriving Manhattan Sunday, March 29th, flight out of Newark is scheduled for 12:15 PM.  Chances of making it?

If the ship arrives on time, and CBP clears the ship for disembarkation in a timely fashion if you do express walk off.  There's no guarantee, but you should make it. The reason the OP was going to have a problem making their flight was because they wouldn't or couldn't do the express self-assist walk off. You have an extra 50 minutes of wiggle room and while EWR is busy there isn't  a massive construction project there on the order of what's going on at LGA.

Edited November 13, 2019 by njhorseman

[trish1c]

On 11/8/2019 at 1:01 PM, KateQ22003 said:

I think we will opt for the dinner time flight, and if by chance we are at the airport early, maybe will be able to find a couple of seats on the earlier one.

 

Glad you decided not to risk it. 

 

When people ask this Q, I always suggest that they think about what time they have to be at the airport, not what time wheels up is.  For LGA even a domestic flight you best be there by 9:25 -- 9:45 at the absolute latest.  

 

My experience with LGA goes back to the construction.  What a nightmare!  It could take an hour to get from the entrance to the grounds to your terminal for drop off.  

 

Heaven help you if there is snow on the ground the day you come back. 

 

Every time we have sailed back into NYC we have been late getting back into port. 

 

It's also been my experience that more people want to do self disembarkation there making that not the easiest option.  In other ports people seem happier & more patient, willing to wait for their color. 

 

Personally, I'm never in a hurry to end a vacation.  We pick the last color tag & sit there until everybody else leaves, then stroll off unencumbered.  

[mking8288]

LGA's major expansion work should be completed between 2021-22, thus far - general contractor has been on-time and on-schedule, looking good with the mess created.  I was there this Monday afternoon, major ... huge backup in both directions at the airport exits for LGA - 2 lanes squeezed into a single lane off the parkway onto the service roadway toward Terminal B, C & D.  

 

It was not pretty, not nice at all but at least I didn't see anyone running along the roadway with luggage.  There is a bypass & alternative entrance/ramp @ 102nd Street to get into/out of Terminal C & D, but it involved getting off earlier into Ditmas Blvd or 23rd Avenue -  local streets with traffic lights.   One of the Carmel (car service) driver said not all Uber/Lyft drivers know the trick.  

 

But, now that funding has been allocated for the LGA AirTrain connection to Willets Point - the whole timeline might be moved further out, 8 to 10 years from now, if ... (impact studies, NIMBY community/local challenges, etc.) 

 

If a ship is docking much later than planned or scheduled, like 2 hours+ as we all know, things happened (ie. Noro & related public health inspections,) then everything else get derailed for obvious reasons.  Our last 2 NCL sailings returning to NY, they will not accept airport transfers for LGA for flights earlier than 1 p.m. 

Edited November 16, 2019 by mking8288

[SRF]

On 11/10/2019 at 9:41 AM, waterbug123 said:

RE: positive passenger bag match...It may not be mandated any longer but airlines are known to still enforce it anyway, which is certainly within their rights.  It may not be enforced 100% of the time, but in my experience it’s often enough that one shouldn’t automatically assume they’ll be allowed to check a bag and still stand by due any earlier flight (outside of a case of irregular operations mid-itinerary.)

 

What they can do is to tag the back for standby on the earlier flight.  You make the flight, they load the bag.  If not, they don/t and put it on the later flight.

 

Standbys clear a minimum of 15 minutes before the doors close, and many times earlier than that.