Flight back from San Juan at 10:40am... enough time?

[Yurita]

Trying to book my flight back from San Juan to Tampa. Jetblue is offering a non-stop flight at 10:40am. Is this flight too risky? is there enough time? (considering I will be using self-debarkation that same morning) my second option would be Jetblue at 6:45pm... very late.

What do you think? Airtran has an 11:30am flight, for about twice the price but would definitively prefer Jetblue.

[Gonzo70]

If everything goes smoothly you will make it, but you have little wiggle room for delays. SJU has three lines you must traverse - luggage check, agricultural check and security. Lines can be slow moving and lengthy. Jet Blue has no partner airlines you could go standby on should you miss the flight, so you could've stranded a while if you miss the flight and could incur significant fees. Travel insurance is unlikely to help due to insufficient wiggle room. Depends on your risk tolerance - I would want a later flight.

[Keith1010]

My opinion is that it is too risk.

 

Keith

[caribbean crazy]

I think this is too risky. We sailed out of San Juan in March and the security lines were two hours long. We found this airport to be very slow. You can always take a morning excursion of San Juan (we took the walking tour) and they'll take you right to the airport afterwards.

[Yurita]

Thank you all. I guess I'll go with the later flight. Better safe than sorry.

[KirkNC]

My opinion is that it is too risk.

 

Keith

 

I agree, maybe spend the night and take that flight the next day.

[71Corvette]

We've cruised out of San Juan twice before. I wouldn't attempt anything before noon. SJU is not a super-organized airport and we've found that the lines for luggage inspection, check-in and security can be slow.

[romnan]

Trying to book my flight back from San Juan to Tampa. Jetblue is offering a non-stop flight at 10:40am. Is this flight too risky? is there enough time? (considering I will be using self-debarkation that same morning) my second option would be Jetblue at 6:45pm... very late.

What do you think? Airtran has an 11:30am flight, for about twice the price but would definitively prefer Jetblue.

I live in Tampa and I have done the same cruise, I am surprised that jet blue did not offer a late morning flight. as my memory serves me we had to fly into Orlando as tampa was still not offered when saidedd three years ago.

 

To be honest its a three ring circus too risky in my opinion

[DonnaK]

Has anyone giving advice actually self-disembarked at San Juan? If we are one of the first people off the ship, and amongst the first group to arrive at the aiport, what time frame are we looking at?

[pcur]

Has anyone giving advice actually self-disembarked at San Juan? If we are one of the first people off the ship, and amongst the first group to arrive at the aiport, what time frame are we looking at?

 

We did the 10:40AM last April and it worked out fine. YES, self-disembark is the way to go. We were off the ship by 7-ish.

 

Also, when you enter the airport GO IMMEDIATELY TO THE AGRICULTURE BAGGAGE CHECK STATION. The airlines won't accept your luggage until it's gone through Ag first. Have one person stand in the line to check the luggage, and then the other go to the Ag line (unless it's not crowded).

 

We were off the ship and through the crazy stuff by 9AM, and walking through our terminal looking for breakfast.

[Coralc]

Yes, we did the 10:40 flight too! Serenade didn't have self disembark, but they did have early departure.

 

We were given red tags for our luggage the night before. We met in the photo gallery a little before 8 AM and walked directly off the ship. Red tagged luggage was at the bottom of the escalator.

 

We were at the airport by 8:30. No line at Agriculture inspection and very few lines at the counter.

 

Of course, Serenade and Adventure had been disembarking passengers in San Juan for a long time. If you have a new ship (Brilliance ?) the process might not run as smoothly. But we didn't have any problems with the early flight.

 

Since we have a very long flight back to California, we decided to try it. :)

[DonnaK]

We'll be sailing on the Jewel in May 2013, so still time to arrange airfare. We're waiting for Jet Blue's pricing to come down - it's currently almost $200 pp more than American. Since we always self-disembark, we were wondering what would be a realistic (not alarmist) earliest flight to attempt.

 

Thanks for the helpful info, CoralC and pcur!

[Mary521]

We did self disembark this past Jan. We had to carry our own luggage off, which includes a few floors of stairs so you have to be able to do that on your own. But we were out and thru customs getting into a cab by 7am. As others suggested, make sure you go directly to get your luggage thru security pre-checks right away once you arrive at the airport. I think a 10:40AM flight is completely do-able!

[uksimonusa]

The lat time we sailed out of San Juan, you didn't have to do the AG inspection if your bags still had the ships luggage tags on them, this has now changed.We did self disembark, but due to a delay, I think Customs, we did not leave the ship until after 9.00, just made our noon flight. Your flight is possible, but with any unforseen delay may become impossible

[sandy toes]

Last SJ cruise, we too had a custom nightmare. Someone was had the same name as someone on a most wanted list and everything was CRAZY!!!! (Our guy was the wrong race but that didn't make customs move any quicker!)We had a 1210 flight and ran to the gate as they gave the last boarding call. It was very unsettling. I would say you can make your flight IF nothing crazy happens...let us know.

[sr4mjc]

I live in Tampa and I have done the same cruise, I am surprised that jet blue did not offer a late morning flight. as my memory serves me we had to fly into Orlando as tampa was still not offered when saidedd three years ago.

 

To be honest its a three ring circus too risky in my opinion

 

I'm in Tampa too. In Feb off the Serenade we took the 11:55am flight with no issues, but for our March Brilliance cruise next year there is no longer that option. 10:40am and 4:40pm. I opted for the later flight. Bummed about the wait, but 10:40 was too risky. At least I can have a breakfast without rushing.