changing planes in miami

[jmcancruise]

DH are flying to San Juan for a cruise on the Liberty. We are flying from Portland Maine, changing planes in Washington and again in Miami. We choose to have a long travel day in order to not have any close connections, thus removing stress. Anyway the airline has changed our schedule and we now just have an hour in Miami. Do you think that will be enough time or do we need to fight with the airline to change our flight.

 

We are flying in the day before our cruise so we are not really concerned about what time we arrive in San Juan.

[brunello22]

DH are flying to San Juan for a cruise on the Liberty. We are flying from Portland Maine, changing planes in Washington and again in Miami. We choose to have a long travel day in order to not have any close connections, thus removing stress. Anyway the airline has changed our schedule and we now just have an hour in Miami. Do you think that will be enough time or do we need to fight with the airline to change our flight.

 

We are flying in the day before our cruise so we are not really concerned about what time we arrive in San Juan.

 

As long as your flights leaving Maine and DC are not delayed, and you arrive into MIA as scheduled, you should be fine, even if you have to change terminals. Ensure that you have a carry on with your essentials, in case your luggage does not catch up to you, in the event your connection is even tighter. Your airline will rebook you on the next available flight if any delays result in a missed flight, caused by the airline.

[eandj]

I'd call and see if there is a different flight. As stated, if flights are all on time, no problem if you keep moving. But a delay of even 15 min. can mess you up. No guarantee that there will be seats open on another flight last minute. Planes fly full nowadays.

[Capt_BJ]

I have flown from and thru Miami since the 80's way too many times.

 

My short answer is NO, don't do it.

 

There are many variables but all in all Miami can be a bit*h to navigate. If the flights are on the same airline and same terminal .. no problem ... but IME this happens SELDOM!!!

 

My most recent experience was all the same airline and the two gates were in different terminals and a HIKE ......

 

as mentioned ... don't try it

[fishywood]

I too recommend calling the airline to see if a later flight is available. But if not, there is no reason to panic as long as both connecting flights are on the same airline (a helpful piece of info to share in the original post, just sayin').

 

And the worst-case scenarios cited with breathless hyperbole are not an issue for you. If you are flying AA/US there is a possibility that one flight might be in Concourse D and the other Concourse E but there is a direct link and you will not have to go thru another security screening.

[jmcancruise]

Thanks for all the advise. We have flown into but not through Miami. Will try to see if we can get flights changed.

[HUNKY]

Try to get your flights changed to one with only one stop, instead of two.

Edited June 30, 2015 by HUNKY

[Keith1010]

Even Washington DC (I am assuming Washington Dulles) is not always the best for a transfer.

 

As mentioned try to avoid more than one transfer if that is possible.

 

Keith

[jmcancruise]

Washington I am not as worried about as we have about a 5 hour layover and it is early in the day.

[xmarksx]

One challenge that is sometimes overlooked with a delay in arrival and short window of a connecting flight is luggage. You can easily make the connecting flight but your corresponding luggage does not have enough time to mesh with your flight. Then you are forced to wait for the airline to deliver it to your hotel or... it misses your cruise.

[jmcancruise]

Ok , so we took the advice of several of you and got our flight times changed. Unfortunately DH spent between 4 and 5 hours on the phone making it happen.

 

What we have learned is that next time we will book our flights directly with the airline and not use a 3rd party.

 

We have already learned to book our cruises directly through the cruiseline. It seems the more we travel, the more we learn. Perhaps we will get good at this after awhile.

 

Anyway thanks again for the advice. Now we are just counting down the days.

[TruckerDave]

I'm pretty sure you are going on American Airlines (you didn't say but knowing who flies into PWM and MIA helped)...why don't you just take either that the PWM-PHL-SJU or the PWM-CLT-SJU flights? One connection instead of two. I would pick the Charlotte connection myself. They don't seem to have as many delays as the NYC/Philly airports do.

[jmcancruise]

We try to pick our flights based on price and good connections. When we booked it was by far the best price, and the connections gave us a generous amount of time to feel safe.