Flight time after CB: Your opinion please

[JandD Mom]

Hi everyone,

 

SW just released their Feb fares yesterday and have some very good rates. However, some of the times are not so great.

 

Does anyone have an opinion on whether it will be too difficult to make a 11:10 flight out of Ft. Lauderdale Airport on SW on the morning the Caribbean Princess disembarks? This would be on 2/18.

 

Thanks in advance!

[johnmik1]

We had our 11:35 flight changed to 10:53 earlier this month and were at the airport by 9:15.

[GloriaF]

If all goes smoothly with customs and clearance, it is no problem.

 

But if even one person causes a delay with customs, then no passengers are cleared for disembarkation and there would be a problem with your flight.

 

I guess it depends on how great a risk taker you are.

[TBR]

Just returned from the CB last saturday,we booked the 1 pm SWA flight to Tampa.However we were off the ship by 830 and at the airport by 9 am. We carried all our bags in side and asked if we could go standby on the earlier 1130 am flight. SW let us go standby for the earlier flight,it did take us about 20 minutes to get thru security at FLL airport. You may do better to book the later flight and then see if you can go standby for the earlier flight. Just do not check your luggage curbside. If you check luggage curbside for the later flight you will not be able to fly standby for the earlier flight,security laws require passengers to travel same flight as their bags. SW charged us nothing to fly the earlier flight,there were several people from our cruise doing the same thing.

[CruiseFever]

What's been described above is typical stuff. It's that rare full inspection by customs or hold up by immigration that slows things down and is, correctly, reason for concern....just a little concern though.

 

When we flew out of FLL before we lived here I would be sure to have a backup plan if for some rare reason I missed my flight.

 

That's really not a bad idea any time you fly. Actually, it's a good reason if your travel plans are flexible and you want to play the game of giving up your seat on an overbooked flight, walking away with free airfare vouchers and other goodies.

 

But that's a whole other topic.

 

Odds are you'll be fine. Our experience has always been that we had lots of time to spare at the airport.

 

IMHO, there are two bottlenecks to overcome.

 

Getting off the ship, into a cab or some other ground transportation option and getting to the curb at the airport is not all that bad. It looks like a zoo outside the terminal with all the coming and going but it really doesn't have to slow you down much.

 

At the curb at the airport though can be a real drag getting luggage checked at curbside. Long lines and short attention spans are not a good mix and there's plenty of that there. Still, money talks, and if you're behind schedule those skycaps can smell a $20 bill fifty feet away and will expedite the whole process very aptly.

 

But then you have to get through security which just takes time. They have a great system, plenty of TSA personnel, but this is usually one dang busy place. Allow up to an hour for this. Most likely it will take 20 to 30 minutes but we've been in that line so long that DW has pulled out the book to read. There's really not much you can do to speed things along without looking like you have some horrible terrorist-like motive so just go with the flow, take off your shoes and use the time to be dang sure you have no metal on you at all. I've often thought of removing fillings just to not have to go through the torture thing they do if that alarm goes off

[Pam in CA]

Several times, I've gotten into FLL and the ship didn't START to disembark until after 9:30AM. The last time, on the CB, we disembarked at about 8:45 but when we got to the airport, there was a half-hour wait to check in outside the airport and another hour to go through security. We made our 11:20AM flight but it was being called as we got to the gate.

 

You should be able to make an 11:10AM flight and it's possible you'll get to the airport early as the others have said... but it can also be true that you'll just make it. 2/18 is, I believe, during February break here in the Northeast and you can expect the airport to be very, very busy.

[Dreamer333]

We had our 11:35 flight changed to 10:53 earlier this month and were at the airport by 9:15.

 

I bet I was on this flight with you (Oct 1st from FLL to Ohare)... I too, had no problems getting to the airport in PLENTY of time.

[christinelee]

Don't worry. Be Happy ! You will make your flight. It is only 7 minutes from ship to airport, Have a great trip....Wish we were going with you!:cool: