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Airport craziness: Sundays vs. Saturdays in May
Airport craziness: Sundays vs. Saturdays in May
Hey everyone!
Last trip to St. John was in April 2010. It's been awhile since I've been on the forum. But it feels good to be back, since now my wife and I are able to start booking our 10th Anniversary trip for May. We got a week in a time share in St. Thomas as a gift. Excited to explore St. Thomas, BUT...we plan on heading over on the car ferry (at least a few of the days) to our favorite place on earth!
Can not wait!
The time share is Saturday to Saturday. I know that Saturday departures are nuts at the airport, as far as lines and wait time. So, we are considering finding accomodations for one night, if leaving on Sundays is less stressful.
Does anyone think Sundays are any better/less busy? We are going the second week of May. Any advice would be appreciated!
Thanks!
-Jay
Last trip to St. John was in April 2010. It's been awhile since I've been on the forum. But it feels good to be back, since now my wife and I are able to start booking our 10th Anniversary trip for May. We got a week in a time share in St. Thomas as a gift. Excited to explore St. Thomas, BUT...we plan on heading over on the car ferry (at least a few of the days) to our favorite place on earth!
Can not wait!
The time share is Saturday to Saturday. I know that Saturday departures are nuts at the airport, as far as lines and wait time. So, we are considering finding accomodations for one night, if leaving on Sundays is less stressful.
Does anyone think Sundays are any better/less busy? We are going the second week of May. Any advice would be appreciated!
Thanks!
-Jay
Re: Airport craziness: Sundays vs. Saturdays in May
From our limited experience, Sundays do seem to be a bit less crazy than Saturday in May/June. If you can swing another day, I would definitely leave on Sunday rather than Sat to get one more day on the island.
A great hint I got from this forum is to use a porter if the airport is crazy, no matter which day. We did this twice last year when flying out on on a Sat. If you're not familiar with STT porters, there are people at the airport that are "official" porters with luggage carts. They will take you to the head of the line for check-in, security screening and customs. Last May, it saved us about an hour - I think we would have missed our flight if we hadn't used one. In Oct, it wasn't as crazy, but we used one anyway and it saved maybe 20 minutes. Well worth the money to us.
Here is a link to a little article about it:
http://barnako.typepad.com/news_of_st_j ... rport.html
Happy trip planning!
A great hint I got from this forum is to use a porter if the airport is crazy, no matter which day. We did this twice last year when flying out on on a Sat. If you're not familiar with STT porters, there are people at the airport that are "official" porters with luggage carts. They will take you to the head of the line for check-in, security screening and customs. Last May, it saved us about an hour - I think we would have missed our flight if we hadn't used one. In Oct, it wasn't as crazy, but we used one anyway and it saved maybe 20 minutes. Well worth the money to us.
Here is a link to a little article about it:
http://barnako.typepad.com/news_of_st_j ... rport.html
Happy trip planning!
Re: Airport craziness: Sundays vs. Saturdays in May
Weekends are busy, but we do fine by getting there three hours before our afternoon departure. Porters are great if you have lots of checked luggage, like my Mom does. But when its us and my kids we carryon and keep the bags small.
Our approach to streamlining the airport experience:
- Check-in online and print boarding passes
- Carryon only
- Pickup customs and immigration paper work when you arrive, keep extra copies in your travel bag, fill out the paper work before you arrive at the airport
- Remember the 3.5 oz TSA rule for liquid souvenirs
Cheers, RickG
Our approach to streamlining the airport experience:
- Check-in online and print boarding passes
- Carryon only
- Pickup customs and immigration paper work when you arrive, keep extra copies in your travel bag, fill out the paper work before you arrive at the airport
- Remember the 3.5 oz TSA rule for liquid souvenirs
Cheers, RickG
S/V Echoes - Coral Bay - St. John, VI
Re: Airport craziness: Sundays vs. Saturdays in May
We totally go the porter route! The whole process is so much quicker and the cost is minimal when you consider the cost of the whole trip!
Re: Airport craziness: Sundays vs. Saturdays in May
Thanks for the tips, everybody!
Re: Airport craziness: Sundays vs. Saturdays in May
Who needs a porter? Go carry-on! We did a 15 day trip with carry-on, and had NO PROBLEM! I even brought a Polar Bear Cooler filled with meat. Try carry-on...you don't have to worry about losing your luggage!
Tom in CT
Tom in CT
