Give yourself plenty of time at the airport when departing..

Pia · Post by **Pia** » Wed Jan 09, 2013 4:11 pm

Thought this was interesting - posted by Waterguy but in a different thread and thought it worth having it's own post......

I came back last Thursday we got to the airport 3.5 hrs early used a porter and only had 45min to spare.

Sorry I didn't get to see you Waterguy - we should have had you up for drinks

Pia

Diana2 · Post by **Diana2** » Wed Jan 09, 2013 5:19 pm

So where is the hold up? Immigration? Security? Shortage of personnel??

GotToGetAway · Post by **GotToGetAway** » Wed Jan 09, 2013 10:00 pm

Is that typical for high season? Or because it was a school break time?

PA Girl · Post by **PA Girl** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 6:14 am

Last trip, we stood in line for security at least 45 minutes, maybe longer.

waterguy · Post by **waterguy** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 6:50 am

I looked for you at the kiosk a couple of times. There were a number of people that didn't get on their flight while we were there.

mindehankins · Post by **mindehankins** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 3:24 pm

Took two hours today. The whole process was slow. A porter would have cut maybe 1/2 hr off, and people who had flights leaving soon pulled aside tsa agents and were helped through faster.

toni · Post by **toni** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 4:21 pm

I think someone posted recently they arrived at the airport 1 hr 15 minutes or so before their afternoon flight. That would have made me a nervous wreck. The afternoon flights all seem to go out within a close range of each other so it's usually pretty busy. Depending on if you have to check luggage or not you can get slowed down quickly. Customs alone can get easily backed up. Don't want to have a stressful ending to a great vacation, just factor in a couple of hrs for the airport.

emptynester · Post by **emptynester** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 4:30 pm

We are going to have carry on only and printed boarding passes before we get to the airport in 4 weeks. We are traveling on Saturday. Will this eliminate some of the wait or is it all at security/customs?

And where are the customs forms located at the airport so we can pick them up when we arrive.

I really want this trip to go well. We're bringing our 28 year old son who hasn't been to St John since we stayed at Maho when he was 6!
Thanks Sharon

mindehankins · Post by **mindehankins** » Fri Jan 11, 2013 12:58 pm

From what I saw yesterday, I think the only thing that would have cut down waiting was a porter, and even then, not by much.
Another factor in our wait was that it rained all day. I had planned to take the ferry to Charlotte Amalie and wander around there since our flight wasn't until 5:40pm. We didn't feel like walking around in the rain, and aren't familiar enough to know where to hang out after our 10am check out and jeep return, so we arrived at the airport very early. Maybe others did as well. That's a factor that you can't really plan around.
I was really proud of, and grateful for my daughter for being completely patient with the waits, and never once complaining! I too wanted things to go just perfect for her first trip. And they did.

stjchica · Post by **stjchica** » Fri Jan 11, 2013 2:09 pm

In November the first big hold up was the line to check my one bag....The line was ridiculously long and moving at a snails pace, maybe slower

I finally walked up and used the self check kiosk. From there it was pretty much a breeze with security/customs. However the guy behind us tried using the kiosk and they had him go back to the line..What the ???

They could really benefit from utilizing the self check kiosks more...
The customs forms are at the counter where you check in or check luggage with your airline rep. People and also the workers, were testy so even just walking up to get that was tense.
Someone gave us a great tip and suggested getting the customs forms on arrival to STT instead of when we were departing...Which we did and that was nice to have it all filled out already...Just be patient as they are checking in people that are departing..

waterguy · Post by **waterguy** » Fri Jan 11, 2013 2:17 pm

You can get the forms at the customs office on STJ Just be nice when you ask and don't take them with out asking even thought there is a stack by the door I found out the hard way lol

liamsaunt · Post by **liamsaunt** » Fri Jan 11, 2013 2:49 pm

emptynester wrote:We are going to have carry on only and printed boarding passes before we get to the airport in 4 weeks. We are traveling on Saturday. Will this eliminate some of the wait or is it all at security/customs?

Saturday departures, especially in the on season, are the busiest and craziest of all. You are still going to have to wait in the very long customs line, and then in the long and slow security line. If you get a porter, you may be able to shave off some time. They'll take you through even with carry on only luggage.

That said, it seems that the porter situation is constantly changing as to what they are and are not allowed to do. As of this summer there was a dedicated line for porter customers in the ticketing area as well as the customs room, but we had to then join the regular security line. There have been times when we had to wait in the regular customs line but then bypassed the security line, and there have been times when we have bypassed both lines. There have also been times when we have been unable to find a porter at all. You just never know, so give yourself extra time. You can always have a drink in the terminal while you wait for your flight!

Kevino · Post by **Kevino** » Sat Jan 12, 2013 12:44 pm

When arriving at STT for your vacation it's not easy to go over the other side and grab some customs forms. They are very protected, or so it seems. STJ customs office will give you one but they are not very customer friendly! My experience.

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