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Flying out of Beef island..Cape Air/United
#160195
05/03/2018 04:37 PM
05/03/2018 04:37 PM
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Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 434 Northern IL
bagsarepacked
OP
Traveler
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OP
Traveler
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 434
Northern IL
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Hi... I am looking at a great return flight cost of 366.00 one way to Chicago on Cape Air / United. flying through SJU. Anyone have any experience with Cape Air? Are they reliable? This is the same cost as a return flight out of STT. There is a long 3 hour layover in SJU....any comments or suggestions? Stay in the airport of head out for a bit? (One time we went and had lunch at the beach and came back but I forget how long we had for a layover that time) Nice part about this is I hit Chicago at 6:30 vs flying through STT I get in at 10 pm.
Any comments welcome as I usually fly AA into STT. Thanks.
Last edited by bagsarepacked; 05/03/2018 04:37 PM.
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Re: Flying out of Beef island..Cape Air/United
[Re: bagsarepacked]
#160203
05/03/2018 06:15 PM
05/03/2018 06:15 PM
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Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 1,657 Memphis, BVI, CT
RatmansWife
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 1,657
Memphis, BVI, CT
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Cape Air is great, very reliable. Cessnas. You could need 3 hours in San Juan, probably not, but you need to go through Immigration, Customs, Agriculture, check-in and Security. Don’t go anywhere except duty-free and Margaritaville.
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Re: Flying out of Beef island..Cape Air/United
[Re: bagsarepacked]
#160205
05/03/2018 09:57 PM
05/03/2018 09:57 PM
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Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 5,720 Massachusetts
maytrix
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 5,720
Massachusetts
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I don't know what it is like going through SJU since the storms, but we have gone through in the past and made it from de-planing to gate in an hour. We have always given ourselves 2-3 hours and had lunch/dinner between flights. We've also always used Cape Air to get to SJU from EIS and they've always been reliable. We often would get to EIS early and they'd get us on an earlier flight as well.
We have global entry, so we breeze through customs, but I've usually felt it hasn't saved us a whole lot of time since it has typically been quite. Our trips have varied throughout various times of the year as well, although the majority have been May-Oct.
Matt
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Re: Flying out of Beef island..Cape Air/United
[Re: bagsarepacked]
#160206
05/03/2018 10:07 PM
05/03/2018 10:07 PM
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Joined: Jan 2016
Posts: 16 Minnesota
MarkMN
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Jan 2016
Posts: 16
Minnesota
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We've done the SJU-EIS (Beef Island/Tortola)-SJU route on Cape Air a few times and have been very happy with it. Very reliable and we booked it again for June. One thing to watch for with that route is that they operate a Cessna 402, which is a smaller aircraft and if you check a lot of bags you may run into a weight limitation - meaning, your bags will follow you on another flight (or next scheduled flight). We had this happen to us the first time when we brought a lot of dive gear and learned our lesson. They were great about it and brought our bags to The Moorings base about an hour after we arrived. They also hung in there after Irma and Maria - and I give them a lot of credit for that.
I would not recommend you leave the airport in SJU for the 3 hour layover.
Enjoy your trip!
Mark
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Re: Flying out of Beef island..Cape Air/United
[Re: RatmansWife]
#160207
05/03/2018 10:33 PM
05/03/2018 10:33 PM
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Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 434 Northern IL
bagsarepacked
OP
Traveler
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OP
Traveler
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 434
Northern IL
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Great info everyone...Ratman....curious as to why you say not to go anywhere else but Duty free and Margaritaville ~ is this a safety issue? It indicates that there is a terminal change...is this a big issue? I travel light...one small roller bag so no checked bags.
Also...when flying out of Tortola how much earlier do you arrive for the airport for your flight? I recall someone saying an hour but that seems tight.
Last edited by bagsarepacked; 05/03/2018 10:46 PM. Reason: added comment
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Re: Flying out of Beef island..Cape Air/United
[Re: Winterstale]
#160223
05/04/2018 09:30 AM
05/04/2018 09:30 AM
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Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 2,040 Charlotte, NC
NCSailor
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 2,040
Charlotte, NC
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Yup...we have three hours to kill next month for our flights down and we will not leave SJU...we are hoping that Intercaribbean will still have a rep at their counter from their earlier flight so we can check in for our flight and go through security.....otherwise.....we are stuck from 11am until around 1pm after we collect our bags from the Jet Blue flight to SJU. SJU is one of the worst places to have a long layover. Food and drink options are limited and the prices are outrageous. They charge for wireless access and it doesn't work.
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Re: Flying out of Beef island..Cape Air/United
[Re: bagsarepacked]
#160253
05/04/2018 07:08 PM
05/04/2018 07:08 PM
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Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 138 Ontario, Canada
henryv
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 138
Ontario, Canada
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I left Beef Island on US Air / Cape air today and can report that as usual they were reliable. I only had carry on so it was not a problem making my connecting flight with only about 90 minutes between.
Henryv
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