Just looked at my itinerary from Jet Blue and they have moved our arrival from Terminal 5 to Terminal 2, while the departure is still in Terminal 5. The time I have to go between the gates is just 49 minutes. Is this doable?

Thanks

Yes, you should be fine.

Why is JetBlue using the Delta terminal? 49 minutes to go 2 terminals away and back thru TSA seems awful tight or am I not understanding something?

Comin' or goin'? International arrivals come into Terminal 4, and SXM is an international origin. It is one stop on the elevated train to Terminal 5, but if you are coming home, you must clear immigration and customs at Terminal 4, get over to Terminal 5 and deal with the TSA. Having Global Entry and TSA Pre should help a lot. Particularly Immigration at Terminal 4 can be brutal. Terminal 2 is the old Pan Am terminal, now occupied by Delta. Unlikely that Jet Blue is using that terminal.

I am an idiot. I looked at the departure gate from RDU instead of the JFK arrival gate. Thanks and sorry.

Not anymore, JB at JFK has their own INS/Customs in 5.

Not at all ... you aren't an idiot, or any different from the rest of us in your reaction ... I've just gotten through a similar "rescheduling" experience with American Airlines. I think that one's first reaction is to clench their teeth and react when they see their carefully structured itinerary tossed into the wind. Specifically, just last night I saw that our "revised" reservation on American Airlines made no sense (i.e. less than 1 1/2 hours to clear the customs debacle in Miami, then arriving at a later connection in Phoenix 2 hours after the connecting flight has already left). A bit of "high anxiety" is perfectly natural under the circumstances, but, in our case at least, a phone call is all it took to restore order to our travel universe.

Since you say terminal 5 (JB) has its own customs, if flying from SXM into JFK (JB) you would go directly to terminal 5, clear customs there, and already be in the terminal you need to be in? Would have to clear TSA before your connecting flight?

Thanks Alaskan, that is exactly what happened. We, fortunately, have a lot more time to pass through customs on our way back which, at least for us, is far more important. I'd sprint the full length of JFK to make our flight to SXM if that is what was required!

I'm not sure but it would make sense if their international gates with C+I didn't make you go thru TSA again. I haven't flown JB from SXM since they opened them and the arrival at 4 was a pia if you had a connection but JFK was my home airport so it didn't matter to me where we cleared.

We just came in at JFK on Jet Blue on Sat. Not sure what terminal, but I do have to say never again. Thankfully we did NOT have a connecting flight but we waited almost an hour for some of our group to get through immigration/customs. The lines were a mess!! I have never seen such disorganization!! The 2 officers running the show had people going all over the place. Some of the group got Xs and were unclear as to what to do. No one directing with any purpose. Lines intermingled. No one knew what line they were supposed to be in or why. Hard to find the end of the line. People were yelling at others who they thought were cutting their line. My son was the first in line while the rest of us stopped to use the restrooms and he was the LAST to exit the building- 2 hrs after the flight landed!!! Then to have a 3 hr ride home, so not worth the aggravation!

Last November we returned on JB to JFK they had just opened there international building for returning flights and it was the fastest we have ever cleared customs . What has happened ?

Yuk. That sounds like a massive pain. We have four hours to clear customs on the way back, so we should be just fine. Should be...

The problem in every airport where I've ever cleared customs and immigration is that you have access to your checked baggage in order to go through customs. You can remove items which are not allowed in carry-on bags (liquids, etc.) and put them in your purse or carry-on. That's just one reason why clearing TSA security again is necessary.

Words really can't do justice to the mess we went through.....yeah 4 hrs should be fine! LOL Someone getting off our flight only had 30min. to make their connection. Highly doubt they made it. Thing is flights start boarding 1/2 hr before takeoff, so that needs to be factored in.

Laurel etal,

Our last two SXM trips have seen us flying to SXM on AA and returning home on JB through T5 at JFK and being able to use the new C&I Hall there.

BOTH of these most recent EXPERIENCES HAVE BEEN EXCELLENT. Short walks, as opposed to the AA hike which used to leave us wondering if we were actually walking back to CT instead of the Immigration Hall: lots of available kiosks up and running; and plenty of staff on hand to explain their usage to those who may have been unfamiliar with using them.

The only hold up both trips was in figuring out which luggage carousel our bags were to be on and then waiting for them to finally arrive so we could clear the customs lines and actually exit the terminal. But fortunately for us, we were NOT trying to connect to other flights.

I will add, though, both of these trips were midweek as opposed to weekends, and no, we don't have global entry or ANY of the enhanced measures that might speed us through and get us on our way faster. Sorry you had such a very bad experience there. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

LOL Pat, getting our luggage was the EASY part!! Clearly marked, we knew exactly which carousel to go to. The girls in immigration (only 2 on hand) barely spoke English and had us going from one line to the next. The lines were all tangled. You had to cross a line with your stuff to get to a kiosk and then cross again to try to find the end of the line. Some of the group had no idea about the Xs so were in one line only to be told that they should be in the REJECT line. Whole process makes no sense as once we went through the kiosk and got our picture receipt, we stood in another line only to have the guy go through all our stuff again. No point. The cattle maze system was just fine. You stand in one line until you reach an officer. Trust me I am a very patient person but what we dealt with was disgusting! When a person in our group is 15 min ahead of the rest of us and ends up coming out through the maze over an hour after the rest of us, something is wrong with the system. Hope it was just a fluke but who knows? The process worked so much easier when we were just cattled through the stalls to get to the officer! And in the end no one took my immigration form that I had filled out on the plane. Other family had theirs taken prematurely so when asked for it at the end no longer had it. Think we will just pay extra for Bradley IF there is a next time!

Hadn't thought of that aspect. Until last year I was one of those spoiled JFK fliers, always nonstop at good prices but have moved to Florida so it's a new ball game, the learning curve is rather steep at this point.