Florida - FLL Changing Terminals - security

I am flying from Cartagena (CTG), Colombia to Fort Lauderdale (FLL) via Aires (4C). The flight is scheduled to arrive at 15:47 at I believe terminal 4H. I have a connecting flight on US Airways which is scheduled to leave at 17:00 from I believe terminal 3E going to Phoenix (PHX). The time between connecting flights is 1:13 which is a concern because the flight arrival times for Aires into FLL don't seem to be too reliable - quite frequently they arrive late. Thus my concerns are:

Will I have to pick up my luggage to pass through customs, eventhough the luggage is checked though to PHX?

In most airports I have been to, one can change terminals securely for connecting flights, (without having to pass through security once again). From what I can see of the terminal maps of FLL, I have my doubts this is possible. Will I have to pass through security once again in terminal 3?

Thanks for any and all help!

Bad news. Sorry.

A - You will need to reclaim your luggage before clearing US customs (unless there is preclearance at your originating point).

B - It is not all that long a walk from terminal 4 to 3 but you will have exited security and may need to carry your bag with you before re-clearing security to re-enter. That depends on whether US has a recheck facility at T4 and this I do not know.

With that connection, if everything works right and there is not too much of a crowd at border control, you should make it but not with a whole lot of time to spare.

If anything serious goes wrong, you most likely are toast.

Bad news. Sorry.

A - You will need to reclaim your luggage before clearing US customs (unless there is preclearance at your originating point).

B - It is not all that long a walk from terminal 4 to 3 but you will have exited security and may need to carry your bag with you before re-clearing security to re-enter. That depends on whether US has a recheck facility at T4 and this I do not know.

With that connection, if everything works right and there is not too much of a crowd at border control, you should make it but not with a whole lot of time to spare.

If anything serious goes wrong, you most likely are toast.

Also, FLL is one airport that packs in the Kettles, slowing down the Security process. I would strongly suggest that you get as forward in cabin on your inbound flights as possible and once off the flight haul butt to Customs to be one of the first in line (assuming you are not behind a crowd from another arriving flight.)

Thanks very much monitor for your excellent information and confirming my suspicions - just what I was looking for. :)

Also, FLL is one airport that packs in the Kettles, slowing down the Security process. I would strongly suggest that you get as forward in cabin on your inbound flights as possible and once off the flight haul butt to Customs to be one of the first in line (assuming you are not behind a crowd from another arriving flight.)
Excellent advice. :)

Thanks monitor and newyorkgeorge for taking the time to help me - very much appreciated. ;) :)

...Thanks monitor and newyorkgeorge for taking the time to help me - very much appreciated. ;) :)Good luck and when you have a few minutes after the trip, let us know how you did.

Good luck and when you have a few minutes after the trip, let us know how you did.
Absolutely, I'll let you know all the details! ;) :)

I just wanted to let you all know how I made out...
The Aires flight from CTG (Cartagena, Colombia) into FLL arrived at about 15h35 or 10 minutes early, which was a welcome surprise. I sat in the second row in the plane and was one of the first ones off.

When I got to customs clearance, there already was a fair amount of people. The "visitors" line ahead of me was about 50 feet long. There weren't many agents working for the amount of stations they had.

After getting my passport stamped, I was told to go to another room where they would search through everything. (Perhaps they misinterpreted me being in a rush as suspiciousness). Again, I had to wait in line - a smaller line though. The agent who searched me was quite offensive. Normally, I carry my watch in my pocket (I don't like wearing it on my wrist) but since I was on vacation and had my camera with me that has a clock built into it, I left my watch in my suitcase and used the watch on the camera to facilitate passing through security. Since I was very much pressed for time, I turned on my camera to check the time. The agent saw that and accused me of deleting pictures...?!!! :mad: Anyway, I finally passed through customs in terminal 4 and ran down the sidewalk outside to terminal 3.

I got to the US Airways counter around 16h40 and the woman asked me at what time my flight left. I told her 17h00 and she told me I would not make it. I showed her the boarding pass I had printed out, thinking I had nothing to lose. She said, today is your lucky day! That flight is delayed 15 minutes. There also was no lineup to pass through security.

To make a long story short, I got to the gate with about a half hour to spare prior to boarding. It was tight and stressful. Some things worked out in my favor, others didn't. Not too sure if I would bet on that one again or not....

Thanks once again monitor and newyorkgeorge for your advice! :)

Pleased to hear that it worked out for you but, as you said, maybe you should not bet on that happening again. Life is too short for that sort of stress and there are lots of things to do a short taxi or rental car ride from FLL airport if the next connection is more than four or five hours.

Come back and join our gang of idiots and learn some of the tricks of what this stuff is about from those of us who do it all the time. And check with us before you buy your ticket. ;)

Pleased to hear that it worked out for you but, as you said, maybe you should not bet on that happening again. Life is too short for that sort of stress and there are lots of things to do a short taxi or rental car ride from FLL airport if the next connection is more than four or five hours.
You are exactly right. Good idea. :)

Come back and join our gang of idiots and learn some of the tricks of what this stuff is about from those of us who do it all the time. And check with us before you buy your ticket. ;)
Hahahahaha Sounds great! I will ;) :)