Central America - 53 minute stopover in San Jose CR

Is 53 minutes enough to transfer in SJO? I arrive at 10:50 am on a United flight and depart at 11:43am on a Copa flight to Panama.

Close. Depends on arrival.

is it all in the same terminal or will I have to do a terminal change?

no terminal change, it seems doable to me if you have your copa boarding pass and if your united plane is on time.

no terminal change, it seems doable to me if you have your copa boarding pass and if your united plane is on time.

Good idea. Would United be able to print it our for me in EWR or should I do it online from home?

I am almost positive you will have no problem doing it online, if not, by all means insist at the airport, if you have to clear immigration/customs go out and then back in..............I can almost assure you , that you are toast. '

The lines are not long but you could easily wait 20 mins for your luggage, by the time you are out and back at the check in counter the copa flight will be , almost for sure, closed.

But again, I am 99.99% sure you wont have a problem.

I am almost positive you will have no problem doing it online, if not, by all means insist at the airport, if you have to clear immigration/customs go out and then back in..............I can almost assure you , that you are toast. '

The lines are not long but you could easily wait 20 mins for your luggage, by the time you are out and back at the check in counter the copa flight will be , almost for sure, closed.

But again, I am 99.99% sure you wont have a problem.

Ok so I will make sure to get it. If need be I can carry my luggage with me instead of checking it. Is that a good idea?

United and Copa are partners, so you should be able to get your Copa boarding pass when you check in at EWR. As long as you have it, you will not have to go through immigration and customs at SJO. Just walk to your connecting gate. It's a small enough airport that it won't take long.

Ok thank you guys I will do this connnection in that case, Aside from just being partners I actually booked the Copa flight together with the United one as 1 ticket on United.com. My other option was going through ORD, but I would add 2 hours to travel time, not to mention getting up at 3 am for the flight to ORD so this is a much better option.

United and Copa are partners, so you should be able to get your Copa boarding pass when you check in at EWR. As long as you have it, you will not have to go through immigration and customs at SJO. Just walk to your connecting gate. It's a small enough airport that it won't take long.

side note and not affecting the OP

SJOGuy, did you hear about the marvelous plan they have to isolate incoming/departing pax at SJO? I swear these guys of our government........

side note and not affecting the OP

SJOGuy, did you hear about the marvelous plan they have to isolate incoming/departing pax at SJO? I swear these guys of our government........

Wolfie & SJOGuy, this is way past the plan stage, they are building it, starting at gate #10 and moving inward. The better plan I heard is that soon, the exit tax will be included in the ticket price and they will eliminate the extra step of buying it on the way out.

OP, Copa, and most others at SJO generally start boarding 30 minutes prior to departure, seeing how it is possible to crawl from one end of the terminal to the other in under 10 minutes, your connection is really no sweat. Being that it sounds like the whole thing is ticketed on UA, your luggage has a very good chance at making the connection also. As posted above it will depend on arriving on time from the US. I would be looking for lounge access with that type of connection.:D

What others said, should be no problem, either for you or your luggage.

COPA and UA use the same FF program, and the tails of the birds look very similiar @:-)

EmailKid

Wolfie & SJOGuy, this is way past the plan stage, they are building it, starting at gate #10 and moving inward.



this **cks.....I will take a look next month, I was in SJO last month and didnt see a thing about it but when I landed I was in gate 5.

Honestly I wonder, what logic is there to this? the one I heard is avoid handing drugs between incoming and departing passengers? wth.....its not like PTY is going to follow the same plan (I hope)

I swear that my goverment sits every afternoon to think about new wonderful master plans.......to implement, while the obvious fixes go ignored for years.

Yes. Plenty of time. I have done this exact connection twice. You'll get your Copa BP when you check-in for United if its the same PNR. If its not, you can still get it, but you'll need to ask an agent.

The plan to separate arriving and departing passengers was announced late last year, but I didn't know it was that far along. I'm still having trouble visualizing how they'll do that.

Terminal construction has been going on for years, so it's hard to tell any more what construction is for what purpose. I attended a press event in August 2000 for the inauguration of the new terminal. All that was done at the time was the baggage-claim area. Things are still not quite finished 12 years later.

I am happy to hear about including the exit tax in the price of the ticket, though. Back when there was a three-tiered system (tourists, foreign residents, citizens) it would have been difficult, but now that everybody pays the same $28, just do it already.

http://www.nacion.com/2012-07-11/ElPais/casi-listos-pasillos-de-seguridad-en--aeropuerto-.aspx

Thanks, wolfie. Oops. I missed that article in La Nación.

GUA, SAP, TGU, and MGA shunt you directly to immigration and don't mix you with arriving passengers. I was just having a hard time visualizing how SJO was going to do it. At least in the OP's situation, there will be no need to go through immigration and customs if all you're doing is transferring.

I dont understand enough of airport security BUT it seems to me as if this is the usual BS of people trying to impose their solutions (dictacted from the US ) to our problems....

would need to see real logic......and they are of course not going to tell me because of 'SECURITY reasons????'

this all to the tune of 4.5 million dollars that will be paid by .......the airport users.

I think the worry is that someone could fly to SJO from a country with more lax security and then just go to their gate and board another flight, without being properly screened. Or they could give something suspicious to a passenger in the boarding area at SJO. That's the rationale behind setting up this system.

BTW, wolfie, there was a thread going in the AA forum about doing a mileage run, MIA-SJO-MIA, and asking what would be involved. Is it possible simply to walk to the gate where the AA flight turns around? That was the question. I posted the pics from La Nación, and credited you with finding them. :)

Thanks for the credit :)


Yeah the rationale I get but geesh.....PTY will have to do this too???

It just feels as if we always have to do everything they tell us to do, the instructions always coming from the North, in everything imaginable (banking ....etc)

Yes. Plenty of time. I have done this exact connection twice. You'll get your Copa BP when you check-in for United if its the same PNR. If its not, you can still get it, but you'll need to ask an agent.
Yes it is same PNR as I booked it together. Flight is tomorrow but COPA doesn't allow me to check in as there are partners so I will just get it at EWR.

Happy to hear you have done this connection, is reassuring.

Yeah the rationale I get but geesh.....PTY will have to do this too???

It just feels as if we always have to do everything they tell us to do, the instructions always coming from the North, in everything imaginable (banking ....etc)

I don't see how they can do it at PTY and I hope they do NOT! I like my 33 minute connections!

And don't get me started on banking (FACTA) -- BCR is running me through the wringer right now :mad:

Yes. Plenty of time. I have done this exact connection twice. You'll get your Copa BP when you check-in for United if its the same PNR. If its not, you can still get it, but you'll need to ask an agent.

That is reassuring! Good thing because Copa will not let me check in online as it is part of a United itinerary.

We made the connection by 30 minutes as a Taca flight was blocking the gate. The walk from one flight to the other was 90 seconds.