Originally Posted by
Scotttyd
Never been to this airport - Flying southwest PUJ to BWI to RDU - I have two optiosn 1hr 40 min and 2 hr 55 min as layover options on a sunday evening - Will be traveling with an almost four year old- so that always takes a tad longer (getting stroller plane side, etc) - how long do I usually need? thinking of leaning to the longer layover just to be on the safe side, although I hate waiting in airports?
thoughts?
Sorry, I can't answer your Customs questions, as I've never flown international. However, I do know BWI extremely well, as it's my home airport.
I would recommend taking the longer layover, simply to give you more time to get from the Int'l arrivals area to the gate for your flight to RDU.
Int'l arrivals are on the lower level at Concourse E. Southwest domestic flights operate in Concourses A, B, and C. You'll need to walk all the way to the other side of the terminal, check in at the WN ticket counters between Conc. A and B, and enter security there. With a 4yo plus baggage, that'll take a while. I measured it once, it's 3/4 of a mile around the horseshoe of the BWI terminal.
There is a shortcut that will save you a couple of minutes. After you exit Int'l arrivals, go up to the upper level (which is Departures) and start walking. When you get to the Spirit ticket counter, directly across is a set of stairs, escalators, and elevators that lead up to Skywalk D to the hourly parking garage. Take that and cut straight through the garage. At the opposite end, you'll come to Skywalk B, which will put you back in the terminal directly above the WN ticket counter and one of the security checkpoints. It's completely enclosed and air conditioned all the way, and there are even moving walkways in the garage to make the walk a little shorter.
Here is the online map of the terminal. Concourse E (Int'l) is on the left, WN check in is on the right between Conc. A and B. If you zoom in a little, you'll see the two Skywalks I mentioned at the top side of the hourly garage.
https://www.bwiairport.com/wayfinding
Originally Posted by
ave1024
Hey can I bump this thread? Taking a similar PUJ flight through Baltimore, but I am going to ISP. I have never taken an international flight with a domestic connection before and was hoping somebody can help with the process.
ISP-BWI-PUJ is an early 605am flight. The layover is only one hour, which may be tight. Do I have to go through any customs or stuff heading down or bag check in BWI? The bags would transfer planes right? Is there a good chance the gates will be near each other? One hour is a tight connection. I am confident the ISP flight will leave on time, it usually does. I just want to make sure i can get to my plane at BWI quickly, and also get a decent seat as we are all A-List.
For PUJ-BWI-ISP, I was reading the posts above. Is the process PUJ-BWI, go through customs, get bags and then re-check for BWI-ISP? My layover at BWI is 3 hours and the BWI flight doesn't take off until 7pm so being a late flight there is a good enough chance that flight will be delayed anyways. I would think that is plenty time to make this connection? We are thinking of upgrading to Global Relay, but that would be $120x3 travelers. Not sure if it's worth it for this airport. Worst case scenario we either stay at BWI one night or we rent a car to drive from BWI to ISP (4 hour drive - doable).
TIA.
Again, I can't answer your customs questions, but refer to my advice above to Scotttyd about crossing the BWI terminal. If you're flying WN domestic, you'll be on the opposite side of the terminal from the Int'l arrivals.
If you decide to get a local hotel, there are a lot of them with shuttles to BWI that will cost you less than $120 for a single room. Or, if you're going to hang out in the terminal for a while, there are plenty of places to eat, and there's a Minute Suites on Concourse C where you could catch a few Zs if you really need them.