Originally Posted by
JCinNYC
I have a CTG trip planned in October. I'm not sure if it will happen with the craziness the airlines are going through, and NK's press release about reducing routes, etc... lets hope they are still around by then.
How much time did you give yourself to get to the airport? Did they tell you how many hours in advance you needed to be there? I was wondering what the check in cutoff time is there, and based on your experience, seems like it will take a while to get to the counter. Are there any kiosks for self check in? (don't think so but doesn't hurt to ask).
And I thought it would be a breeze, being CTG a small airport with a few int'l flights...
We got to Cartagena airport about 3 hours before departure time. We only had carryon but if you are checking a bag it goes through a rigorous inspection which involves standing in another line before you even get to the checkin counter. I don't think I would cut it any shorter timewise. The people who started arriving behind us really had long waits in line because checkin is excruciatingly slow. It seems they can't find many reservations in their system; many people had to pay extra baggage fees, etc. We thought it would be a breeze with carryon only but then they had trouble finding my reservation and we stood at the counter for about 30 minutes while they sorted it out.
The inbound plane was about 30 minutes late but even so we had to hold on the ground even longer after we boarded because there were still passengers being processed. Oh yes, there is another bag and body inspection process (also immigration control) just before you enter the boarding area.
Forget about kiosks (ha-ha); I laugh to even envision any sort of efficiency with Spirit Air ground procedures.