og

Thanks 3Cforme, serfty and jbcarioca. The JFK connection looks very attractive (arvo dep from GYE, wonderful LAN Business service and plenty of space, but an overnight in JFK and next morning to YYZ. Oh, and a ticket re-issue unless I can convince the AA RTW desk that it is necessary to re-route. At the end of the day, I might just risk it with the tight connection in MIA.

Djokison

1:50 is plenty of time to go through Miami these days (and frankly, even in the past, I've never missed a connection in Miami.) Since they installed the Kiosks for US citizens and those travelling on ESTA (I fall under the latter), my immigration experience has never been longer than 15 minutes.

Even if you're not from a visa waiver country, the other foreign nationals line is much shorter than it used to be now that it isn't shared with ESTA holders.

sunnikrish2

I would like to second that. I connected yesterday - international flight from Europe to domestic and was at the gate of an earlier flight within 25 minutes of the plane landing at 3:30 pm.

serfty

I have experienced such as well - but - remember -

This is on Thanksgiving!

It may make a difference.

Rayeus

I'm looking at doing a flight to MIA from SFO and back as a mileage run.

I assume that for a domestic flight into MIA you wouldn't have to re-clear security as you would end up in the departures section. Is this correct?

There's a 1 1/2hr wait until the flight back, but say if the inbound flight was delayed and I missed the return (as I was on the late inbound), I take it I would just be put on a later flight?

Many thanks.

coolcoil

Correct, you do not have to clear security. If your flight is late, they will put you on a later flight that has availability. The availability on the same day is not guaranteed. However, if you are willing to take connecting flights, which I assume you would as a mileage runner, it's highly likely you would find something for the same day.

SDQBound

Thanksgiving is actually the opposite (At least in MIA). Domestic travel gets busy but International decreases a lot.

jbcarioca

OTOH, it's a madhouse during South American school holidays and especially during major holidays in Europe, and the Americas that fall when it is winter in South Florida. Also, much of the Caribbean is typically reached via transit of Miami, making that worse.

Oddly, I too have never noticed Thanksgiving as being a Miami problem, to the contrary to some extent, I agree.

FWIW, much of the typical Argentina and Venezuela traffic has slowed very dramatically and is set to reduce further, so some of the peaks will be lower this year than they have normally been.

elizadoo

I have an upcoming flight TPA>MIA mid-day, and the weather here in Florida has been terrible for the past few weeks, with bad weather delays. I have a connection MIA>IAD which leaves one hour later.

Due to the weather this time of year I am concerned we won't make the flight to IAD. And if that is the case, we will have to take a series of later, convoluted flights which may make us miss our BA Award flight in F out of Dulles--the last flight of the night.

Should I have a back-up plan, if there is any to be had?

coolcoil

Of course you should have a back up plan. Even on a good day, you can miss a one hour connection. What your plan is depends on your circumstances, your perceived cost of missing the BA flight and the cost of implementing the back up plan.

The best choice, IMO, is to try to leave TPA earlier.

As for flights MIA to Washington, you could also consider DCA and BWI as alternative destinations. There is Super Shuttle service to IAD from both of them. I'm not sure what the cost is, but I think it's less than $40 a person. I would figure on 2 hour transit time to be safe, but it will probably be less. If you do find that you are going to miss your connection, call reservations ASAP to rebook. If you don't AA will automatically rebook you on the next IAD flight that is convenient for them, and it will be a pain-in-the-neck to change it at the airport, especially if you have checked luggage.

ChuckMango

Arriving domestic AA at 8am into MIA connecting AA to Bahamas in 1hr 25 mins, is this enough time? Unfortunately we are on separate tickets...

SDQBound

1h25 is totally fine

thom66289

Hello everybody,

sorry if a similar question has been asked and answered some pages ago:

We (wife & me) will fly from ZRH to MIA on Dec 19th, arriving at 1435 with Swiss in Business, have connection to Grenada with AA leaving at 1655. We plan to check bags (after the horror stories I read on some of the first pages, not so sure anymore though), no GE (but maybe will get GE...), no US-citizens. Do you think 2h20 is enough on that time of year/day, or would you suggest we don't check bags? And/or get GE? Or anything else? I am thinking about rebooking our flight a day early.

Thank you in advance.

SDQBound

2h20 will be very tight, but still doable. Be ready to run a marathon from the plane to immigration, then to baggage claim, and then on your way to the AA check-in counter.
If your AA flight is booked in Business Class, you can request the Five Star Service connection assistance (depending on availability and willingness of AA to meet you when arriving with a different airline), it will cost you $325 for the two of you.
You can only apply to GE if you are from an eligible country.

kevincrumbs

I've never flown through MIA and while I think my connection will be okay, I'm also looking for some reassurance.

I'm flying on Christmas day and arrive into MIA from JFK at 8:21pm and my MIA - EZE flight departs at 9:30pm, leaving me with a connection of 69 minutes. I see that the MCT is 45 minutes, but I still don't feel great about this. FWIW, I originally had about a four hour layover but multiple schedule changes have whittled this down to sixty-nine minutes.

As someone without status but flying F/C on this routing, how likely is AA to put me onto an earlier JFK - MIA flight if I call in?