CherylD

Hi, Traveling to Aruba for first time and flying WN in and out. Was told by phone agent that passport had to exactly match ticket when I later called to book a flight for my daughter. My middle name is on my passport, but not on the ticket. Is this a big deal? Should I call and have that changed?

Also, I have read to allow a lot of time at the airport prior to departure, but I am returning on a Thursday and have Global Entry. How much time should I allow prior to flight?

mmayer

My wife and I went to Aruba last year. Loved it so much that we are heading back next week!

Her ticket last year did not have middle name on it and mine only had middle initial. We had no isses, so probably a non-issue.

We both have Global Entry and IIRC, went through the whole process pretty quickly. You do all the US Immigrations and Customs in Aruba, so all in all, it probably took us about an hour. We had way too much time after that to sit in the Aruba airport.

cs19

It's been a while but here's what I remember about return.

Usual terminal check in.

Get in line for Aruba security. 20 minutes to an hour.

Collect checked bags (I think - you obviously get them some point before customs) go into giant room for US customs.

C&I line. 30-90 minutes. Don't know about global entry but I hear it's there now so maybe this would only be 5-10 minutes for you.

Go through US style security (yes, security again). 5-15 minutes.

So it's definitely longer.

vacashawn

Just got back from Aruba a month ago. I also have GE and it still takes an hour to get through everything. You have to go through Aruba customs and security, then US security, then US entry. Luckily there are places to hang out near the gates after all the security so you can get in one more 7.5oz beer if you want. :-)

mmayer

Just to update with our most recent experience:

We went from check in to the gate in about 30 minutes, and that was with a dreaded "SSSS" on my boarding pass (no idea why I was selected).

We were departing on United on a Friday afternoon. Arrived three hours before flight time. Check in was relatively quick in the First Class/Premier line. There was a short line outside Aruba Immigration, but they have installed automatic gates, so it was pretty quick to get through there.

Aruba security was about 10 minutes. Collected our bags and went through US Customs without stopping. We are both Global Entry, so Immigration took only about 2 minutes. Even the regular line looked pretty short as they are also using the Kiosks.

Once I got my cursory pat-down at US security, we were done.

At least the airport WiFi has improved. I was able to watch a couple of episodes of House of Cards while sitting at the gate for 2 1/2 hours.

Linda VH

If you like hot dogs the bar at the airport has really good ones. As you go up to the gates bang a left and go until you see a bar (little one) on the right. There you are!

Ceres

Just a data point... Got back yesterday from Aruba.

Flew Delta, arrived 3 hours ahead of time. Checking in hertz rental and made it through the whole lot in about 40 minutes, total.

We flew on a 3:25 Tuesday afternoon flight, but the GE Kiosks on the US side were all empty. So we avoided maybe being 40th in line at US customs. The lines for each security were no more than ten minutes each.

All in all I was there wayyyyy to early, but then again it was a weekday. YMMV

bchandler02

Aruba is the one place on earth where OLCI did not work for me due to passport name vs ticket name. My passport has LASTNAME JR on it, my ticket just had LASTNAME. AA fixed it when checking in and it wasn't an issue, but could not OLCI.