buspirone

Hi, I am posting on behalf of my son in law who's travelling to HI with his girlfriend in a few weeks from Quebec City. Neither speak English very well and they have a routing YQB-EWR-HNL-KOA with decent (several hours) connection times. They've asked me to help make sure they get through things OK. They have virtually no flight experience so its a bit nervewracking for them. I've flown a lot but won't be with them and have never flown via EWR so I'm turning here for help.

1. They will clear US customs in EWR - will they have to retrieve and recheck luggage or just clear customs and their bags pass straight through?
2. Is there a separate lane for connections at EWR customs or does everyone clear together and then go on to their connection?
3. Will they have to redo security at EWR. They have to change from terminal A to C on their outbound and the reverse comming home. The same question applies for the HNL-KOA connection.
4. The last leg (HNL-KOA) is on Hawaiian - will they need to pay baggage fees at YQB AND HNL or can all fees be collected at the beginning of the trip in YQB?
5. Any other advice on the connections. I'm a bit worried since their both so green and don't speak the language. EWR seems a bit daunting.
6. Is their IFE on the planes? Can they use regular (one prong) headsets or do they need the two prong sets. Can they buy these onboard?

I do want to help them and give them the best info possible. I will be meeting them in Hawaii but flying different dates and different routes (YUL-YVR-OGG(stop)-KOA return.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

bosnyc

Hi,

Welcome to FT. I'm sure others can contribute more, but as far as US Customs goes, I believe that will be done in Newark as I do not believe Quebec City has pre-clearance. After Immigration, bags will need to be collected for customs. Right past customs, there will be a "recheck" area to drop them.

Bags can almost def. be checked all-the-way through to at least NHL (not counting the brief "pick-up and carry" through customs at EWR). ...maybe even all-the-way, depending on CO's interline agreement with Hawaiian. I believe baggage fees are dependent on the first point of contact, so you will be paying in Quebec City as if you were on a CO non-stop flight YQB--> Hawaii.

Hope this (somewhat) helps.

Enjoy your trip!

kwildnj

1. They will clear US customs in EWR - will they have to retrieve and recheck luggage or just clear customs and their bags pass straight through?

Once they land in EWR, they will pass through Immigration, then claim their baggage, then clear customs. Depending on the time of day that they travel, and what passport they are holding, this process can take up to two hours. Once they exit customs, there will be a baggage recheck area, where they can drop their bags, before proceeding to their gate.


2. Is there a separate lane for connections at EWR customs or does everyone clear together and then go on to their connection?

There is no segregrated line for connecting passengers at EWR





3. Will they have to redo security at EWR. They have to change from terminal A to C on their outbound and the reverse comming home. The same question applies for the HNL-KOA connection.

Note: There flight will arrive into Terminal B or Terminal C, and then depart from Terminal C. Terminal A does not have any customs facilities. Regardless of what Terminal they arrive in, they will have to reclear security between customs and their departing gate.


4. The last leg (HNL-KOA) is on Hawaiian - will they need to pay baggage fees at YQB AND HNL or can all fees be collected at the beginning of the trip in YQB?

They will pay the CO baggage fee for Canada-Hawaii on the outbound, and then should be charged (at least I was) for only the interisland KOA-HNL rate for the return.


5. Any other advice on the connections. I'm a bit worried since their both so green and don't speak the language. EWR seems a bit daunting.

Just be sure that they have AT LEAST three hours between their YQB-EWR and the EWR-HNL flights. The customs agents should be able to accomidate them easily, as I assume they speak french, not some completely obscure language?


6. Is their IFE on the planes? Can they use regular (one prong) headsets or do they need the two prong sets. Can they buy these onboard?

YQB-EWR will not have IFE, EWR-HNL will have "In-seat audio, video and video games. A selection of 17 video channels in BusinessFirst, 9 video channels in Economy, 20 channels of audio entertainment and 10 video games." and HNL-KOA will have none. I am fairly certain that a "regular" pronged headphones will work, though they may not be in stereo.

[/QUOTE]

chiph

You're helping out your daughter's husband and his girlfriend?

CP@YOW

He/she likely meant stepson. In French, stepson and son-in-law are the same word (beau-fils).

CP@YOW

This is correct. If the flight arrives at Terminal B, after clearing customs they will have to take the AirTrain (outside of security) to Terminal C, from which the flight to HNL will depart. If the flight arrives at Terminal C, they stay in the same building and go through security after customs.

However on the way back, EWR-YQB will depart from either Terminal A or Terminal C. The HNL-EWR flight will arrive at Terminal C. If the EWR-YQB flight departs from A, they do not have to leave the secure area and take the AirTrain. There is a shuttle bus within the secure area from gate C71 to gate A28.

They should take a copy of the terminal map with them as the layout can be a bit confusing, e.g. gate 99 is quite far from gate 101.

slippahs

For more tips on connecting at HNL, see the "Guide" linked in my sig. Just note that they shouldn't exit the secured area of HNL if their bags are checked through to KOA.

JOSECONLSCREW28

The flight from YQB will arrive into Terminal C. Terminal B is only used for international arrivals on mainline flights.

buspirone

Yes - Thank you, stepson and girlfriend. I'm anglo, but I've been living here so long I often mix languages.

And thanks to all for their input. It's very useful.

CP@YOW

Perhaps not normally, but yesterday (Jan. 12), CO4450 YQB-EWR arrived at B60.

kwildnj

Thanks CP! -- I was there yesterday for this rare occurance. I'd say maybe once a week, one of the non-preclearance flights from our neighbor to the north finds its way over to Terminal B...