TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin charlotte or philly

in a dilemma. going to St Marteen in april of 2017 return flights go to either clt or phi 1 hr and 41 min layover in clt or 1 hr and 45 min layover in phi.
better chance of getting through customs is where?

Personally, I would go with CLT but they sometimes have a long wait to get through. It is a much smaller airport and would be easier to make a connection and navigate.

I agree with CLT, although I haven't connected through PHL in many years. As JD says, CLT is smaller and easier to navigate from concourse to concourse.

I would probably do Charlotte also, although I think that with either one, if your outgoing flight is late at all, you could very well miss the connection. Before you actually book it, you might want to check to see if there are later flights to get you home, in case you miss the connection. If, for example, there is a later flight from Charlotte one that gets you home that night, and no later flight from Philly (or vice versa), I would probably book the connection that gives you an option to get home that night if you miss the connection.

So I have to admit, I've never flown through either airport but every time there's been a Philly flight I've considered, there's always been a note that indicates we'd have to 'change terminals' which, due to time considerations, has caused us not to book it, so you might want to chech that out, too. We've also been warned to take weather into consideration if considering Philly but we always go to SXM in April and snow has never been an issue for us.

That's what we usually do. Odds are pretty good on delay out of SXM regardless of flight. We, like most have preferred CLT but now have Delta as an option so now go through ATL. PHL used to be a nightmare but has gotten a bit better in recent years.

My friends and I just came back from SXM a couple of weeks ago through Philly. The time frame is manageable but it ended up being a nightmare with flight delays which AA handled very poorly.. According to many at the airport, this is a common occurrence. I will not loop through PHL again if I can help it.

We just returned through CLT on July 13th with an hour and twenty minute layover. It was painless with plenty of time to spare. We had no checked bags, so that helped us get through customs quickly.
Ed

Great question - I spent a 10 hour layover in CLT years ago, we found a nice bar, group of 10 and almost missed our connecting flight!!! But thinking of flying home from Sxm via CLT OR PHL in March into Westchester on AA. Sitting in an AA flight now and not overly impressed, talk about bare bones!! I was leaning to Philly for March but now maybe CLT.

We've flown thru both and the only reason we'd choose CLT is once we had a bad snowstorm in April that made Philly a nightmare.

Your prob right, my thoughts on Philly is worse case I can jump in a car and drive home to CT. CLT much longer!!! But CLT in March should be good - not sure about Westchester!!

With CLT in March there could be ice, fog or delays elsewhere.

Hands down CLT!

I avoid Philly. I've been burned there too many times on domestic flights.

The only thing good about Philly is...IDK

thanks for all the comments ended up booking through CLT. 1 hour and 41 minute layover (as of now)

I assume you are flying American. Philly is one of its worst hubs. Charlotte is on of the best.

Let's not be too quick to judge.
Rocky?
Cheesesteak?
Liberty Bell?
Ben Franklin?

I have to add my 2cents on CLT. We have traveled in April thru CLT. 1 hr 41 min is perfect in a perfect world. However, most of our flights have left SXM late. That cuts down on the time you have to clear customs which this past April was a mess. We got to the gate and our seats had been given away and they were closing the door. All the way from SXM we were told not to worry. We got on the flight because we are CC members. Our friends did not. Also didn't make it another time. Flight left SXM late and went to San Juan for fuel. The flight starts boarding half hour before departure. If you board late you may not be able to do carryon. This also happened to us even though we had Zone 2 boarding. (Think AA has changed it to another name now). CLT has never been smooth for us in April. I usually go for the longer layover. That way you have time to use the bathrooms and get a bite to eat. This luxury has not happened for us in a few years. It is run run run and lots of stress. I would try for Philly and hope that your flight takes off on time.

Sorry, you got on because you are "CC members"? What does that mean?

We have a cc with AA, so I guess we get some kind of priority boarding. They got us on the flight but wouldn't do anything for our friends traveling with us.

OK, I'm not sure that would make you get on the plane and not your friends. I suspect the plane was almost full and you were just in line in front of them??

Your credit card does get you Zone 2 boarding, but I seriously doubt that did you any good at all when you were late for boarding your connection. We faced a similar situation in San Francisco last year, when we arrived at the gate just as they had closed the doors. We were flying First Class, and are also AAdvantage credit card holders, and we were not permitted to board. I'm sure our seats had already been given to others. You just got lucky.

We all arrived at the gate at the same time as the door was closing. We were all checked in but came in on a delayed flight. Woman at the gate said they had given all of our seats away but she only got/ or was willing to get ours back. We flew on dividend miles using our AA cc. Too much of a coincidence. She did say she would have to move people off the plane for them. But wasn't willing to do that. She only did it for us. Funny thing is all our luggage went on to BDL.

I still think you were AHEAD of them, and that's why you were able to get on. Did you see anyone actually get off the phone for you to board?

It depends, I have had flights canceled at both airports, I live in Harrisburg, I can rent a car or take a train to Harrisburg, plus more flights every hour during the day to Harrisburg from PHL. CLT only has a few flights a day to MDT. So I would pick PHL, if I knew that all the flights would be on time or no weather delays I would pick CLT.