TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums US VI and Puerto Rico STT Airport Arrival Time?

There have been many reports of long security lines on high-season weekends. How long before your flight should you arrive at the airport? During high season on a weekend it is best to arrive 3 hours before your flight.

Why 3 hours? I'll break down the process:

1) Checking luggage can take 30 minutes or more. You visit an airline kiosk and your tag is printed behind the gate. The agent weighs your bag and puts the tag on your luggage. You then need to take your luggage through the security line.

2) The security line is your next stop and can take 30 minutes, even 90 minutes on a heavy travel day. You go to immigration, customs if you have items that need to be inspected, and then the baggage drop off. Having your passport speeds the immigration process slightly. Why do you need to go through customs and immigration? The USVIs have a porous border and many illegal aliens have been landed here - immigration check. It is also a free port and no duty is paid, so you may owe duty if you go over the allowable limits - customs.

3) TSA takes 30-60 minutes. This is the security checkpoint that you are accustomed to in the 50 states.

Add it up - worst case is three hours through the security line. Using a Red Cap porter will speed up the process.

Early morning flight? You’ll need to stay on St. Thomas the night before. The airport does not open until 6AM. The airport is less busy, so it should not be a problem.

Can it be faster? It is for me. Pre-COVID I traveled through STT airport twice a month and it never took more than 30 minutes to get through the security line. Pro tips:

1) Carry-on only - Takes no time.

2) Global Entry - Takes 10 minutes. You bypass the security line and go to the center line that has a closed retractable belt stanchion; it may not be marked. Go inside the small area and the next available CBP agent will call "Global Entry" and you head to that station.

Global Entry is a CBP trusted traveler program. You sign up, pay $100, schedule an interview, bring passport and government issued photo id, they take your fingerprints, and do a background check. Once you have your Global Entry card you have a trusted traveler id number that you enter into your airline profile that automatically gives you TSA Pre-Check. My credit card reimburses Global Entry fees.

https://www.cbp.gov/travel/trusted-traveler-programs/global-entry

3) TSA Pre-Check - Takes 15 minutes..

The longest it has ever taken me to get to my gate on the busiest travel day? Less than 30 minutes. If you travel often enough then Global Entry is worth the effort.

Cheers, RickG

Saturday plan on Four hours. Airlift is up and the planes are full.

Last time we came through STT we spoke with one of the Customs and Immigration officers and he told us that the Global Entry card will speed your processing. We hadn't brought ours that trip because we weren't leaving the country (we just went to St. John). He said that didn't matter, it would still speed the process. We thanked him for the tip!

We don't fly out of STT on weekends. EVER. All four trips this year have been mid-week departures.

As usual RickG is on top of things in the USVI.

We… Three couples departed St.Thomas on Sunday 07 March btwn ~430 and 530p. Thanks to the great information here on TTOL we arrived a little more than three hours in advance. We had a rental car from Paradise. One of us dropped the other 5, and returned the rental vehicle. In the meantime I got a porter who quickly got all of us to the Delta and American check-in counter very quickly. No more than two deep. They checked in the Delta couple even though our driver had not returned from Paradise yet. (We had all prechecked in ~24 hours in advanced)

While literally hundreds of people waited in a line snaking all the way back to the door of the baggage exit, our Porter quickly got us to the front of entry door of the immigration section. We could’ve gone through sooner, but we’re waiting for our rental car returning member. Porter kept us to the far left. One couple flying Delta had global entry. His was active, hers had expired. But the immigration officials allowed them both to proceed through immigration and they quickly processed and went ahead directly to and through TSA precheck. Their bags stayed with our porter.

After immigration, My wife and I had TSA pre-check so we were routed through that line pretty quickly. The other couple did not have TSA pre-check and it took them about 15 minutes longer to get the luggage of all six of us to the drop off line under the supervision of the Porter. The $40 we paid was well worth the effort.

Did we all arrive well before our departures? Yes. But the slight apprehension and inconvenience was counterbalanced by the easier access and not waiting in that long snaking line outside. Worth every dollar. We saw some folks running while their name was called for late boarding & last calls and while we ate some snacks and drank our last $9.00 rum bunch or Pain killer!

I am not doubting RickG based on the scenario he laid out. But in all the years we have been going to the BVI I have never spent more than 30 minutes getting through STT and it was always on a Saturday with flight leaving between 3-5pm. I do believe what has helped us is we only carry on and we are TSA Precheck. We are Global Entry as well. But have been unable to use that at STT yet. I believe what also helps us is the AA app allows us to check in and get our boarding passes the day before we leave. So we only have to deal with customs and security.

So our typical Saturday leaving Anegada was a 9am flight to STT, go to Emerald Beach until about 2 hours before flight, then to the airport and hang outside (because we smoke) and walk in about an hour and a half before the flight. We have never missed a flight or even cut it close.

It took us exactly 1h30m to get through airport today on a Wednesday! No priority checkin, Global Entry, or TSA pre. Never taken me this long after years of mid-week departures.

We were in the main cabin checkin line with American. One agent handling a long line, while 2 agents were handling the priority line. Customs & Immigration had 8 agents and moved reasonably well. Luggage dropoff line zigzaged back and forth. TSA agents had their usual surly attitude.

We transited through STT yesterday (Wednesday) on our way home from 18 days in the BVI. We flew Islands Birds EIS-STT (can't recommend them enough). The transition in through customs was smooth and easy (we were the only international arrival). STT however, was an absolute ZOO. We have never encountered lines mid-week. Yesterday, at 12:30 pm, there was not only a line at Delta check-in (thank goodness we are Sky Priority), but long customs/immigration lines as well as bag drop lines. We have Global Entry, and know to bring our cards, so were able to take advantage of a shorter line there, as well as TSA precheck. Even so, it still took us almost an hour for the entire process. Last month it was less than 30 minutes curb to gate at STT. No social distancing anywhere and the gate area was super crowded. Chatted with the TSA agent as we had a short wait at pre-check due to passengers not understanding that they had to drop their bags somewhere before heading to TSA check points (!) - she said that mid week was now like the weekend pre-COVID and that weekends were an absolute disaster. We are planning a June return to BVI but after our experience at STT yesterday we are planning to route through SJU - especially now that American is increasing their STT flight load. We'll be skipping the USVI until things settle down.

Excellent Post Global Entry is the only way to Travel 👏👏👏🤡