TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Connecting through Miami

We're on our way home, connecting through Miami. We have Global Entry, and our boarding passes indicated TSA Precheck. There are no dedicated Precheck lines in Miami, which we knew, having connected here in the past. Once you finally get to the front of the line and show your boarding pass, you're given a card that says "expedited screening ". You would assume that means your screening is what you would get with Precheck. Nope. You still have to remove all electronics from your bag and place them in a bin. Of course, you don't realize this until they scan your bag and see the electronics. You're then told that the card you're given explains that; you should have read it. It makes no sense at all that screening is different here than at other US airports. And it wasn't that way last year. Annoying.

Sorry this happened and will be one of your parting memories of this trip. Thank heavens you had lots of islon time with good friends so the MIA glitch may not stick out as a negative to your travel. Easy travels the rest of the trip.,🙂🙂

No way will I let that color my memories of a beautiful vacation!

Way to go, Georgia!! 👏👏

I had a different experience. I had ordered wheelchair assistance as I was concerned about having only a 1.5-hour connection. At the initial check, I scanned my passport and that was it. A TSA agent was right by the kiosk, said my name, and waved me through. I didn't have to answer any questions at the kiosk nor did I get the paper with my photo; just scanned my passport and that was it. I was briefly separated from my wheelchair guy at the security check and also received the "expedited screening" card. However, I removed nothing from my bags and wasn't asked to do so. It was one of the smoothest experiences I've ever had in MIA. From deplaning to gate was about 45 minutes.

When we connected through MIA this last June on our return there was a precheck line we were directed to and everything was same as regular precheck as before.

We have pre check. In Miami after getting out of immigration the line is often very long to get back to your Connecting gate. We go down the ramp or elevator to the first level and back up into the terminal to the regular pre-check line , that time of day not many people. much quicker than waiting in the line with the a bunch of connecting passengers.

We have Global Entry and TSA Pre-Check and have done more international connections in MIA then I care to count. The one thing we learned very early on is not to use the "Connecting Flights" security checkpoint that just to the left as you exit the Customs Hall since that area (as GaKaye experienced) does not have a dedicated TSA-Precheck line. Do as foreversxm suggested in an earlier response. and make your way to the main terminal area (where the airline check-in counters are located0 and go to one of the regular security checkpoints as the have dedicated TSA-Precheck lines that are the same as found at all US airports. Because of the convoluted way you have to go to get to the main terminal area and the location of the entrance points it will take about an 8 to10 minute walk but you'll avoid the extremely long and slow moving lines at the "Connecting" security checkpoint. We normally make our way to the Security entrance for Terminal E as the lines there always seems to be short or even non-existent.

Always a smooth experience with wheelchair assistance! A valuable asset to travel for sure. Glad to hear everything went well for you in Miami.

Elizabeth--particularly in Miami, wheelchair assistance from AA is not always a smooth experience, not at all. In June of this year, it was much better than it had been in previous years, so hopefully that trend will continue!

TSA changes their protocols periodically. For a long time I did not have to remove my CPAP machine from my carry-on. On 2 recent trips I had to. Perhaps they had a dangerous situation with electronics.

I had seen this suggested in the past, but since we had a four-hour layover, we decided to just tough it out, especially since the lines weren't very long. We were shocked when we were told we had to take our electronics out, as we'd cleared here in the past and that wasn't required. The blue card does indeed state that, but seriously? The guy tucks that card in your passport and hands them both to you. I'm going to stop in line and read it?

Also, reading that others haven't had a similar experience tells me that they need to work on their consistency.

Do they have Clear in Miami?

Yes, see the link below for the 5 checkpoints.


CLEAR - MIA

Pretty sure my card was white. It was pretty beat up.

Clear helped, used at E gates. Very tight connection.

I followed bdeeley's link, but I'm still not clear on what Clear is? What does it do?

It verifies your identity at certain airports in minutes and then you get to bypass the TSA identity check. You move right to Physical screening. No more waiting in long lines for document and identity verification.

In the CLEAR Lane, step up to the pod and scan your boarding pass. You’ll be prompted to verify you are you with your eyes or fingerprint — no need to stop to pull out an ID. Once verified, an Ambassador will escort you to the front for the physical screening. (from clear website).



CLEAR - website

Thank you!

With Clear, which is a private identity verification company, you are escorted to the front of the Precheck line. Think of it as Private Precheck. I've been a member for awhile. The list of airports (and venues) where it is used is limited, but it can be a lifesaver in some busy airports.

Think leaving Las Vegas at the same time as a major convention ends, and when the lines, including Precheck, are huge. 200 people in the Precheck line, 2 in the Clear line, where do I sign up?

If you sign up for Clear you will quickly find out, in the enrollment process, how much of your personal information has been collected, going back more decades than you can imagine. (I don't fault Clear for that, they don't collect it, but it's their job to search it.) I was mildly shocked at all of the entities (local government in particular) who have sold my personal information over the years.

I was really impressed with how smoothly it went in MIA. They had all my info on their iPad (or whatever): knew where I was going, what gate to go to, other info. it was one of the most pleasant travel experiences I've had recently.

So happy you made the connection. As much as you and MJ travel, Clear certainly makes sense !

I'm sure it's good, but neither of us has a disability, so would not use a wheelchair.

Linda--that is a major upgrade from what it has been for the past several years. Quite amazing, in fact!

I estimate that we went gate to gate including immigration and customs in under 40 minutes. Not a comfortable pace, more on the details later. Bdeely I agree with the explanation and Vegas is certainly a place to have it.

While I’m glad your experience was so good, our last connection through MIA was absolutely the pits and believe me, it will definitely be our LAST through that airport.

We had requested r/t wheelchair portage at the time we purchased our tickets and had no problems on the JFK to SXM portion of the trip or in SXM while awaiting our departure. I verified when leaving SXM the wc request was still in our records and was assured the wheelchair porter would meet us as we exited the plane in MIA. We waited a full half hour with an AA gate agent after the plane had emptied before the wheelchair finally arrived, and when it did finally get to the gate there was one chair and three of us waiting for them.

When we finally started our journey through the terminal in MIA our porter was terrible. She stopped frequently to chat with friends and pretty much threw us to the wolves at the baggage carousel. We told her we were TSA pre-checked and had GE and we still put us in a line where we had to fill out paper forms and experience more wait time. Midway to our departing gate apparently her shift ended and she left us waiting for another porter.

I’m not usually into complaining but this experience was so bad I sent a letter after the fact to which I never received any response at all.

So bottom line, while I’m glad some have had great experiences in MIA, ours was terrible and that’s almost being complimentary. NEVER AGAIN for this incapacitated traveler.

What is the cost? Doesn't say on the webpage.

$189 is the normal rate for Clear, I got it covered by my Amex Platinum Card and MJ was able to be added for I think under $100 but don't recall that cost. Not sure quoting Bdeely or Bahston on all this but it is great to have if you are traveling through busy airports that actually have Clear. It is a great add to Precheck, front of Precheck line which at times now can get long.

Pat--As I told you at the time, in June this year we had a fairly good experience with AA wheelchair service in Miami. The previous year I had an absolutely HORRIFIC experience which I made a written complaint to AA about at the time. I wrote them an old time hard-copy letter. I got a preliminary response in about 3 weeks, I think, and then got a few hundred miles for both Eric and I, a couple of months later. Hopefully you will get at least a response soon.

The standard cost is $189 for 12 months. There are many options for getting the price down to about $100 per year. Once one person is signed up in the household than up to 3 others can be signed up for about $60 each.

Thanks.

There's another way to ease your transit through MIA, but it costs. In coach, forget it, but if you've paid for the big seats then check out https://www.aa.com/i18n/plan-travel/extras/five-star-service.jsp

Interesting. Never knew that existed. But since I've never flown in first, I probably wouldn't ever be able to take advantage of it anyway!

Pat! You know that there is no such thing as Customer Service in Miami! No pride in doing a job well done. No striving for a better position. Nothing!
I had better experience in LGA this year and that says a lot!