TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Question for Miami transfer

In look at AA schedule for November, there is no longer a direct flight from CLT to SXM. There is one flight from CLT via MIA to SXM. It has only a 45-minute layover. I’m not at all familiar with the gates/terminals in Miami. Is 45 minutes enough time for a layover? We will be travelling with a family member who needs either a wheelchair or cart.

Thank you in advance.

45 min should be fine as long as there are no delays in CLT.

I assume you are talking about on the way down, as 45 minutes on the return is not a legal connection. IF your incoming flight is ontime, you should be able to make the connection. Wheelchair is the only option, which you should arrange with AA.

Thank you

I hate to say it, but in my opinion that is not enough time. MIA is a huge, congested airport. We used to fly out of FLL all the time and loved it but now it seems only Spirit flies nonstop from there. I could be wrong on that, just not sure. I, for one, would not chance it. Last time we flew down (Jan 17th) connecting from TPA I had booked a flight with a very short connection. Thinking twice, I changed it to a connection that was about an hour and a half. There were two gate changes and a change of terminal involved and if we didn't have enough time--even using the sky train we would not have made it.

If we decide to fly out of MIA in the future, we will go the day before and stay at a hotel that has shuttle service.

I have done a 50 minute transfer in Miami with no problem. Luggage even made it. As others have stated, it is important that your flight to Miami is on time. Also, since wheelchair service can often be unpredictable, that would make me more concerned about a short connection time.

CaribLee--I have definitely had issues in the past with wheelchair transfers in Miami, but I actually did have a decent experience last time coming in to Miami with wheelchair service. Travelling these days is such sweet sorrow.

AA dropped the CLT-SXM flights last year too, only to restore many of them a month or two later. I just booked November/December myself, MIA connection on the way down, PHL on the way back. Might be worth waiting a bit to see if they bring them back again.

We still have the SEA CLT SXM connections for this coming May. 🤞 with a long layover in CLT.

Our November 26 RDU/CLT/SXM flight is still scheduled. What dates are you looking for?

That's a tight connection depending on where the gates are.

If you have a wheelchair escort, AA makes a point to get you there !

We need November 1-11, 2023. Strangely, they do have a couple of direct flights a few days before and the weekend after our needed days.

Yes, thinking I’m going to wait a bit and see what happens. Otherwise, will probably do ATL again, even though son and DIL live in CLT. Just too tight, especially with the needed wheelchair assistance to attempt it.

I spoke to one of the AA telephone reps and she told me she has no idea why they changed the direct flights, but did say it’s ‘possible’ they might change them back. Her little tidbit of wisdom for me was, “the only definite about airline travel today is change.” Mmmm.

Thank you all for your responses. We live in Knoxville and normally drive the 3 hours to ATL and flly non-stop from there. But we’re bringing our son and DIL with us in November and they live in Charlotte. So we were attempting to fly AA this time from there. We’ll see what happens.