TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Jet Blue from Ft Lauderdale via San Juan

For a trip to SXM in October I just booked a round trip on JetBlue from FLL to SXM with a change of planes in SJU. All legs are on Embraer 190 aircraft. I was wondering how clearance of US customs is handled on the return trip, i.e. is it done in SJU or FLL? Are there any potential issues I should be aware of for this itinerary? Thanks in advance for any info or suggestions.

By the way, the fare was $415 RT PP all-inclusive with first bag free.

You clear customs in SJU. Never flown that routing myself, although flown SXM--SJU--Orlando several times. Historically, SJU has a really bad reputation for baggage people stealing stuff out of luggage, so be very careful and pack nothing of any value in a bag that ever leaves your hand. This also includes carry on bags. Be careful you know where your valuables are in the carry on bag on the offchance that you will have to gate check a bag.

Thanks Carol. The layover in SJU on the return is 1.5 hours. Is that sufficient?

It SHOULD be good enough, unless your plane is late leaving SXM. I don't know what it is, but people are reporting various airlines are reporting being late, to very late, leaving SXM, and often, people are on the plane, just waiting to take off. When we left SXM in December 2014, we waited a good 30 minutes on the ground, after we left the gate.

We have flown that route and will be flying it in May. The layover in SJU should be fine-we've never had a problem with it.

Thanks av8er. I would appreciate a post after your trip in May with a report on how it went.

I just purchased my jet blue ticket from tampa to sxm for 330.00 always do customs on the way back thru san juan

Will do

By the way, nonstops are coming from Florida to SXM... soon. The question is Orlando or FLL. I'm writing about it for Monday's SXM Weekly News... even the airport isn't sure which city yet.

hoping FLL!!

Just did the Jet Blue SXM to SJU yesterday afternoon. On arrival, we were the ONLY plane going through customs...so it was a breeze. Literally, no waiting!! To pick up suitcases to transfer took less than TEN MINUTES. The Orlando flight was leaving the same time our flight to FLL was, and we made it with time to spare. Very easy. Only drawback on our flight was, they announced the TV's were not in service, and JB was aware, and some voucher is supposed to be issued to all. Not sure what that meant, but will see where it goes. Also, the walk from the plane to customs was very short...but..the walk then to get to the connecting flight was a little longer, but no where as long as the old days.

D*MN, don't get my hopes up!! ORLANDO!!! What is with this crap with airlines that they all have nonstops from the exact same place!! If Jet Blue were to do nonstop from Orlando, no telling how popular that would be! We have NO non-stops from Central Florida to SXM.. FLL, there's already AA and Spirit from south Florida..

Carol....you take Spirit...we'll take JB in FLL

We do Nashville-Tampa-SJU and spend the night. Then JetBlue round trip to SXM. Less stress

H*ll, if they moved Spirit to Orlando, I would!

That's the spirit. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

With FLL having more non-stops than Orlando, I'd say the choice is FLL since they can draw more connecting traffic. Although at MCO, B6 charges a premium versus other Florida airports. I find MCO-SXM via SJU is always close to $100 more than TPA-SXM or FLL-SXM both via SJU.

That is true, Orlando is generally more than Tampa through SJU. Never really checked what the price is for FLL, cause if we're driving that far, we just go to Miami for AA.

I have heard confirmation that it is indeed FLL. The question is now will SJU-SXM survive or will FLL-SXM replace SJU-SXM.

Whatever. Doesn't surprise me. P*sses me off, but doesn't surprise me.

makes me happy if true.

since there are direct flights from Miami which is so close to FLL I would think Orlando