joan

Not to me! I'd rather save my $ and take my chances...odds are Tia'll be fine. Why read all those clauses now, dianeg? Tia already spent the money - now she's just gotta switch to carryon! No worries!

Robert

I used to fly into MIA when going to scuba and reef survey in the Keys, but avoided it after one attempt. Long lines, confused staff at the car rental company, etc. I fly into Ft. Lauderdale and find getting and exiting the place with a rental car much easier; worth the few miles more driving miles to the Keys. Never had any problem returing from the Caribbean into Miami, though.Once our luggage didn't make it, though (Delta), but no problem. We flew back home, and 6 hours later a car pulled up to our front doorstep with all our luggage. Delta, and I'm sure other airlines make sure your baggage is returned to your home doorstep ASAP when they make goofs. I guess that's why pencils have erasers on the ends. Turned out our luggage was mistakenly loaded onto the next Delta flight out to MIA. Robert

dianeg

Joan,

My point to Tia was three-fold:

a) She shouldn't, as most of you have done, assume that her two tickets scenario would result in the same outcome as if she were travelling with a single onward ticket, if things go wrong.

b) Because her ticket is not a single onward journey, with a connection in MIA, Delta has no obligation to her if she doesn't show up in MIA in time to check-in. In MIA, Tia will have to claim her bags from Cayman Airways, go through US Customs and have to deal with heightened security - no "ifs & buts" about this. Given the current situation at MIA, Tia does run the real risk of missing her return connection.

c) I didn't get the impression that Tia had been convinced of flying with only carry-on. If Tia were to be fully informed of the restrictive conditions of her ticket with Delta, this may convince her.

This post may come as a hard dose of reality, but this is the situation Tia faces today. Personally, I've had connections through MIA that went smooth as silk and others that didn't. I've also done it both ways: single onward ticket and split tickets. I have not done this, however, in time of war.

After having said all this, there may be another way for Tia to diminish the risk:

Given the current war situation, Tia can call Delta and ask if she can change her her return flight from MIA to a later connection. Delta would be under no obligation to do this, but they might agree if she explains her situation. If she's turned down by one call agent, she can call again and see if the response can be different with a more sympathetic agent.

Tia

Gosh!!! I'm REALLY nervous about this whole trip now!! I triple checked my tickets and we have 2 1/2 hours in MIA to claim our bags, clear customs, and check in for our Delta flight home. I think we're going to wing it and see what happens. There is no way we could possibly attempt to use only carry ons as we have all our snorkel gear. I guess if we have to pay a penalty, we pay it. It's the price of having the privilege to travel. As long as we don't miss our flight from MIA to Cayman, we'll be happy. On the way back, well if we have to take another vacation day in Miami, so be it. I guess, in the end, I've learned my lesson about using two separate tickets instead of one continuous one!

Tia