Tara

My husband and I will be going to SLU over X-mas. We will be flying into/out of the little airport (SLU). Has anyone flown in/out of there lately? We are taking American to San Juan to catch our connection home and we have a 9:35 am flight out. I'm wondering how early we have to leave the resort in the morning. We are staying at Sandals which is only 10 min. away, but, when I confirmed our tickets the airline said we had to be there 3 hours early. Are they serious???? That would mean we need to leave at 6:00 am to get to the airport by 6:30 am for a 9:30 am flight. Yuck!

Audrey

We just flew out of there last week, same route - American Eagle flight to San Juan. We were told we needed to be there two hours early. The only logical reason I saw for this is that they are SO SLOW! We stood in line forever (and it wasn't a big line) just to check in, and it was a slow process. We sat around waiting for our flight, but not for that long. I wouldn't get there 3 hours early, but maybe 1.5-2. This airport is so tiny and if you have to sit around waiting, there's nothing to keep you occupied.<BR><BR>Puerto Rico was where we had to go through customs and immigration, so that was where we needed more time.

Tara

Last April my husband and I went to Antigua and we had a similar route plan going thru San Juan back to the states on American Eagle. The American Eagle flight was late by 15 minutes and we only had an hour scheduled to catch our connection. Because we had to go thru customs in San Juan (which was slow), we ended up missing our flight home... and... it was the last flight home of the day. We had to take another airline home going a very indirect way and got home at 1:00 am. This time we have 1.5 hours in San Juan. My concern in my message below was sitting in that little St Lucia airport for 3 hours when I could be enjoying a great breakfast at Sandals instead!

Mike Mellum

We flew out on the 5th of November. We were checked three times before we left. The first time they went through every part of our luggage. You don't need to get there more than 45 minutes early. There was no one staying on the island due to 9/11. On halloween we were the only people in 4 different bars. There was a traffic jam coming into town from the north, however which may be where you are staying. We stayed at Marigot Bay to the south and there was no traffic problems. Once we got to San Juan and cleared customs. We waited til our flight was supposed to take off, when they came on the PA system and said that they didn't know where the pilots were. They eventually grabbed some pilots out of the lounge and had them fly us to Dallas, TX - 1 1/2 hours late. We missed our next connection. Had to wait 3 hours for the next one. They said they dropped the ball and had NO pilots scheduled for that flight. That's American. Our friends left before us by 2 days and said they were two hours late leaving St. Lucia and missed the plane also out of San Juan to Dallas.

Audrey

Well, we really had no problems with American at all. All our flights went really well, and all were pretty much on time. We only had about an hour between each of our connections, and never missed any of them.<BR><BR>Also, the island was NOT empty when we were there a couple weeks ago, so I think people are travelling again, and don't count on having no lines. All our flights were nearly full. I would not worry about getting there 3 hours early, but I wouldn't cut it too close either. They do go through all your stuff several times at SLU and they don't move very quickly!

fur

we just got back from st. lucia on sunday 11/25. they did tell us to be at the airport 3 hrs in advance, we got there 2 hrs early...the line was short and check in was fairly quick...took us about 15 min. total .

Pam

We just flew in from Tortola on AA on Monday. We were xrayed so many times I probably glow in the dark now. All our bags were thoroughly searched in Tortola but the process goes along fairly quickly (be advised, no matches or lighters even in your checked luggage and no hot sauce in your carry on bags). AA advised us to be at the airport 3 hours early but we left the hotel 2 hours early (on the hotel's recommendation) and had ample time.