Have seen some amazing stories regarding travel and airports on this site - got me to wondering about what might occur when we fly in a couple weeks.

None of us have never flown through Boston, and so any suggestions regarding the airport, its layout, immigration and customs or working with Northwest Airlines would be appreciated.

We are flying NWA through Boston on our way to Amsterdam and Florence on Christmas Eve and back on New Year's Eve.

If all goes well, we have an hour and 15 minutes on the ground in Boston to get ourselves over to the Amsterdam flight. (Hoping that this leg won't be much of a problem - IF our flight to Amsterdam boards in the same area of the terminal as the inbound domestic flight from Detroit.)

BUT the big concern is on our return - we have an hour and a half to move from our inbound flight, through immigration and customs and then on to our connection for Detroit on New Year's Eve. (There have been times when it has taken me ALL of an hour and a half to complete this phase of the trip when I fly direct TO Detroit!)

Any thoughts on this rather tight schedule - suggestions to get through with the least difficulty as possible, or tricks that might help us to make our connections?

It will be tight. You have to pick up your luggage after you clear immigration and go thru customs, then recheck your luggage. Worst case in my opinion would be your luggage not making the connection. Anything you might need at your final destination such as toiletries, take with you on your carry on.

Can you manage to come up with a bum gam (bad leg) and a cane? This suggestion is tongue-in-cheek, of course, but when we flew from Sea-Tac to Amsterdam via Newark last fall, my sister was recovering from a torn miniscus and so arranged for wheel-chair transport through the airline. It was wonderful, even though it didn't help in the end in making the Newark connection because the plane for Amsterdam departed before we had landed.

However, had we arrived in time to make a tight connection, the assistance provided by the porters who negotiated us through the airport, with special handling at security check points, etc., could have made the difference, and it certainly greatly alleviated the stress factor.

What terminal does NW arrive in Boston? Most international flights leave from Terminal E. However AA leaves from it's regular terminal, so I was thinking that NW might also leave from their normal terminal. In that case getting to the plane is a snap. If you arrive at terminal C or D the walk to termianl E is not far. There are buses that take you around the airport, but you really can walk the distance. Terminal B is a little father away. Coming back it will be tight if not impossible. Going through customs is not difficult, but waiting to deplane and waiting for the luggage and waiting in line for customs takes a lot of time. All returning international flights arrive a termianl E. Even walking over to termial D or C and finding the correct gate is madding and do you have to go through security again to get on the Boston to Detriot flight? If you do, then I do not think you will make your connection. Good luck and have fun!!

I would suggest immediately seeking out the help of a porter upon your arrival. We had less than an hour to get our luggage, clear customs and get to our connecting flight which was located in a different terminal. The savy porter knew the fastest customs officer and let them know we had a flight to catch. What ever my husband tipped was money well spent...we made our flight and the crew at the gate seemed surprised...like nobody makes that connection.

The website for Boston Logan is http://www.massport.com. It has maps and lots of other information.

I am surprised that Northwest would book you with that little time between flights, usually they require 2 hours. If you booked these flights separately yourself, NW may not fell they have to do anything for you if you end up missing your flight, as they may view the connection time as "illegal".

Those are not "illegal" connection times for Boston on Northwest. The minimum is 60 minutes to connection from domestic to an international flight and 90 minutes to connect from international to domestic on the return. While there will not be any time to lose, you should be okay. Those are not likely to be super heavy travel days, either.

Thanks everybody for the ideas an info folks - the trip to Amsterdam / Florence sounds like we should be ok if the weather is willing - here in Michigan they are predicting rain and snow on 12/24 - that could make things a bit messy... We will take the extras in our carry-on to make sure that we are covered, "just in case", but I am not sure if we can pull off the "bum leg" action - though its good to have an "ace in the hole" should things get tight.

Back to Yipper: I have been checking at the NorthWest website for this combination of flights. Over the past few days/week the flight from Detroit has arrived at Gate E2B. The flight to Amsterdam has departed from Gate E3B. To me this sounds pretty good - like they are right next to each other...

BTW, as the flight out will take place on Christmas Eve, and in our family it has been tradition to have seafood for dinner - are there any spots in Terminal E where we could grab some good chowder or any other East Coast seafood? (After reviewing the map of Terminal E, I found ONE possibility - Portside Cafe... items prepared by the Samuel Adams Boston Brewhouse - any thoughts here?)

Yipper mentioned there could be a delay in "walking over to termial D or C and finding the correct gate is madding and do you have to go through security again to get on the Boston to Detriot flight?" I am not sure here - I also checked on the arrival / departure gates for the trip back to the States... Found the Amsterdam to Boston flight arrives at Gate E3B - and wouldn't you know it, the Boston to Detroit flight departs from Gate E2B. SO, the good news is that it seems we will arrive and depart from E Terminal for all flights, question is - will we have enough time to get off the Amsterdam flight with luggage, make it through customs, and get re-checked and back on board for the flight to Detroit? (Remember, this will be a scheduled hour and a half.)

As Klondike mentioned, on our return we plan to immediately seek out the help of a porter upon arrival. I agree that the tip will be money well spent.

Thanks Cicerone - got the map of the airport, will take it with us for reference... Just wish it was a little more detailed, with a view inside the terminals.

Regarding the "legal / illegal" concerns and information provided by Cicerone and Flyboy. We did book these flights through www.nwa.com, so I hope that they know of, and will work with us on the connection.

If Flyboy is correct, and we land/depart the same terminal on the outbound trip all should be good. That return trip with the 4:05 pm arrival and the 5:37 departure will be tight, but it falls within the ruling mentioned by Flyboy (90 minutes to connect from international to domestic).

So the final question is: Has anybody had any experience working with NWA crew / terminal people on tight connections like this? If things get tight will they work with us?

Quick note on our return through Boston Logan. All went SMOOTHLY on both sides of the transfer in and out of Boston with Northwest Airlines (wish I could say the same regarding Amsterdam to Florence on Meridiana - they cancelled the flight, didn't inform KLM about it, and then did not get us our luggage for two days...).

On our flight in it was a little crowded in the terminal, but we had lots of time between flights to compose ourselves, hit the bathrooms etc... Northwest flights in and out of Boston boarded at gates right next to each other in E terminal.

All of the worries on the way home were for naught, though we must have had some blessings regarding our luggage and the move through immigration and customs.

Knowing that we had a tight connection, I moved the family along as quickly as possible, there were a number of immigration officers available, and we jumped right into an open counter for our interview (there was a second plane that landed about the same time as we did, and we saw the lines GROW as we finished our interview). BTW, we declared EVERYTHING on our form - cheese, mushrooms and dried fruit. (We live very close to Canada, and shop there often, so we know the importance of giving all the details up front to move the process along as best as possible.) We got a big yellow A marked on our form by the immigration official, didn't think this was a good thing...

After we finished our interview we moved ahead, and rounded a corner into the baggage claim area (about a 40 second walk). There we waited for the bags, which came up rather quickly IMHO.

From there we headed out the door to the customs inspectors. No lines, no waiting... As we approached the official (noticing the big yellow A) sent us to the the Department of Agriculture stand. We were asked what the "food items" were, and we explained it was parmesan cheese and porccini mushrooms (vacuum packed) as well as some dried fruit. ALL of these items were at the top of my carry-on pack, so I was able to pull them out right quick. With a quick look, the inspector said all was ok, thanks and off you go!

At that point we headed out the door and to the left to hand our bags over to the transfer clerks - who checked our bag tags and then, very roughly (as you might throw your trash across the street) threw the bags onto the conveyor belt for our final destination.

Total time for the process? About 20 minutes! So, we still had over an hour to recompose, hit the bathrooms, and grab a bowl of chowder before our final leg to Detroit!

Thanks for all the thoughts and information! I hope everyone else out there has travel news as great as we did!

Hi,
I am so glad that everything worked out so well at Logan. It was helpful that all the in and outs took place at terminal E. Did you have the Legal Seafood chowder? It is really good. Also I assume your trip was spectacular.

Happy New Year, Yipper

glad it all worked out for you....20 minutes...you win the prize for 2003 for the fastest in boston...i plan on 40 minimum..

Thanks Yipper, No, we did not find Legal Seafood chowder - for future reference,just in case, which terminal is it in? (Have to admit it was the "French Place" Au Bon Pain where we go the chowder - I know, about as good as canned, but hey, we were in Boston, and had enough time to grab a chowder, that was all that mattered to us!).

Yes, the trip was spectacular - Siena / Tuscan hill country / Orvieto / Florence. Seemed every turn there was something else even more wonderful to look at. And the food!!! We packed wine, mushrooms, olive oil, cheese, and vinegar home - plan to do our best to "cook Italian" (so much for the New Year's diet...)

And yes, rhkkmk - we felt like we won a prize for such a fast "turnover" in Boston (and the reward was being able to rest and relax before the next flight - good enough for me!) The only time we actually stopped for more than a moment (to talk to the immigration and custom's officals) was when we waited about 10 minutes for our bags. By comparison, the last two times I flew direct into our "new" home airport in Detroit it took me at least an hour to just get the luggage and clear immigration and customs. Have to note, we did bring back some sausage one time, and the other time I had kept fresh fruit in my carryon bag, so the "agriculture beagle" sniffed me out - but found nothing. Knowing what you can and cannot bring back, plus keeping the "questionable stuff" in a place for easy access can all contribute to a quicker and more positive experience.

With all the worrying about a short 90 minute layover I felt pretty foolish that it was so fast! As I said, we felt blessed!