travelbaba

Hello

I'll be flying from San Frnacisco to SJO in July (via TACA air). From SJO, I plan to fly
Sansa Air to Puerto Jiminez. How long a layover should I account for ? Is 2-3 hours between flights enough each way ? I'll be flying out of SJO on a 5:20PM flight. I have a 11:30AM flight from P.Jim that arrives in SJO at 12:30PM and a 2PM flight that arrives in SJO at 3:00PM. The 3:00PM flight souds ideal. But is 2 hours enough to board the international flight back to the US ? Are Sansa flights schedule reliable ?
Thanks in advance. TB.

Jeff_Costa_Rica

The safe answer to your question is, no, that's not enough time. The realistic answer is, maybe. But no one should tell you, yes, you'll be fine.

Sansa recommends against connecting to and from their flights on the same day you're connecting to and from an international flight. If your flight arrives in San Jose on time and the line in immigration isn't long (never a guarantee), you'll make your Sansa flight. The terminal is next door to the international terminal, about a 5-10 minute walk.

Coming back, I'd definitely take the earlier flight, or even a flight the day before. You are supposed to check in three hours before a flight to the U.S. Sometimes you breeze right through, and other times, you need most of that time. There's never any way to tell what it will be. This also assumes that your Sansa flight gets in on time. That's never a guarantee either.

raderbarbarian

And Sansa flies small planes and flights often get delayed or cancelled entirely, especially in the rainy season. I never book local flights except mornings. Since the rains arrive in the afternoon, you can count on your flight being cancelled.

Life (like a vacation) is too short for stress. Fly to San Jose the day before your international flight. Don't chance it.

tully

I've taken morning Sansa flights and made it to SJO in time, but that's padded with a (long) 4-5 hour layover. The later one is defintely too close.

locolowe

I would definitely NOT book the 2pm flight - that is WAY too close. I agree with the others and come back a day earlier. There is a lot of neat things to see around San Jose.

Here is what I experienced with Sansa from my Feb trip - a copy of my trip report is below

"In order to have proper expectations, be aware that Sansa operates with a laid-back attitude and they like to overbook (obviously its high season too). Sansa’s timetable is listing when the first flight to a particular destination leaves – what they don’t tell you is that there may be another plane with the same flight # going to your destination but it leaves 45min later – “you get there when you get there” (this happened on the way down – we were the second flight for that time which left about 1hr later - and on the way back, though luckily we were on the first plane). Also, Sansa could not get all of the luggage on the plane so we had to wait another hour after we got to Puerto Jimenez. It wouldn’t have been that bad except that we were under the weight limits and they took someone else’s bags (who paid for being over) ahead of ours – grrrr. So 1hr later (2hrs after we should have left on the bumpy road to BdC), our bag arrives – the plane had no passengers, just 6 pieces of luggage.

We didn’t hear of any of these kinds of stories about Nature Air – though I suspect that during high season, it might also occur.

By the way, if you are traveling on Sansa, there is no need to take a taxi to the terminal (it’s only about 150yds away). The easiest way to find it, is to go upstairs to the departure level (arrival level is the lower level) and look to your left, the next building over is the Sansa terminal – the terminal sits back off the road and has a small Sansa sign. It is about a 3-5min walk."

Also, we came back a day earlier to see a couple of San Jose's sights. Here is a copy of what we did from my trip report...


"SAN JOSE

Friday morning we left on the first flight of the 7am group (second one was 45min later) and arrived in San Jose around 8am. We arranged with Aventuras Turisticas Zamar (www.emotionguaranteed.com) for a daylong guide and driver. We had Luis and he was fabulous. Even if you are not staying at Orquideas Inn (where they are based out of) I would still use them – they go all over. Luis is outgoing and his English is excellent. He went to University for a degree in tourism and to learn English, so he is just full of neat nuggets about what you are looking at. He represents his country well. He is very outgoing and loved to talk, so we asked lots of questions about life in Costa Rica and his families traditions.

We had agreed to an itinerary beforehand and it was $120 for the day – just the two of us and Luis – plus entrance fees and lunch. Luis paid all of the entrance fees, so all we had to do was pay the company at the end of the day (in cash – no traveler’s checks).

We went to Poas Volcano (get there before 10am) – it was so clear that you could see both coasts and Arenal (Luis said he has never seen it so clear). Hubby did a canopy tour at the base of Poas (Luis and I went shopping). We had a great Tico lunch nearby – late around 2pm. Then we stopped by a bank so I could cash the traveler’s checks for their payment – and then off to Doka Estate coffee tour. It is an actual working plantation, better than Café Britt’s tour, and I would highly recommend seeing where Starbucks gets (some of) their coffee.

We got back to Orquideas Inn (www.orquideasinn.com) around 5pm and checked into “Susan’s Room.” Very nice – hardwood floor, balcony, in the upper villa. Since we had a late lunch, we decided to hit the whirlpool first and then get cleaned up and have a later dinner. Food was very nice and would highly recommend the hotel if you want to stay within 10min of the international airport."


If you want to see pictures, you can see some of them at http://lowetraveladventures.shutterfly.com (San Jose and Orquideas Inn ones will be towards the end of the gallery)

jryal7

i would take NatureAir over Sansa, i feel like Sansa's itinerary is a bad attempt or just a suggestion, supposedly they offer 10 flights to Tamarindo, as a long time resident they have not flown 10 flights in my 6 years of being here.
NatureAir offers less flights but flies them, they are the best option and a really cool staff and safe operations.
have a great time.

dmcnama

I wholeheartedly agree with the last post re: Sansa. Sansa is an absolute joke with staff who could care less about you, your luggage or anything else for that matter. The only stress I felt during my awsome trip to CR last week was due to Sansa. When I return next year, I will definitely take a cab over to the other San Jose airport to fly Nature Air. They appear to be competent and oh so much more reliable.

Brian

I've flown Sansa 3 times (round trip) in the last 3 years, and all my flights have been pretty much on time. Maybe I was just lucky...

tully

No, not lucky...I've flown them the past 3 years as well, several round trips, never had a proble, always left on time, polite employees.

Actually the only problem I ever had was when my plane never arrived to pick me up and no help or arrangements were to be found.....and that was on Nature Air! So go figure.