Flight to the Turks and Caicos

StanKase · Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2008 Post subject: Flight to the Turks and Caicos

I think I have made a huge mistake in my booking of my flight. I am flying from Portland, OR. to the Turks and Caicos. Well, as I was researching flights it kept looking like the best flights down to Provo were coming from Charlotte, NC. All the flights were so much more expensive going to the miami area. So I went ahead and booked my first leg from Portland to Charlotte. Now that I am starting to look at flights from Charlotte I am going "oh, no the flight back from Provo gets into Charlotte at 6:04 p.m. and we have to leave Charlotte by 6:38p.m. I don't think we would be able to make that. Does anyone know what happens if we missed that flight back to Portland? Would they let us get on a later flight? or are we just out of luck? I probably should have booked the whole flight together but it looked better to do it this way because we wanted to stay one night on the east coast so when we got to Provo we would be making full use of our first day.

USVI · Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2008 Post subject: Flight to the Turks and Caicos connection

There's no way you can make a 34 minute connection on your return trip. You'll have to clear immigration, claim yany chhecked luggage, clear customs and re-check your luggage once you get to Charlotte after leaving Provo. You'll then have to make your way to the departure gate for your flight back to Provo. all this assumes you have your boarding passes for your Charlotte/Portland flight. That's going to take at least 30 minutes and could take as much as an hour - your actual time will depend on how many other international flights arrive the same times as yours as everyone on those flights will be doing essentially the same thing.

When I first read your post I was wondering how the airline "booked" such a short connection as anything under an hour is not concidered a "legal" connection for an international flight but I realized you booked your flights as "seperate" tickets. This is going to cause you major problems as the airline is not responsible for getting you to your destination if you miss your connecting flight. While they will make an effort to get you to your destination it may not be "on the next flight". You could end up flying back to Portland the following day (you'll have to make and pay for any overnight accomodations as it's not the airlines problem (which it would be if you were booked on one ticket).

You'd be wise to contact your airline and re-book with a longer connection time. You'll probably have to pay a change fee but it will be worth it in the long run.

Vieques and Culebra · Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2008 Post subject: Turks and Caicos thru Charlotte

We usually travel to Turks thru Charlotte. The return is usually more of an issue. The plane leaving is usually the refueled arrival that was to be on time to then turn around and depart on time. We have had to run thru the airport to catch our connecting flight(and we do not check bags- but only use carry ons). The longer the time between flight the better. However, we have overnighted in Charlotte 2x when there were problems, and it is very easy to take a shuttle to a hotel nearby the airport and then back in the am for your return(worst case). Hope that this helps

claibornel · Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2008 Post subject: Turks and Caicos flights

I agree that there is no way you'll make that connection. We once spent about 2 hours getting through customs and immigration in Charlotte and, along with many others, missed our connecting flight home. A lot of Caribbean flights land there at the same time each evening, coming from the resort areas. Since the airlines had booked the connection they paid for us to stay in Charlotte overnight and also for dinner/breakfast, but it was still a pain. I would never book an international flight through Charlotte again with less than 2 hours connection time.