Is a one hour and a half layover enough time to go through customs?

Question

I’m flying from Detroit to Bucaramanga, Colombia, on Spirit Airlines. I'll have a 1½ hour layover in Fort Lauderdale. Is that enough time to get through customs? I purchased the tickets under the same booking.

Answer 1

The USA does not have exit customs. Going from a domestic flight to an international flight, you don’t go through customs.

The question is do you need to leave airside to get to the departure terminal. In that case, you would need to go through security again.

Fort Lauderdale airport does have an airside connection between the two terminals through which Spirit operates (see here). Therefore, it is a simple matter to walk between your arrival gate and departure gate.

However, this will be true only if you booked both flights on a single ticket or aren’t checking any bags. If booked on a single ticket, your bags will be tagged for your final destination.

If you have two different tickets and checked bags, you will have to exit airside, pickup your bags, walk to the other terminal, check your bags, have your documents checked and go through security. In this case, 90 minutes would be very tight. You might be able to get Spirit to tag your bags through but there is no guarantee.