0

I will be arriving at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) at Terminal 3 from an international flight. I have a separate ticket for a connecting flight to New York, which may depart from a different terminal (possibly Terminal 2). How much time should I allow between landing and takeoff? I need to account for collecting my suitcase, going through border control, checking in for my flight to New York, and possibly transferring to Terminal 2

Meni
  • 1

1 Answers1

1

I would recommend at least 4 hours but this depends a lot on the details

There is no defined minimum connection time for this case. Since these are separate tickets, you carry the full risk of a missed connection including losing your second flight as a "no show" and having to buy a new same day ticket.

So this all comes down to a personal risk assessment. You can always trade risk against layover time.

Factors that you can use to adjust are:

  1. How likely is your flight to be delayed (flightstats.com has delay statistics)
  2. Immigration wait time statistics for your specific airport, terminal and arrival time slot (https://awt.cbp.gov/)
  3. Are you traveling with check luggage ?
  4. Class of service?
  5. Do you have status with any airlines?
  6. Check in for the second flight: can you get a boarding pass online, what are the cutoff times for check-in, bag drop and gate closing?
  7. Terminal layout and transport between terminals (should not be a major problem in FLL)
  8. Mobility: are you good on your feet, do you have lots/heavy luggage, travelling with kids etc.
  9. Cost of a missed connection: are there more flights available later in the day or do you have to stay the night. What's the cost of a same day ticket?

You can assess all of this for your specific case and adjust the connection time up and down to whatever level you are comfortable with.

Even with global entry, TSAPre, and carry-on only, I rarely go under 3 hours with 2 hours being my absolute minimum. Air travel has some inherent unpredictably. We flew yesterday from Paris to Boston and everything was nicely on time. However at the gate next to us, the same airline boarded a flight from Paris to New York which was already 2 hours at late at this time. To me it is just not worth stressing about a connection and hanging out in an airport isn't all that bad these days (especially if you can finagle lounge access).

Hilmar
  • 119,360
  • 8
  • 205
  • 414