San Juan Airport

[brentm77]

Can anyone give me insight into what it is like flying out of the San Juan, Puerto Rico, airport to the continental USA? We have a very early flight (staying at a hotel for the night on disembarking day so we don't fly all night to get back West). Am I correct that there is no customs to go through since PR is part of the US? What is the airport like? Is the standard two hours plenty of time?

 

[hrhdhd]

No customs, but when we flew out, we had to put out bags through a scanner for an agricultural check before we checked in with the airline. Didn't take long, but it's an extra step.

Edit: Had to look at my signature to see that this was in 2016. I am not sure if things have changed since.

 

[AquaDame]

Yes, you have to do the agricultural step for Hawaii and other places as well... as you said it is very quick.

Two hours should be fine. We had to waste 5-6 hours both trips due to crummy flight times and I longed for much less. There is not a ton to do there and security was quick. It wasn't like we were hungry after a week of cruise food!

 

[Calantha]

Yes, we did agriculture in May of 2023. If you have an early flight, you should be okay, otherwise there isn't a lot of decent seating. The club was awful too - no bathroom.

 

[DWillowBay]

Two hours is plenty of time. We had very easy check-in. The agricultural check thing was more cumbersome (I'm short!) than anything else. We laughed about the strict "No pork products" signage. Even bacon? They can't mean bacon! HA. Otherwise... the seating was sparse in our gate area, but I don't know if that was just us or standard for this airport. Very nice shops and restaurants.

 

[auntlynne]

They were remodeling in May 2023. It’s better than most Caribbean airports. The crowd was large, waiting for afternoon flights after the Magic disembarked. Calantha was right - the Airport lounge was not very good, nor Airline specific, more like a bunch of closets strung together. Cramped, with leftover office furniture. There was no Delta Sky Lounge.

This was the exact instance I thought leaving the following morning would have been the right move. I could have used the day to go El Yunque. Still hoping for a return trip for that. (We had arrived the night before the cruise, but also had both been to Old San Juan on prior visits).

The agricultural station was just inside the door as you entered. If you are focused on finding your airline check-in, you might not notice it. No one was directing us to stop there. We saw someone get to the check-in agent, only to be sent back.

Delta check-in was modern, up-to-date (ie, a lot of DIY).

You probably show a passport at airline check-in. But you don’t when flying from LA or other American city; so maybe not unless you present a non-US driver’s license. I use my passport for most flight check-ins.

Customs is usually on arrival from a foreign point of origin for the flight (with no interim foreign stop)?