Flying out of Halifax!

[motherof4]

We have a trip booked for March 6-14th 2012, we are flying from Buffalo direct, my sister in law and niece are flying from Halifax, non-direct flight! It is a US Air flight from halifax to philly then onto MCO. The layover on the way down is only 1hr and 10 minutes, my question is will they pre clear customs in Halifax? Or what is the process? On the way back same route but will have a 3 hour lay over in philly, can they use airport check in at the resort or is it considered an international flight? Anyone know how big or confusing is the Philidelphia airport?

 

[Northstar]

They will pre-clear in Halifax for the trip down.

I don't know about the other questions but there are sure to be Canadian Disers who do!

 

[dvcdisney]

They will pre-clear in Halifax. The only way they won't is if their connecting flight is in Canada. Since they are going to Philadephia, they will go through customs in Halifax. Similarly, on the way back, they will go through customs in Halifax.

They will not be able to use the Resort Airport Check In because their destination is international.

I'm sorry, I don't have any info about the Philadephia Airport.

 

[redrosesix]

They will pre-clear in Halifax. The only way they won't is if their connecting flight is in Canada. Since they are going to Philadephia, they will go through customs in Halifax. Similarly, on the way back, they will go through customs in Halifax.

They will not be able to use the Resort Airport Check In because their destination is international.

I'm sorry, I don't have any info about the Philadephia Airport.

Yup - this is correct. As for the Philly airport, you can find maps of every airport online and you can check with the airline whether or not you'd have to change terminals. I'm pretty sure Philly is an easy connection, but I've never done it myself.

The good thing is flights from Halifax usually leave on time.

 

[dennise]

Redrosix: Our flight in September left 2 hours late, we missed our connection in Newark, had to overnight at our expense. Weather here was beautiful, fog in Newark.

 

[redrosesix]

Redrosix: Our flight in September left 2 hours late, we missed our connection in Newark, had to overnight at our expense. Weather here was beautiful, fog in Newark.

wow - that sucks What airline were you on?

our flights through Toronto often get messed up, but we've never had a problem flying out of Halifax. I hope I didn't jinx our trip because our connection in JFK is only 45 minutes

 

[daver]

45 mins? OMG.... well good luck! At least you clear customs in HFX. The only problem will be if you are switching aircraft, you will have to get your luggage then go to new aircraft. If its just a stopover and you dont leave the aircraft then you'll be fine.... have fun!!

 

[fan1080]

45 mins? OMG.... well good luck! At least you clear customs in HFX. The only problem will be if you are switching aircraft, you will have to get your luggage then go to new aircraft. If its just a stopover and you dont leave the aircraft then you'll be fine.... have fun!!

Agreed, 45 minutes is very tight. Not sure I would book a connecting flight that tight.

However, I did want to point out that as long as the poster you quoted pre-cleared US Customs in Canada, they will not be required to collect their bags. That's the beauty of pre-clearing US Customs.

 

[dennise]

When we were delayed, it was on a Continental flight, used them twice and twice had delays, otherwise they were OK. We were through Newark.

 

[motherof4]

Thanks everyone for all your advice! I looked up the Philadelphia terminal and looks pretty straight forward! Just to add a few things to anyone else changing plans, we have learned from past experience to always double check the gate when you get off! We had a connection from buffalo to Atlanta (which is a huge and confusing terminal btw!) and our connection was supposed to be 2 gates down from where we arrived, and when we got to the gate found out it had changed, to way across on the other side of terminal, we had 40 minutes with 4 young kids in tow to get there, just made it as they were about to close the gate! So happy that they pre-clear in Halifax!

 

[tjdismom]

wow - that sucks What airline were you on?

our flights through Toronto often get messed up, but we've never had a problem flying out of Halifax. I hope I didn't jinx our trip because our connection in JFK is only 45 minutes

Wow that is a tight connection! I am surprised that they allowed you to book that as most airlines have a minimum connection time of around 55 minutes. I am assuming it must be a touchdown and not a switching of planes/gates.

 

[Applemomma]

I can answer your question about resort check in....in short, no. We looked into it at the resort on our last trip and they said it doesn't matter where you clear customs on your return flight it's where your final destination is. In the end it wasn't a big deal at all. You can however use Magical Express on your way down though!

 

[redrosesix]

Wow that is a tight connection! I am surprised that they allowed you to book that as most airlines have a minimum connection time of around 55 minutes. I am assuming it must be a touchdown and not a switching of planes/gates.

Nope -- anything over 30 minutes is a legal connection. We aren't changing terminals but we are changing planes/gates. We're arriving in JFK on a small plane and our seats are booked in the 5th row -- we plan to let them know as soon as we board about our tight connection (so we can sprint as soon as we land hopefully) I wouldn't do it if we were changing terminals though.

 

[hockeymomNS]

My brother and SIL are flying Continental in a couple of weeks and have 30 mins to change planes in Newark!!