Meeting up between terminals at McCarran?

[ChanaC]

Hi all - I know this sub isn't super active, but if there are any Vegas locals or just frequent visitors who are familiar with McCarran I could use some help. I'm flying into Vegas for the first time next week and am meeting up with family at the airport (we live in different cities) so we can get a taxi and go to our hotel together. I'm flying on Southwest into terminal 1. About 20 minutes later my family will land into terminal 3 flying on Jetblue. We are all checking bags, so my goal is to get my bag and make it to the terminal 3 carousels to wait for them. Are the two terminals connected pre-security? I see that the terminals are connected by the trams, but it looks like only post-security, unless I'm wrong. I don't mind walking to the other terminal, assuming there is a sidewalk and it's not a terribly long walk. If it's too hard to connect up pre-security I might just take a carry on so I can get off the plane and take a tram to terminal 3 and wait for them by the gate, but since Southwest has free checked bags sometimes it's just easier to check a bag and not have to drag it on the plane and into the overhead bins.

Any help would be really appreciated!

 

[bcla]

I did that back around Christmas 2012. I arrived on Southwest from SJC (closer to work) and my family arrived on Virgin America from SFO at Terminal 3. I took the interterminal shuttle although I only had carry on. While my flight was about a half hour late, theirs was about 7 hours late due to equipment issues from bad weather on the east coast.

https://www.mccarran.com/Transportation/InterTerminalShuttle

 

[FCDub]

You don't want to check a bag going to Vegas. It'll take forever to retrieve it. Seriously, don't check a bag if you can avoid it.