I am flying into Santa Cruz from Miami on AA 922 which arrives at 7.45. My connecting flight to Sucre is at 9.15.on Amazsonas. I have had contradictory information as to whether I will have enough time to connect, since it apparently takes time to obtain visa and go through customs. Has anyone had experience with this and can give me advice whether this is possible.
The alternative , which will cost over $500 to change our tickets since there are two of us, is to get off the plane at La Paz and connect from there, or spend all day at the airport in Santa Cruz for a later flight.
wolfetaylor
1
tunabagel
whilst it is maybe possible you would make it I would say it is risky and that is not even taking into consideration that you might have a delay on your miami to SC flight.
If you arrive on time at 7.45 , you then have to get off the plane , wait for baggage to arrive and then do immigration. This is probable 30 to 45 minutes putting you at 8.15 -8.30. You are meant to check in 1 hour before for internal flights and there is usually a cut off time of about 30 minutes (maybe 20) before.
So you can see you have no room for error and that is with guessing the amount of time it takes to go through immigration.
Your alternative seems a silly amount of money when you could easily just stay a night in santa cruz and fly the next day for a fraction of the amount you state.
2
fieldgate
Normally 1.5 hr should be enough - ViruViru airport isn't big, however if you have to collect your luggage and pass through the immigration that might be a little bit short.
Instead of paying another more expensive flight I'd rather opt for a bus trip.
3
pablo7691
Hello
You should just about make your connection ok, as post 1 said , biggest concern is whether the flight arrives in SC on time.
If you get stuck in a long queue at customs just politely push to the front explaining your position.
To reassure you, i have on two occasions used that Miami SC flight and both arrived on time. Also Viru Viru is small and very easy to navigate quickly.
No worries
Have a good trip
4
contenta
Last time I arrived at Viru Viru it took me one hour and ten minutes to get through immigration and customs. They didn't have enough people working to handle the number of passengers. That was at 1am. Not sure if it's better during the day.
5
paulywog
My experience with American is not great, they're often not on time coming in to Viru Viru. I'd agree with what most of the others have said. You're pushing it with only 90 minutes. What I would recommend is to catch a later flight, or stay over in Santa Cruz. Depending on what day you come in, you might find a flight around noon to Sucre. Check TAM's itinerary at http://www.tam.bo/Itinerarios. Or there's also BOA, but their website is not working right now. If you stay over in Santa Cruz, the Sun Hotel is literally right across the highway from the airport and will probably run you around $100 for a room, and is a nice enough place. My bottom line answer is don't count on making your connection to Sucre as your itinerary is set right now, you'll lower your anxiety level quite a bit by either staying over or grabbing later flight to Sucre.
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