[luckymommyme]

I am trying to plan for our trip to bring Emma home and wondering if their are better airports for processing her immigration paperwork. We are flying back to the DC area and so far I see these options:

Spirit- through Ft. Lauderdale
Delta - through Atlanta
AA - through Miami
US Air - through Charlotte NC

Any ones to avoid? How much of a layover should I plan on having? I'd rather have time to burn than miss a flight, but we will have our three year old daughter with us as well as 1 year old Emma. So there could be some of this and I'd like to get home asap...

[jroandco]

dallas was great if that can become an option. we were through in no time.

just from traveling a lot, try to avoid miami.

jess

[Quesita]

There are no direct flights to DC? I have to say that when planning my trip back to NYC my number 1 priority is that NYC be the first and only stop in the US.

I HATE getting off a plane, going through immigration, then going to wait for the bags, (and I'm going to have LOTS of bags) and then lugging the bags (and my very tired daughter?) through the line to customs, and, (at which point I have lost or misplaced all of my paperwork that I swear was just in my hand) and then going and rechecking the luggage and figuring out which gate i'm supposed to go to and then running wildly in the wrong direction and finally finding the security gate, clock ticking ticking ticking ticking, buzzing at security, taking off my shoes, going through security again, (will I also be showing bottles and formula and whatnot) and getting there only to find that I have missed the connecting flight, or that it was delayed.

I've looked into Taca Airlines, which changes in San Salvador, then goes straight to NYC. My understanding is that we'll get off the plane, my luggage will be checked through, we'll be held in a secure are that means we haven't really entered the country, and then we board the next flight.

No idea if it will be that easy, but that is my plan.

Not that I am even out of PGN. I just obsess.

[Tamiswaiting]

I had no trouble through Atlanta with immigration. I had a 2 hour 10 minute layover (in the evening, on a Wednesday night)

[WVUMom418]

Krista,

Have you thought about flying Taca Airlines into Dulles? I've flown them and had wonderful luck. I've gone though Miami on AA, avoid it like the plaque. Atlanta was a breeze but it was kind of late at night so they weren't super busy.

[mombyfaith]

Charlotte was unbelievable fast!
They took our packet when we got off the plane, told us to go get our luggage and go to immigrations, got the luggage, went back, they stamped it and congratulated Chloe for being in the US.
We were walking out of the airport 15 mins. after touching down.
I couldn't believe it. After a 2 1/2 year process to get her home, I kept saying to my dh, "It can't be this easy". Sure enough in 3 weeks her COC arrived in the mail.

[kimbo17]

CHARLOTTE CHARLOTTE CHARLOTTE!! We went through their immigration at it was fast, easy, and friendly! I highly recommend Charlotte. Plus the airport is easy to manuever around.

[nathansvolunteers]

We flew Delta through Atlanta, and had no problems at all. However, if I had it to do over again, I would choose Charlotte, only because US Air had MUCH cheaper lap tickets than Delta. (Did not know that at the time, obviously! )
Our agency had cautioned against using Miami, telling us it takes forever to get through Immigration there.
Good luck with your choice!

Cindy

[angelstamper]

Avoid Miami at all cost if you can. Out of your choices, I'd say Charlotte. The smaller tha airport, the less international traffic you are going to have, hence, less delays.

[jordi]

I was going to suggest that too, taking TACA into Dulles. Did that for a visit trip with no problems. Also took AA through Miami (unintentionally) for a visit trip as well, and it actually was fine, although it was weird figuring out where to bring our luggage to get it on our connecting flight. Two people stood behind a line, and we asked if we were supposed to give them the luggage, and they didn't even answer. But others were putting their luggage there, so we did as well, then followed others onto an elevator to try to find our gate. It was all very weird, with no signage, so that didn't make me happy. But we (and our luggage) ended up getting where we needed to be (DC area).

Again, both were visit trips, so I had no children to deal with on the flights home.

[beachykeen]

We flew Delta through Atlanta and had no trouble with immigration. Delta sucks, though. Would NOT use them again. We ended up being stuck in Atlanta for the night coming back and it was an awful experience.

[kmf1524]

I had heard good things abut Charlotte too and that is why I flew through there when I brought my daughter home in April 2007....BIG MISTAKE!!

Not only were they extremely slow, they were very rude to top it off. They made all the families with babies wait while they took all the other people arriving on planes that came AFTER us. When we questioned them about this, here's the response we got "I can make the wait even longer for you with these Guatemalan babies, so I suggest you go back to the room and just wait until I call you!" HUH?!?What miserable people they were and their bahavior was uncalled for. If I would have gotten their names I would have called to complain about them.

[mcnay1]

CHARLOTTE! CHARLOTTE! CHARLOTTE!

We live in Charlotte, so there was no layover for us, but it is super quick and easy...both times. I would worry, though about the time of the flight. If using US Air, it doesnt get in until around 8:00 pm and then if you have to connect, it could be a late, rough night.

But, I highly, highly recommend Charlotte...

[luckymommyme]

Thanks everyone. I will definitely avoid Miami, see if Taca will work, and consider going through Charlotte. I hope we get pink news Tuesday so I can make definite arrangements!

[humanpitchpipe]

I flew Delta through Atlanta. At the time, they were experiencing some bad storms. We circled in the air over Atlanta for 45 minutes. I ran with the baby to get our suitcases and to get through immigration. We were the only people there, it was really quick. Then we ran to the gate, only to discover that our flight had been delayed. In fact, I think that everyone was on delay, the airport was packed. We had to sit on the floor. I was disgusted that no one would give up a seat for someone with a baby! We got on the plane and couldn't leave because there was a plane behind us blocking us in. Then the machine that pushes the planes out was connected to our plane, and it broke. We sat on the plane for an hour! We arrived home at 2:00 a.m, and had an hour drive ahead of us. So to answer your question, immigration is great there, but the airport is to big, and if there are any delays, then it will be miserable! It wasn't as bad when we came back from our visit trip, but we still had a delay, and so did many of the other flights around us. (And the weather was not an issue then.)