$50 Extra/Ticket to Avoid MIA?

[HaveToTravel]

Shopping for our plane tix for Dec to STT out of MSP. We can either connect in Charlotte or Miami, but the Charlotte connection is $50 more per ticket. Both flights have a 1.5 hour layover on the way there. On the way home, the Charlotte layover is 2 hours and the MIA layover is 2.5 hours. Which would you choose? I haven't connected before in MIA, but I've heard horror stories, so I'm wondering if it's worth it to pay more to avoid it. Our frequent flyer miles aren't on these airlines, so all else is equal.

[Lovermont]

What's that thing that investment advisers will say "historical results are not a guarantee of future performance"? I've only connected through MIA once, and it was unbelievable. We we're literally off of our inbound plane, walked to the next gate, and walked on the onward flight to STT. "Door to door" from the first flight to the second was less than 3 minutes. It was a crazy easy connection. So, my perspective is that MIA is great! But, the next person might have a horror story.

[mnfun2bme]

Hello fellow Minnesotan,
I flew through Miami in January and it all went just fine.
We are flying out of MSP in December this year and taking Delta through Atlanta.
The flights were high... but we used frequent flyer miles.

[Gretchen3]

I heard undesirable stories as well, so I too tried to avoid MIA. But one time our flight was cancelled out of ORD and they put us on a different airline that went through MIA. I was pleasantly surprised with MIA. I found it a nice airport with an easy connection. I thought it was a nice location to break up the 6 hour total flight time. The trip out of MIA to STT seemed pretty quick.
Good luck!

[petepie]

The good thing about Miami is that there are lots of flights to stt and sju out every day. We got stuck once on the runway in dc and missed our connection to stt in Charlotte. There was no alternative flight or carriers to get south, even to Puerto Rico that day. Instead we had to go to Philadelphia, spend the night, and fly out the next morning. I think that if we'd have been in Miami, we'd have had a better chance of getting to stt that same day, or been able to catch an early flight the next day and not lose a whole day of vacation.

[HaveToTravel]

Thanks for the input! Since 4 of us are going, that's a total of $100 for each couple, which we can use for other fun things for our trip. I'm going to keep an eye on airfare for a bit longer, but I think we will go through Miami if the difference is still that great. I'm thinking airfare might keep climbing, so I'm just going to buy the tickets soon and then I'm NOT looking at prices again after that. And, that flight gets to STT 45 minutes earlier, so that's a plus We are so excited for our first trip to St. John! I don't want to wish away the next 6 months, but I do want it to get here quickly.

[Randy in MD]

I've flown through Miami many times over the years and the airport itself has been upgraded considerably through renovation during that time...

Flying in December minimizes the weather problems that can wreak havoc during the summer and fall...

Nothing can be certain on any given day about flying through any given airport, but I wouldn't hesitate to connect through Miami to save some $$$...

[stjchica]

We have never had any problems in Miami. Our last trip we had a 20-30 min time frame to catch our connecting flight and did so.

[Gigi]

We have had no more problems in MIA than any other airport. Just connected through there on our flights last month. We had a 3 hour layover on our return flight and really appreciated all of the dining options that were in the airport.

[LisaMW]

I've connected in Miami many times (to STT and other Caribbean destinations), and have never had any problems. It's not my favorite place to hang out for long layovers, but I've never experienced any connection-related issues.