Miami Airport Help

Hello All,

Im flying VS5 from LHR to MIA on Thursday and will will be in the Upper Cabin, I have NEVER been to Miami before.

Please can someone offer some advice in using this airport, the procedure and walk times from plane to passport control etc?

to be fair any advice would be good, I will be one of the first off being in Upper; but a quick and smooth transit would be great.

Thanks
Craig

[mitchja]

It's always a very long walk from the gate to immigration at MIA. You can request a buggy if you are anyone in you party are likely to struggle with the long walk. We are talking a good 10 - 20 minute walk here!!

Once you finally arrive at the immigration area, don't make the mistake of walking forwards towards the self-service machines you initially see (those are US passport holder machines only I think)

Turn right and go through the doors into the main International immigration hall. I cannot remember if Global Entry lanes (if applicable) are still to the left hand side of the hall sorry? Staff in there will be there to direct you anyway.

You can then either join the standard queues or the staff should be directing you to the far end of the hall (head for the green neon lights) to where the ESTA self service machines are all located. There are about 50 self service machines with staff on hand to help if required. Once complete you either exit the hall to baggage reclaim or join the shorter queues for manual inspection (if the self service machines churn out a ticket with a big cross on it, which they often do).

After baggage reclaim, head to the customs exit queue (which can be long at MIA unless you have Global Entry which offer their own exit lanes), exit customs walking down the curved ramp area into arrivals.

For car hire pick-up you need to go up to the upper level using lifts (that's a task in itself at MIA) then follow the signs, moving walkways & mono-rail to the car hire centre where all the car hire companies are located.

There's nothing particular smooth about arriving (or departing) MIA unfortunately. It's without any doubt one of the worst airports VS fly to and from.

I haven't flown into MIA on VS, but I have flown out of it - it was a fairly dismal experience only made better by the lovely VS staff on checkin who were really helpful and chatty and the fact that the lounge - which was pretty dire in most respects - had Jaegermeister!

As mitchja says, it is a looooong walk - but there are travelators which help. There is now only one internation arrivals / imiigration hall, so if you get in a few minutes after another long haul flight it can be a bit of a zoo, so walk as fast as you can - otherwise book assistance for a buggy.

When we went through there in May, the first bank of machines yuo come accross on the left - before you reach the main immigration hall - was for ESTA holders; we used them and it saved us a long time as the main ESTA machines outside the immigration hall had a very long queue to them. We still had a short queue inside immigration but it didn't take long. I was asked for the exact street address of our hotel for the first night, and we all waited while I fired up the phone to check it on the internet - first time that had happened to me.

Baggage was fairly quick - note they often take it off the carousel and stack it, so you may have to go searching especially if you don't get through immigration quickly. The exit was pretty quick this time - a short-ish queue, unlike last year when it snaked twice around the baggage hall and took well over an hour...

As airports go, it certainly isn't the best but equally it isn't the worst either - we were out in around 60 minutes back in May, so it wasn't too bad - and in my experience it has improved over the years, with 2015 being a low point!

I can only join what's been said ... Abysmal is a pretty good word for it ... Took us almost 2 hours to get to the curb to get onto our transportation in January.
On the way back, the lounge was an experience on itself ... Some sort of 80's time warp experience ...
Luckily the chardonnay was really gullible but that's about it ...
Best of luck !

Does anybody know if it's logistically possible to use the Delta Skyclub or AMEX Centurion lounge prior to departing from MIA with VS?
Having read all about the Club America lounge im already strategising how to avoid it next year!!

Abysmal pretty much covers MIA. Immigration can be a nightmare and yes, the walk from the plane takes about 20 mins. The main departure lounge that VS use is dire....really dire. It's an airport to avoid if at all possible !

Does anybody know if it's logistically possible to use the Delta Skyclub or AMEX Centurion lounge prior to departing from MIA with VS?

VS use Concourse F, where the Club at MIA is located. Sadly there is no airside connection with either Concourse D, where the Amex Centurion lounge is, or Concourse H, where the DL SkyClub is.

So the only way round it is to check in at Concourse F, walk round to D or H and go through security there, then return landside after using the lounge and walk back to Concourse F where you'd have to reclear security.

All of which could easily take an hour and may not even be possible if the TSA won't let you through the checkpoint at D or H (and there seem to be conflicting reports on whether they will).

Usual advice for MIA is to enjoy the Florida sunshine for as long as you dare and check in as late as possible.

Usual advice for MIA is to enjoy the Florida sunshine for as long as you dare and check in as late as possible.

Excellent advice
Thanks!