Connecting flight time in MIA - advice needed (Miami, Panama City: buses, airport)

[Will007]

Hi,

I am flying through Miami Airport for the first time in a few weeks and any advice on connection times / how best to get through the airport as quickly as possible would be much appreciated.

I am scheduled to land on a flight from Grand Cayman (International arrival) at 10.00 on American Airlines - flight usually lands in Concourse D.

I then need to make a 12:00 departure (2 hours after scheduled landing) also on American Airlines to Panama City - I can see that this flight also usually leaves concourse D.

I am a UK citizen and these are 2 separate international flights. I will only have carry on - is 2 hours enough to get through passport control / security / customs (no baggage to wait for) after the 10:00 landing , then make it back through security to the gate for my 12:00 second flight?

Also any advise on where best to exit / re-check-in and whether to use Skytrain etc would be much appreciated. Thanks.

[FlyMIA]

Originally Posted by Will007

Hi,

I am flying through Miami Airport for the first time in a few weeks and any advice on connection times / how best to get through the airport as quickly as possible would be much appreciated.

I am scheduled to land on a flight from Grand Cayman (International arrival) at 10.00 on American Airlines - flight usually lands in Concourse D.

I then need to make a 12:00 departure (2 hours after scheduled landing) also on American Airlines to Panama City - I can see that this flight also usually leaves concourse D.

I am a UK citizen and these are 2 separate international flights. I will only have carry on - is 2 hours enough to get through passport control / security / customs (no baggage to wait for) after the 10:00 landing , then make it back through security to the gate for my 12:00 second flight?

Also any advise on where best to exit / re-check-in and whether to use Skytrain etc would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Two hours should be enough especially without bags even though I don't think you need to re-check your bags on International-International. You will go through customs and immigration and lines can get long but 10am lines should be fine. You will then just follow signs which take you back into the terminal.

All American Airlines flights arrive in the same international facility and all American airlines flights take off and arrive in the North Terminal which is concourse D and E. D and E are connected behind security. Once you go through security again you will see what gate you are at. There should be signs which tell you whether you should take the skytrain or not. There are a few security checkpoints in Concourse D so it depends. If you enter at gate 24 and your flight is leaving gate 50 then take the train.

To sum it up: Arriving at 10am you should have time, that is not a busy arrival period for international flights to MIA. Just follow the signs where you need to go. It is not complicated at all. No buses or anything like that like LHR. You can do eveything on foot easily and only need to take the sky train if your gate is 10-15+ gate away from where you enter the concourse again.