Continental EWR to AUA

[katherine]

We have flown Continental direct flight from Newark to Aruba for 10 years now. we have always chosen the early morning flight, even if it is more money. I am considering the noon flight next year to save money. My husband is nervous that the later flight is a mistake - he worries about longer lines and delays later in the day, both in Newark and when arriving in Aruba. We are looking at leaving Friday or Saturday in March. Does anyone have experience with both of these time options?

[Arubalisa]

From Jersey, in March, I would probably go with the earlier flight just to insure against weather related problems.

[jeffnev]

And the earlier flight gets you on to the beach for a few hours before sunset. We are taking the 9am direct from Newark in July and we are usually on the beach by 3pm, although you lose an hour in March due to daylight savings. I just checked the Continental website and the fares look great both on the 9am ($450) and the noon ($358) flights!

[Chadd]

I'm a big fan of taking the earliest flight of the day whenever possible. It gives you options if things go wrong and it's not like you are going to be doing many other things with the couple extra hours you have before the noon flight.

[katherine]

I definitely agree that the morning flight has more benefits - which is why we usually opt for it. Normally we only have 8 or 9 days in Aruba and want to get every extra hour we can. Next year we are staying for 2 weeks, I have to buy 5 tickets, and for the dates i am looking at now the later flight will save me over $100 per ticket - so a savings of almost $600 might be worth 3 extra hours - especially since we will have 5 or 6 extra days of meals etc. to pay for once there. Just weighing the money saved with the disadvantages.

[Andrea J.]

the bottom line is $$$$.
do what you need to do to make the budget easier.

we are flying in to aruba on aug 11 and the wallet dictated the flights for us.
we do not arrive til after 10pm on the 11th and depart mid morning on the 25th.
for us it was almost $170 pp savings.

Originally Posted by katherine

I definitely agree that the morning flight has more benefits - which is why we usually opt for it. Normally we only have 8 or 9 days in Aruba and want to get every extra hour we can. Next year we are staying for 2 weeks, I have to buy 5 tickets, and for the dates i am looking at now the later flight will save me over $100 per ticket - so a savings of almost $600 might be worth 3 extra hours - especially since we will have 5 or 6 extra days of meals etc. to pay for once there. Just weighing the money saved with the disadvantages.

[Chadd]

Originally Posted by Andrea J.

do what you need to do to make the budget easier.

Exactly, it's all about you and what works best for you. As for concerns about longer lines, just give yourself more time if you pick the later flight. If you're flying direct out of Newark and not connecting, then delays won't cause you to miss your flight and are really no reason to worry. Just pack some extra snacks or plan on grabbing something to eat at the airport if you have spare time.

Just remember, you can never be too early for a flight, but it's very easy to be too late.

[katherine]

I guess I was just looking for people with experience with both of these flight times out of Newark - And arriving in Aruba at 4:30 vs. 1:30 pm on a Friday or Saturday. If people told me the later flights were usually more of a hassle I would spend the extra money to avoid the headache. If the difference is only arriving 3 hours later - it would be worth the money saved.

[jdoll]

You can see all Aruba airport arrival times here http://www.airportaruba.com/en/flightinfo/arrivals/ and see what other flights arrive near your arrival time. It has bee pre-2006 since we arrived on "later in the day" flights and our personal experience then likely no longer apply.

The biggest change we've seen in our years has been the improvement in Aruba Customs arrival staffing. In the early 2000's I recall one mid-afternoon arrival of 4 planes (2-AA, United & US Air if I remember) within moments of each other and there were only 2 Customs agents on duty. The Aruba customs level was snaked with people, both escalators were stopped and standing room only and the lines extended back on the 2nd story arrival hallways. It took more than an hour and as frustrating as that was the worst may have been the additional wait for our luggage. But that was many years ago now.

[Arubalisa]

If you are going to be on the island for 2 entire weeks, an extra 4 or 5 hours between arriving later and waiting at Aruban immigrations is pretty small in the big picture. I can think of a lot of things to do with $600

No matter the time of day, you still have to wait for your luggage. Unless you fly first/business class, your luggage will never beat you from the plane to the carousel. It did not matter HOW MANY flights were arriving. Well at least that has never been our experience