AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums Talk Belize Travel Connection Time Question

what I ment was before you go through to get your stamp, it says "customs" right there where you get your stamp. Your bags are then waiting there after for you everytime (in my experiences) and then yes, you go through the rest with your other form and bags. Just like in the states. Stamp, bags, finish through customs with form.

It's really hard to plan for layovers... my best advice is to notice the weather in your departing city, city in which you layover, and final destination, the day you leave. Some airlines give updated "on time status" for their flights, via their website. If the weather is really bad (snowing or raining hard) you may want to go the airlines website for the latest information and that will help you decide whether or not it'd be a good idea to make other arrangements. Of course things can and do change at the last minute.

And when you do finally get to your city of choice, thank "him" for getting you there safetly.

If you are flying internationally to Europe and you go through Houston, in our experience it is a nightmare. We went with Continental and were told by staff that they intentionally overbook each flight to make sure seats are filled. What seems to happen is that if they don't have enough seats, they tell people on transfer in Houston that the gate is closed when they disembark from Belize. They tell you this to stop you trying to make the flight because they don't actually have enough seats available. On our last trip through our international flight was overbooked by 40 people. We ignored them and ran to our flight with another girl on the same flight and despite having been told the gate was closed, they had not even started boarding. We asked them about the next flight that day and they told us this had been over booked too so we would have to wait until the next day to fly.

This happenned on our last trip too although we didn't ignore them and ended up stuck in the Holiday Inn over night. The Holiday Inn staff told us Continental block book two hundred rooms every night to deal with this issue as it is cheaper for them to do this than to put people on other flights.

The legal limit for connections is not in any way possible to meet for international flights at Houston. I would suggest that you insist on at least 2 hours connection time.

Also, it doesn't matter whether your luggage is checked through. If you are in transit through the USA they now make you pick up your luggage in Houston after immigration (which can take from 1-2 hours depending on the queues), go through Customs and then hand it back in again. Because of the tight connections most of the people I know from the UK have had problems with their luggage at the other end.

In addition, on this trip, we had items stolen in Houston airport while our luggage was in transit. We don't pack valuables in our check in, so all that was stolen was clothing. But it was still aggravating. We won't be going through Houston again unless absolutely necessary.

can you connect thru Dallas? I like that route best, myself. Took an hour to get thru customs tonight on the way home. the US citizens line was huge & crawling, visitors flew thru. What's the deal with that? Any way, Houston pretty much sucks when you're sweating the time.

interesting story as I have only had sucess every time with Continental. And flew Continental 9 times now to Belize and twice to Europe and several domestic locations.

It is not Continental who overbooks flights intentionally, it is ALL airlines. Normal and standard. My mother works for an different airline who does it and American and Delta does it too. That is the airlines's way of ensuring fuller flights/profits to stay in business and offer the service to the places we all want to go. The 2 times the flights were over full for me to Costa Rica and Europe they were honest and announced that anyone willing to wait and go on the next flight would receive a $400 voucher for any future travel. It was only a few seats on both. What a deal, I'll take it! Many won't, but there are usually a few that will. Esp. if you're on your way to Europe the next flight is usually within a few hours. For Costa Rica they even put those volunteers on another airline within 3 hours and gave them the $400 voucher. They put you in a hotel only if there are no more flihts that day to the destination as they definately want you on the next flight to get you out there- either way they have to get you there...

Sounds a bit exagerated with the 40 seats overbooked. As far as 200 rooms being booked nightly at Holiday Inn, this is actually a VERY low number if you look at how many hundreds of flights go domestic and international out of Houston. Therefore if they only book 200 and have hundreds of flights it is impossible that on one flight they overbooked 40. Doing the math it means they only overbooked 2 1/2 flights that day. If that's the case, good job on them.

Another incorrect piece of info:
It is not that they "now" make you pick up your luggage in Houston after immigrations...it has ALWAYS been that way. What the others were saying is if you check it all the way through on the way THERE you do not need to pick it up. Whether you fly through Houston, Dallas, Atlanta.... anywhere, you MUST pick up your luggage when you arrive back into the US for customs and for the past 21 yrs I have flown internationally it has been this way. This is for our own protection to have random searches and our bags goes through our US Lock. Mart. TSA Security system screening before going on to any other US destination.

As far as your items being stolen, this can happen anywhere. What does it have to do with Houston? My mother flies all over since she works for another airline and has had people take her stuff from 4 other airports. Luck of draw. Some are on purpose and some do it on accident, thinking it is their luggage so I suggest tying a large colorful cloth to the handle to easily identify your bags. Less likely someone will want to walk out with it too, in fears it would be harder to justify they thought it was theirs if caught by the owner.

knock on wood, flying Continental tomorrow...and funny thing, through Houston! Let's hope I am not overnighted at Holiday Inn or have my bags stolen. wait, wait, if there is another flight to my next destination perhaps I DO want to be on an overbooked flight. I am a good volunteer, always up for a $400 voucher which would cover an entire roundtrip ticket another time from Belize-states and back.

Will report back.

One more comment regarding perhaps an unusual day at customs for colly or an exageration. 1-2 hrs to go through customs??? I have always chosen the connection with only 50 min, make it through customs and to my gate (walking, not rushing) with time to spare. Again, 9 times from Belize-Houston International.

FYI correction, I said they had hundreds of flights daily so 200 rooms was so low at Houston International Airport. It is actually a few thousand.

Continental Airlines, Inc. (NYSE:CAL)
"The Company operates more than 2,500 daily departures throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia"

Does this mean we will know for sure?
Will it be perfected after your trip?
Sorry....we all have our own agenda's and since this one fits you doesn't mean it fits all of us too.
Thank your mother for the information

spl, are you talking about arrival at BZE International? It sounds like it to me

A little added ditty......Dallas FortWorth
No problems so far

I had no problems flying Continental to Belize. In fact, I'd rather fly them than any other airline.

The only problem we encountered, was going HOME, we only had a 1 hour layover, and after going through customs we almost missed our flight. Thankfully we ran to the gate & made it just as they were closing.

Lesson learned: Next time, set up for a longer layover when returning into the US.

Thankfully all our luggage was carry on, otherwise we definetly would have missed our flight.

Kra-Z-K I am delighted that your experiences have been better than our own and thank you for all of the information about the way the airlines operate. I hope you have another pleasant journey.