Traveling from US West coast to Roatan tips?

[Kimela]

One baffling question: Why does going through Customs involve half-mile walks through otherwise deserted hallways?

If/when you find the answer to that one please share!

Or how about “if my baggage was secure enough to get out of my host country, why isn’t it secure enough to go directly to my connecting flight at the first airport I land in stateside?”. Heck, that’s when I might decide “I don’t really want to carry these lithium batteries anymore so I’ll shove them in the side pocket of my checked bag before I give it back to the luggage guy”. That makes no sense to me.

 

[therookie]

Any strong opinion on IAH (Houston / United) vs MIA (Miami / American A) as the airport to / from RTB? Looks like both offer flights for our dates. So it's a TSA / immigration more than anything. I expect the United and American flights should be equivalent...

Post-pandemic we have flown several times per year into or through the US and have found the immigration / TSA experience to be about the same regardless of the airport. It seems to me that it is more about the individual you are dealing with than the agency. We have had good, bad and downright weird experiences at IAH, MIA and FLL (when we fly Spirit). Granted we aren't flying out of RTB since we live on the mainland but the experience is the same no matter which of the three international airports in Honduras you depart from.

Biggest concern for me would be the connection time for the international to domestic transition. 2 hours would be a minimum for me for comfort at MIA, and between 2 and 3 at IAH. Anything less than that and I feel very rushed.

They do seem to want to help you burn off your Monkey Lalas as quickly as possible on your return by making you walk forever to get to immigration, and it never fails that whichever airport I am flying into at any given moment in any part of the world some part of it is under construction to make the whole experience just that much more enjoyable...

 

[mar2112]

No problem. we flew LAX to El Salvador to Roatan.

 

[Gdog]

It really for me comes down to time between flights. I really agree with the 2 hour minimum, and really 3 is more like it. You never know how long the lines are at immigration, if your flight is delayed, or any other issue that may cause you to not make your connecting flight back home. I have had better luck with United flying into Houston, over American into Dallas. This last time, 2 weeks ago, we landed 15 minutes early in Dallas, sat in the plane for an hour, then taxied to the gate, and waited another 20 minutes before we could deboard. Many people missed their connection. Thankfully we had decided to overnight in Dallas before flying back to Seattle.