Changing terminals at EWR

[haligonian37]

So I'm down to two weeks before I leave for my first Mediterranean cruise so it's crunch time for all of the little details, one of which I need help with.

 

I'm flying AC from Halifax to Newark then flying Continental to Barcelona. From looking at the airport's website, it looks like the shuttle from terminal A to terminal C is beyond the security checkpoint which is a problem for me since I have to pick up my luggage from AC then make my way to terminal C. Is there another way to get from one terminal to another? How long does it usually take?

 

Thanks!

[paul929207]

The normal route is the train that connects all the terminals at Newark along with rental cars and parking. I am not sure their is a better way. I guess you go go out side and find a taxi, if you will take you the short distance.

[Off Shore]

The shuttle tram is the way to go. Simply take your luggage up to the tram level in the elevator. It is longer to go to the cab line and that usually has a long wait. The cabbies won't want to take you for a short walkable) distance, as they will then have to get to the end of the line after they discharge you!

[haligonian37]

Is the train station stop inside the terminal? If so, is it outside of the security checkpoint? Or is the easier option just to walk to and from each terminal? I have the same dilemma on my return flights, with a three hour layover as opposed to the 7 hours I have between the departing flights.

 

If the shuttle is inside the security checkpoint I won't be able to use it since I'm not connecting from my AC flight to the Continental one, they are two entirely separate flights.

[wrp96]

When you check in with Air Canada in Halifax, check to see if they will through tag your bags all the way to Barcelona. If so, then you won't have to retrieve your bags at EWR.

[cindep]

When we changed planes in EWR in July we came off Virgin Atlantic (from London), went through immigration, had to get our luggage downstairs (outside of security) and rechecked it to our connecting flight. At that point, we had to take the train from one terminal to another terminal to our connecting Continental flight. We then had to go back through security in the new terminal.

 

Overall, it didn't take a lot of time, but was definitely a bit of an experience. It can eat into a connection pretty quick. Fortunately (or unfortunately) our Continental flight was late so we actually ended up having plenty of time.

[haligonian37]

When we changed planes in EWR in July we came off Virgin Atlantic (from London), went through immigration, had to get our luggage downstairs (outside of security) and rechecked it to our connecting flight. At that point, we had to take the train from one terminal to another terminal to our connecting Continental flight. We then had to go back through security in the new terminal.

 

Overall, it didn't take a lot of time, but was definitely a bit of an experience. It can eat into a connection pretty quick. Fortunately (or unfortunately) our Continental flight was late so we actually ended up having plenty of time.

 

How did you recheck your luggage for the Continental flight before you changed terminals? If I'm misinterpreting your post, don't mind me, it's just been an extraordinarily long day.

 

Thanks to everyone for the help :)

[FlyerTalker]

Halifax is a pre-clearance airport, so any customs/immigration procedures will occur there. I would suspect that you should be able to interline the bags from AC to CO -- I would have the AC agent in YHZ to check it through to BCN. Then, you would not need to go to baggage claim, nor have to recheck.

[cindep]

In our case, Virgin checked our luggage all the way through to the Continental flight when we left LHR. Continental and Virgin code-share on some flights, so it was not a problem. Having said that, when you come back into the United States, you still have to retrieve your luggage and recheck it after passing through customs.

 

Maybe someone who travels internationally more frequently can explain it better. This was our first trip over the pond and it is still kind of a blur to me. I am assuming the luggage (and aircraft) arriving from a foreign departure are kept separate from domestic flights. Basically you just go and do what they tell you! :D

 

Hope that helps and doesn't make things more confusing.

[Globaliser]

When we changed planes in EWR in July we came off Virgin Atlantic (from London), went through immigration, had to get our luggage downstairs (outside of security) and rechecked it to our connecting flight.

In our case, Virgin checked our luggage all the way through to the Continental flight when we left LHR. Continental and Virgin code-share on some flights, so it was not a problem. Having said that, when you come back into the United States, you still have to retrieve your luggage and recheck it after passing through customs.

 

Maybe someone who travels internationally more frequently can explain it better. This was our first trip over the pond and it is still kind of a blur to me. I am assuming the luggage (and aircraft) arriving from a foreign departure are kept separate from domestic flights.

The difference for the OP is that a flight arriving at Newark from Halifax is treated as a domestic arrival, because US immigration and US customs were cleared at Halifax before departure.

[cindep]

I guess I should have been clearer ... what I wrote about was our experience at Newark on our return to the US. I believe OP's initial post indicated she would be doing basically the same thing on the return.

 

For us, the outbound was very simple -- we flew US Air and then picked up Virgin in Orlando. HOWEVER, although we didn't have to touch our luggage, we did have to check in with Virgin even though we had a through boarding pass. From what I understand, Virgin is a bit of an exception with this particular requirement rather than the rule.

 

Hopefully OP's luggage will be interlined and she won't have to deal with the luggage portion on the outbound.

[chasinraynbowz]

Not sure this will help, but here is how we did it after a land trip to Europe a couple of years ago.

 

We landed in Newark and had to clear immigration and then retrieve our luggage. We took our luggage and had to wait in line to clear customs. Once thru customs, there was a porter there taking luggage from those who had connecting flights (ours was into Dallas). We then made our way to our next connection.

[FlyerTalker]

In a nutshell:

 

If you are returning to the USA, or even just transiting through a USA airport, you are required to complete immigration and customs procedures at your FIRST USA AIRPORT. This applies whether or not your luggage has been checked through to your final destination. If it has, you merely drop it off at the bag drop AFTER you have completed customs (which follows immigration and baggage retrieval).

 

The issue with Halifax (and Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa) is that the USA has customs and immigration facilities at those airports. Thus, the passengers are "pre-cleared", and their connections/arrival at the USA airport is treated as a "domestic" flight.

 

Thus, for ALL flights into the USA, there is immigration/customs procedures - it just sometimes happens at Canadian airports. There are also pre-clearance for immigration and/or customs from some additional airports, including Dublin, Shannon, Aruba, Bermuda and some Bahamian airports.

[jgf]

If you can have your luggage checked through from Halifax to Barcelona, and don't have to claim and re-check it in Newark, the simplest way from terminal A to terminal C is the shuttle bus that runs from gate A-28 to gate C-71. It's entirely on the air side so you do not have to go through security again when you get to terminal C.

 

When you return, immigration and customs are in the lower level of C, so when you've come through and dropped your bag for your connecting flight, you can go up the escalator by the exit from customs, go through security at C, and take the shuttle bus back to A.

 

It's about 10 minutes from A to C, and they run every 10-15 minutes from each terminal.

 

http://www.continental.com/web/en-US/content/travel/airport/maps/ewr.aspx

 

 

So I'm down to two weeks before I leave for my first Mediterranean cruise so it's crunch time for all of the little details, one of which I need help with.

 

I'm flying AC from Halifax to Newark then flying Continental to Barcelona. From looking at the airport's website, it looks like the shuttle from terminal A to terminal C is beyond the security checkpoint which is a problem for me since I have to pick up my luggage from AC then make my way to terminal C. Is there another way to get from one terminal to another? How long does it usually take?

 

Thanks!

[haligonian37]

Thanks to everyone for their help/suggestions. I feel much more confident now about making my way through Newark.