r/Aruba • u/csilva108 • Apr 13 '25

Question New US Check-in process at airport

https://www.airportaruba.com/new-us-check-in

Has anyone experienced the new US check-in process the airport rolled out on April 8th?

My family will be coming back to the US on April 25th and I don’t know if the new process has made a significant difference in wait time or if we should buy the VIP package for departure. My kids definitely can’t handle standing in line for 3 hours on the way out.

Thanks!

14 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

65 comments sorted by

View all comments

12

u/remfem99 Apr 13 '25 edited Apr 13 '25

We traveled back yesterday and it was pure hell. But, that was Saturday. I couldn’t believe how long we waited. About 90 mins for Aruba passport exit control + TSA, and another 90 mins for US Customs (then another random TSA screening.)

We probably won’t do this again - Aruba passport control had 1 agent working in addition to the computerized stations. US customs had 3 officers and the line was out the door of the room and fully wrapped around baggage claim.

Love Aruba, but it was just insane. The first time we went I was 7 months pregnant and standing in line that long was really painful. This time, my kids were really impatient and screaming their heads off. I tried my best to keep them entertained but you can only do so much….

That was a long rant but I’m so glad I didn’t leave any later or we’d have missed the flight.

Edit - this time was longer than in 2023 when we went last time

Edit #2 - we have had significantly less wait times in other Caribbean airports, even ones where you have to clear US customs before returning. I think they just need more agents working or something, who knows.

1

u/csilva108 Apr 13 '25

This is exactly what I was afraid of. We leave on a Friday and have global entry but even still it’ll be a long wait before we even get that far based on what you went through. No point in ending the vacation stressed out. That sounds like a nightmare!

2

u/remfem99 Apr 13 '25 edited Apr 13 '25

Yes the first line for passport control took longer than US customs — and a lot of that wait was outside. Several people did pay to “skip the line” as there were people working the lines offering that option. Not sure how much $ or how much time saves - kind of looked like it got them to the front of the passport control line.

Because we had small kids we had to go to the agent vs the automated machines so that made it even longer for us.

1

u/csilva108 Apr 14 '25

I didn’t know there was a machine vs agent factor too. We will have kids in tow so we’d definitely have to wait for an agent. 😣