Transfer from domestic flight to US-bound flight in Nassau Airport

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As a standard operating procedure JetBlue suggests to check-in 3 hours before departure. This is coherent with the travel tips on the Nassau Airport website, which also suggest to arrive 3 hours before the departure of your US-bound flight:

  • Plan to arrive at the airport at least three hours before your U.S.-bound flight and two hours for all other International flights.

This time range seems to be compatible with that reported by various users on the web, plus an added safety margin. Consider that upon landing in Nassau, you'll have to wait to collect your luggage, go to the dedicated departure terminal, check-in and go through customs pre-clearance (this last step applies only for US-bound flights).

Looking around on the internet, the general consensus seems to be that the time it takes to go through outbound US customs at Nassau is compatible with the time it would take at any other major international airport: there's a high variability depending on the number of incoming flights, passengers on those flights, and customs officers. People report anything between 20 minutes during low-traffic days, to several hours during peak days.

This thread on reel-time provides useful, albeit possibly outdated, insights on the topic. Outdated because a new US departures terminal was built at Nassau in 2011 and the linked thread dates back to 2008. This airport expansion could have contributed to improving check-in and immigration procedures, as suggested by the TripAdvisor page on Nassau::

The Departure process has been greatly improved with a brand new terminal. Please leave at least 2 to 2/12 hours to go through this process.

Nevertheless airlines and airport website still suggest to arrive at least 3 hours in advance. Personally I would stick to this conservative amount, rather than risk missing my flight.

Should you be worried about not making it to your outbound flight on time, there are ways to improve check-in procedures. You can speed up US pre-clearance by using the Automated Passport control Kiosks available for US passport holders. Moreover you could call your airline and inform them that you are in the terminal and are waiting to go through pre-clearance, as suggested by the linked reel-time thread:

Bring the phone # of the [airline] with you and call from the bank of phones at the Immigration hall. Tell them you're at the airport and coming.

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