Ramstein to Texas during Christmas rush

Author Message   Andrea P. Member Username: Dre Post Number: 8 Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 91.45.35.9 Posted on Monday, January 25, 2010 - 08:01 pm:    I guess I am used to McChord where the customs agent basically comes on board and asked did you bring anything you weren't supposed to and when I answer NO they move on and usually takes maybe 30 mins max. Then again I usually fly a basically empty plane with only a crew coming home.   William Standage Senior Member Username: Charlie13 Post Number: 972 Registered: 07-2004 Posted From: 75.172.80.141 Posted on Tuesday, January 19, 2010 - 05:19 am:    Andrea, Your experience at Dover getting through immigration, and then customs/security is very typical as well as the long delay getting off a newly landed acft. Same thing happened to me last year on a flight from Europe to Dover. The long delay caused me to miss out on a possible connecting flight. Glad it worked for you.   Andrea P. Member Username: Dre Post Number: 7 Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 91.45.29.118 Posted on Tuesday, January 19, 2010 - 04:52 am:    It was perfect we had seen it on the schedule before but we couldn't find a pattern for it so we kinda just got lucky in getting it. It only seemed to be randomly once maybe twice a month and not every month. I am already getting ready for my next space-a trip to McChord my only trouble will be getting back without my hubby. I'll likely be stuck there awhile unless I get lucky again!   Phyllis DeLancey Senior Member Username: Phyllis Post Number: 2520 Registered: 06-2003 Posted From: 99.96.230.42 Posted on Tuesday, January 19, 2010 - 04:36 am:    Andrea, you report is just fine. Glad you had a good trip. The flight form Dover to Kelly almost always has empty seats, this isn't a popular route, which makes it nice for the ones who use it.   Andrea P. Junior Member Username: Dre Post Number: 6 Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 91.45.37.191 Posted on Monday, January 18, 2010 - 08:44 pm:    The stars aligned... We (Active duty hubby on leave, 2yr old and me) flew out of Ramstein on December 17 with no problems at all. Hubby had leave starting on the 17th and we saw flights leaving that morning starting at 0345 for the east coast so we headed to Ramstein. First some background info on our "plans" . We initially were going to try and fly to Andrews and then on to Jackson, MS, rent a oneway to south TX (15hour drive). What we did was pass up a C-5 flight to McGuire and chose to take the next flight to Dover because we saw that there was a flight leaving Dover later that day flying into Kelly/Lackland only a 3.5 hour drive south! Our gamble paid off. We made it on the Dover flight with no problems. There we also a few cat VI's that made both flights (amazing as the terminal was packed). The C-5 left Ramstein for Dover on time and was packed to the brim no laying down on this flight. Once we arrived in Dover we waited a couple hours on the plane for customs (we were told) with our two year screaming in symphony with the other 3-4 other toddlers on the plane. I didn't blame her as it was stifling hot and the poor baby had hardly slept, I wanted to cry along with her. When we finally arrived all 80 of us had to go through one customs agent who seemed to be in no hurry at all. Thankfully a passenger who got through the line before us updated everyone and informed us that the flight to Kelly/Lackland had been delayed 1 hour! Perfect timing. We had enough time to not only get through the customs agent but then we were all ushered through more security agents as if we had not gone through security before. I don't mind security but I just thought it was strange as we had not left a secure area. We had to take off our coats and shoes and go through detectors and everything all over again. So Dover nice little terminal. Awesome USO --just watch out that you keep an eye on your flight we saw several people miss either a roll call or a boarding time because they were in the USO. They also have a kids playroom. We had no trouble getting on the flight to Kelly Lackland and neither did our Cat VI friends. We even had time for pizza delivery before we boarded the plane. We also called Kelly and booked a room for the night even though it was only a 3 hour drive to McAllen we needed to rest up before we hit the road. The C-5 flight left again with no issues (how lucky were we) and this time it was barely half full I had three seats to share with my toddler and hubby had three seats to sleep. Everyone who wanted to lay down was able to. All in all it was a great experience and getting back was no issue as we had gambled and bought one-way return tickets for the three of us a couple weeks before we left Germany. Great deals when your willing to spend New Years Eve on the plane. Some things to consider the first C-5 we lugged our heavy carseat along with our carry ons just to be told we had to leave it in the bottom cargo that they couldn't be used on C-5. Lesson learned we checked it for the 2nd flight. Also so happy we had a warm sleeping bag as our feet would have gotten frost bite had we not had it. A note about making our reservations at Kelly/Lackland, when I looked up the # online for Kelly it directed me to the Lackland Inn. (the bases are joined at the flightline but to get from one side to the other you have to exit one base to enter the other). So we assumed we had reservations at Lackland thinking there was no longer a Kelly Inn and proceeded to take a taxi once we arrived in Kelly to the Lackland side (only $6 pp our 2yr old was free). When we arrived at the check in desk they informed us our room had been reserved at the Kelly Inn (which would have been walking distance from the terminal). Thankfully they helped us out and found us another room on Lackland so we didn't have to pay for another taxi ride. Lesson: Ask and never assume! This is my first trip report so if I left out info I should have put in or gave to much detail where I shouldn't have let me know so I can correct it in any future reports I make.