I'll be on Island for a week in Nov. We have a direct flight home to JFK. Do we clear customs in St. Martin or in NY?

NY, you always clear customs on your first point of entry in the U.S.

Actually, in Aruba, you do clear customs right at the airport before boarding the plane to come back home; however, that was still not the case when we were last in St. Martin. The new airport in SXM looks very much like the one in Aruba and I am in hopes that it too will be equipped to handle the Customs thing onsite. It is so much nicer to have it over and done with before you leave and not have to worry about missing connections while waiting to go through Customs once you reach the U.S.!

You also clear customs in the Bahamas before you board your plan, Iam hoping you do do this also in the new airport.

Well, that never occured to me, but it sure would be great! Wouldn't have to worry about how much time you had between connections in the US!

I'm a little confused on this one-- at least about saving time--as I recall the last time I was in Aruba (1997 I think) I cleared customs at the Aruba airport---- however in San Juan- I still had to go through Immigration--then get my checked luggage- and then exit through the customs line to get my checked luggage transferred to the plane for Hartford---I don't think I saved any time at all---again- as I recall--the only difference was that my declaration card had been stamped in Aruba---but the customs agent in San Juan still had to collect it---now there may have been a separate line for those who had cleared customs in Aruba-- but I don't remember it----the major time consuming addition in San Juan is that- now- after getting your checked luggage on the conveyor you now have to go through carry-on screening before getting into the concourse where the gates are----and that additional screening can make connections rather tight-depending on your departure time---last May we departed SXM at 2:08 PM with arrival in SJU at 3:10 and our flight for BDL left at 5:48---so in our case (flying AA) we had plenty of time--Clark

I have some doubts as to whether DHS would give over security of U.S. borders to foreign nationals unless a U.S. Customs agent was doing the checking in that departure country. If a security problem arose upon entry, the outcry would be enormous.