Baggage claim at Cyril E. King Airport is on the ground floor, ahead of the arrivals doors. Passengers arriving from the U.S. mainland or Puerto Rico clear nothing on the way in. There is no immigration line and no customs check on arrival. You walk off the aircraft, collect your bags and leave the building.
Only genuine international arrivals meet U.S. Customs and Border Protection here, which at STT means flights from the British Virgin Islands and some private aircraft. The inspection this airport is known for happens on the way out, not on the way in, and it is covered on the check-in area.
Where Baggage Claim Is at St. Thomas Airport
The airport has a single terminal building on two floors. The ground floor carries check-in, the gates and baggage claim, which is why the walk from the carousel to the taxi rank is short. The baggage claim area has its own bar and two shops, so there is somewhere to wait if you are meeting a later flight.
Carousel assignments are posted on the arrivals screens. Check the screen rather than assuming, because belts are not fixed to a particular airline. The terminal guide sets out how the two floors relate.
What Happens Between the Aircraft and the Carousel
Many stands at STT are not served by jet bridges. Passengers walk down the aircraft stairs and across the apron to the terminal doors. It is a short walk and it is the feature arriving passengers comment on most.
Signs run to Arrivals and Baggage Claim. There is one route through the building and it is difficult to miss. Note your bag tag number, the color of the case and any distinguishing marks before you land. If a bag does not appear, the report takes minutes with that information and considerably longer without it.
A bar sits beside the baggage claim area, and arriving adults are commonly offered a sample of Cruzan rum, distilled on St. Croix. Both are landside, so nothing stops you carrying a drink out of the building.
Passengers continuing to St. John collect their bags here and travel on by road to the Red Hook ferry. Bags are not through-checked to the ferry. Allow for the transfer when planning the connection, and see taxi for the run across the island.
If a Bag Is Missing, Delayed or Damaged
The airline owns the bag from check-in to the carousel. Report the problem at your airline’s baggage service desk in the baggage claim area, before leaving the airport.
The report is a mishandled baggage report, and filing it is what starts every entitlement that follows. Without one there is no fee refund, no delivery and no claim. Carrier contact details are on the airlines section.
Report damage as soon as you find it, at the airport where possible. Airlines are not liable for pre-existing wear or for damage caused by poor packing, and both are routine grounds for refusal, so photograph the case at the carousel rather than at the hotel.
Two things are not the airline’s problem. Items left in the terminal itself go to the Virgin Islands Port Authority, and the lost and found covers that process. Items left in the cabin are handed by the crew to the airline, not to the airport, which is a distinction that decides who you should be calling.
What the Airline Owes You
Flights between St. Thomas and the U.S. mainland or Puerto Rico are domestic flights, so U.S. Department of Transportation rules apply in full. That is a real difference from most airports in the region, where passenger protections are considerably weaker.
A domestic bag not delivered within 12 hours of the flight arriving at the gate counts as significantly delayed, and the airline must refund the checked bag fee. The refund depends on a mishandled baggage report having been filed.
Maximum liability for a lost, damaged or delayed bag on a domestic flight is $4,700 per passenger. Airlines may set a lower figure in their contract of carriage and several do.
Airlines must also refund the bag fee once a bag is declared lost. Most carriers declare a bag lost somewhere between five and fourteen days.
Compensation is paid on depreciated value rather than replacement cost, and receipts decide the outcome. Keep them for anything you buy while the bag is missing. The rules are published by the Department of Transportation.
For a genuinely international flight the Montreal Convention applies instead, with a limit of 1,519 Special Drawing Rights, roughly $2,175 per passenger. Check the arrivals board before heading to the carousel, because a diverted or delayed inbound aircraft is the most common reason a bag arrives on a later flight than its owner.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Arrivals from the U.S. mainland and Puerto Rico are domestic, so there is no immigration line and no customs check on the way in. Passengers walk from the aircraft to baggage claim and out of the building. The customs inspection at this airport applies to departing passengers instead.
Go to your airline’s baggage service desk in the baggage claim area and file a mishandled baggage report before leaving the airport. Bring the bag tag receipt. That report is what triggers the delivery, the bag fee refund and any later compensation claim, and filing it afterwards is significantly harder.
Up to $4,700 per passenger. Flights to the U.S. mainland and Puerto Rico are domestic, so the Department of Transportation liability limit applies. Airlines may set a lower ceiling in their contract of carriage. Payment is based on depreciated value, not replacement cost, and receipts are usually required for anything valuable.
The airline. Cabin crew hand items found on board to the carrier, not to the airport, so the airline’s baggage service desk is the place to start. Items left in the terminal building are held by the Virgin Islands Port Authority instead, which runs a separate lost and found process.