Heightened sanitation
Daily cleaning, installation of cabin HEPA filters on flights from San José to Fort Lauderdale
JetBlue, Emirates and Spirit Airlines have all waived their change and cancellation fees on flights from San José to Fort Lauderdale. Confirm policies on booking site.
Entry restrictions
The United States has restricted the entry of all foreign nationals who have passed through or have been in China, Iran, Most European Countries (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Monaco, San Marino, Vatican City), the UK, Ireland, Brazil and South Africa in the past 14 days.
With the exception of certain travelers which includes certain family members of US citizens or permanent residents including; spouses, children (under the age of 21), parents (provided that his/her US citizen or permanent resident child is unmarried and under the age of 21), and siblings (provided that both the sibling and the US citizen or permanent resident are unmarried and under the age of 21);
There is also an exception for travelers with the following visas: A-1, A-2, C-1, C-1/D, C-2, C-3, CR-1, CR-2, D, E-1 (as an employee of TECRO or TECO or the employee's immediate family members), G-1, G-2, G-3, G-4, IR-1, IR-4, IH-4, NATO-1 through NATO-4, or NATO-6 visa;
Members of the US Armed Forces, spouses, and children of members of the US Armed Forces;
Travelers with invitation of the USA government for a purpose related to the containment/mitigation of the Coronavirus (COVID-19);
Travelers with documents issued by the US Department of Homeland Security, US Customs and Border Protection, or US Department of State indicating that the traveler is exempt from the restriction;
B1 crew crewmembers that are engaged in lightering, Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) activity, wind farm activity, private air/sea crew and other similar crewmember activities;
Students with an F-1 or M-1 visa and their F-2 and M-2 dependents, if they arrive from or have been in Ireland, the UK or Schengen Area in the past 14 days.
Entry requirements
All travelers, 2 years of age or older (including US citizens and transit passenger) must present a negative COVID-19 viral or antigen test result issued 72 hours prior to departure or have a proof of recovery from the virus within the last 90 days prior to boarding the plane.
Travelers must complete a disclosure and attestation form before departure.
Exemptions or waiver to the testing requirements may be granted by the CDC on an extremely limited basis when emergency travel (like an emergency medical evacuation) must occur to preserve someone’s life, health against a serious danger, or physical safety and testing cannot be completed before travel.
US citizens and permanent residents arriving from the UK must present a medical certificate with a negative COVID-19 PCR or antigen test result issued within 72 hours prior to departure.
Travelers arriving in New York State must complete the Traveler Health Form.
Travelers arriving in Massachusetts must complete the Massachusetts Health Form.
Quarantine requirements
Travelers are advised to get tested 3-5 days after travel and stay home and self-quarantine for 7 days after travel. Even if they test negative, they must still stay home and self-quarantine for the full 7 days. If the test is positive, isolate to protect others from getting infected.
Travelers who did not get tested, are advised to stay home and self-quarantine for 10 days after travel.
All other info
Travelers are subject to COVID-19 measures set by the state/territory of their final destination. For more information go to CDC website.
Please see our Coronavirus (COVID-19) Travel Restrictions page for more information on restrictions worldwide.
An average nonstop flight takes 2h 49m, covering a distance of 1142 miles.
There are 45 (nonstop) flights between San José and Fort Lauderdale per week, averaging 6 per day.
In the past 3 days, the cheapest one-way tickets were found on Spirit Airlines ($94) and Copa Airlines ($130), and the lowest round-trip tickets have been found on Spirit Airlines ($171) and Multiple Airlines ($208).
Yes.
JetBlue (3 times daily) is the most frequent flyer on this route.
From San José to Fort Lauderdale, Thursday is the cheapest day to fly on average and Saturday is the most expensive. Flying from Fort Lauderdale back to San José , the best deals are generally found on Thursday, with Wednesday being the most expensive.
When flying out of San José you will be using San José Juan Santamaria Intl, often referred to as San José Airport. You will be landing at Fort Lauderdale, also known as Fort Lauderdale Airport.
KAYAK is a travel search engine. That means we look across the web to find the best prices we can find for our users. With over 2 billion flight queries processed yearly, we are able to display a variety of prices and options on flights from San José to Fort Lauderdale.
KAYAK’s flight Price Forecast tool uses historical data to determine whether the price for a flight to Fort Lauderdale from San José is likely to change within 7 days, so travelers know whether to wait or book now.
Hacker Fares allow you to combine one-way tickets in order to save you money over a traditional round-trip ticket. You could then fly to Fort Lauderdale with an airline and back to San José with another airline.
Sometimes travel dates aren't set in stone. If your preferred travel dates have some wiggle room, flexible dates will show you all the options when flying to Fort Lauderdale from San José up to 3 days before/after your preferred dates. You can then pick the flights that suit you best.
Scores according to KAYAK customer reviews
Pros: "Food"
Cons: "Food"
Pros: "On time excellent attention perfectly clean"
Cons: "Food"
Cons: "Food was really bad"
Pros: "Food was good"
Cons: "Different movie, more leg room but I'm tall so that is with any plane."
Pros: "Everything was great as usual. Copa is an excellent airline."
Pros: "The crew and ground customer service are great! Overall we were very pleased with COPA and would definitely fly with them again."
Pros: "Prefer access"
Cons: "Schedule, we got late at Panama AirPort"
Cons: "Everything it’s fine"
Cons: "Scan machine at gate. Needed two not one. Never got to eat. Waited in line 30 mins"
Pros: "Amazin !! Thank you"
Pros: "Very nice crew."
Cons: "Baggage return was slow."
Pros: "inflight entertainment"
Pros: "The price I paid for the ticket was outstanding, and that I am not charged for my checked bag."
Cons: "Yesterday, COPA "did not have a system" so they were doing everything MANUALLY. I almost missed my connection because we were supposed to leave San Jose at 11:23, but did not get off the tarmac until almost noon!"
Pros: "Everything!!!"
Pros: "It was a regular trip"
Cons: "The connection trip Panama, San Francisco, very bad xq the scale in Cancun, very long without being able to get off the plane and not even water do not offer, that very bad scale, my taxi see san francisco I lost it and I had to pay it xq ya It was scheduled as well as a meeting."
Pros: "Amazing"
Cons: "delay"
Pros: "El tiempo fue rapido"
Cons: "La comodidad del avion. Son muy estrechos."
Cons: "I didn't have a seat from Panama to Sao Pablo, because they oversold"
Pros: "The captain seemed like a very considerate and professional woman! Props to her for giving us more info than captains usually do"
Pros: "Servicio, puntualidad, amabilidad, calidad, todo excelente"
Cons: "The A/C it's very cold, and I asled for a blanket and they did not have one."
Cons: "The plane was delay"
Pros: "Puntual, comfort, smiles"
Pros: "It was everything pretty good!"
Pros: "Everything"
Cons: "Landing"
Pros: "Food is a big issue as sometimes it is impossible to buy it at tje airport because you have to run to catch your next flight."
Pros: "muy poco volar en copas"
Cons: "en la aereolinia me dañaron una maleta y la otra aun no me la han entregado."
Pros: "The call center was not accured The fligh atendent did'nt pay any attention"
Pros: "The price was really good, was the best way to returned yo Nicaragua."
Pros: "The aircraft was so clean. The personal so kindly"
Cons: "Everything was ok"
Pros: "Everything"
Cons: "Nothing,it was all great"
Pros: "14 hour Layover when you have to recheck luggage is terrible. Can't even check in for 8 hours so stuck outside the airport with no place to go until 6 in the morning. Not good at all."
Cons: "14 hour Layover and luggage did not go straight through. Had to recheck baggage after 8 hours. Then wait another 6 hours inside the airport."
Pros: "Food"
Pros: "Good airline. Try to use then often. ."
Cons: "The plane was way too cold for me"
Cons: "When we were landing the light cover on the light fell on my head during the process!!!!!"
Cons: "El aeropuerto de Panamá e el peor que he visitado en mi vida"
Pros: "Bothing"
Cons: "Baggage was left behind and It aaroved 5 days later, terrible follow up and no compensation at all, total nightmare"
Pros: "Good staff. Clean. A lot of room."
Cons: "No self checking in kiosk."
Cons: "Boarding was too slow"
Cons: "10 hr delay in San José. A nightmare!"
Cons: "Both ways we had to sit and wait on board for over 2 hours on tarmac prior to take off. Captain said needed more fuel and to fix problem or to lessen weight. Tried to get bottle of water because I was dying of thirst and staff could not sell a bottle of water. Only give a 3oz cup full. Which was gone in 2 seconds."
Cons: "The online booking company was confusing and not friendly"
Pros: "- nice staff - food on the plane"
Cons: "Everything"
Cons: "I'm still traveling.. copa rebooked on united.. is coming in at midnight instead of 2pm.. missed an dinner event I have planned. Disappointed some people.. plus I'm still not home.."
Pros: "I liked the spacious seats and free food and drinks. I appreciated the flight being on time."
Pros: "Staff."
Cons: "Less baggage weigh allowed than normal. Cost an extra $100. Plane left late with no explanation."
Pros: "Flight was On time, departure and arrival"
Cons: "Crew gathered at the back of the plane and talked too much and too loud"
Pros: "Terrible company"
Pros: "You get what you pay for. The plane was new and the seat was confi as it can get for a low cost carrier."
Cons: "I got what I pay for not more not less."
Pros: "Confy seat. Nice crew"
Cons: "The late arrival and the extremely long line at customs"
Cons: "Delayed us several hours. Missed our connection home. Ruined our anniversary trip. Had to drive 5 hours in the middle of the night in order to make it to work this morning. I hate your airline and will never fly it again."
Pros: "Yes"
Pros: "None"
Cons: "couple of issues: #1.Spirit Website and Mobile apps keep crashing and several of us who booked your airlines were not able to utilize mobile boarding passes. In the age of mobility this User Experience (UX Design) should be a priority. #2. When we were trying to leave Costa Rica again we had issues with your Bar Code Scanners. We were able to download on our phone but when we go to customs after waiting in long lines we were told that they were not accepting Spirit airlines bar codes. You were the only airlines with long lines. Not even the kiosk was able to print boarding passes so we had to wait in long lines just to get a print out from the service desk."
Pros: "Kaska was very helpful during my checkin. All the staff was on point and helpful. I was worried because all the bad comments. I guess if you know what to expect you will enjoy your travel with spirit."
Cons: "The superviser at that time was 0 comunicate , no people person aroll she is no good !!"
Pros: "The plane was nice and new, the big seat option was even better than I expected and worth it.The crew and the service they provided was top notch even if you had to pay for every little thing."
Cons: "Had to wait on runway for about 30min,not spirits fault."
Pros: "On time, no delays, ran smoothly"
Cons: "Uncomfortable seats, trays not full size, no outlets, no tvs"
Pros: "Nothing"
Cons: "A guy came drugged from Costa Rica and they had to put him an IV line and didn't let the passengers get out of the plane due to "medical emergency" hence, connection flight: lost."
Pros: "Om time"
Pros: "Nothing."
Cons: "Everything."
Pros: "."
Pros: "Price and efficiency"
Cons: "No perks- everything comes with an additional fee"
Cons: "I will never fly with Spirit again. Do not be fooled by the cheap prices of the tickets as they do not include baggage fees (an extra $240 for two people to check bags round trip.) Nothing is complimentary (not even soft drinks or a bag or pretzels,) drinks are super expensive, there is no hanging options for your suits/dress (so don't bother to dry clean before you come) and there is no entertainment options at all. Also, when picking your seats do not pick the seats with only two thinking that you will have a window seat next to your travel partner- instead the third seat by the window is where you will be sitting with the flight attendant. Overall, it was the worst flight experience of my life."
Cons: "If I could give them negative stars, they would get all negative stars. The international flight from San Jose, CR was cancelled. They airline didn't rebook is on other flights or give us vouchers for hotel accommodation or for food. I'm baffled how an airline is allowed to operated with such bad customer service. They need to be shut down ASAP!!!"
Pros: "nothing"
Cons: "Spirit canceled my flight the day before it was supposed to leave and gave me no other options as to how to get to my destination. It almost ruined my vacation."
Cons: "Late take off"
Cons: "Seating"
Pros: "It got me to FLL"
Cons: "Boarding took forever. The board at the gate said the flight was on time, but I didn't get on the plane before the scheduled departure time. The seats don't recline and we landed an hour after the scheduled arrival time, which left me less than an hour to get through customs, security and to my gate which was on the other side of the airport."
Cons: "Awful. Late, fueled plane while people were on board, and kept on delaying flight."
Pros: "The plane didn't crash"
Cons: "^Invest in another price option, the small expense of flying another service will save you many headaches. Spirit hits you with hidden fees from departure, to check-in failures to making you pay for a carry-on?! They smugly suggest that their price is the baseline price without any add-ons or that they're giving you the option to opt out of things other airlines make you pay for, but nah. Spirit airlines has a special place in hell for duping consumers for so long"
Pros: "How they got us through the airport quickly, pulled people outo of line and moved them faster through the process according to the flight times."
Pros: "Nothing. It was a nightmare"
Pros: "Cheap fare, new plane."
Pros: "The flight was cancelled due to "crew maintenance". I had to re-book on Jet Blue and pay much more and I had to stay in a Hotel for an additional night."
Pros: "Easy check in and professional staff"
Cons: "Chronic lateness and nothing to make up for it. And all their planes are like meat lockers. I have no idea why it needs to be so cold."
Cons: "the spirit team was not welcoming. they did not offer any apologies or updates on our late flight. They were rude and disinterested during the flight. The plane was mediocre and there was no entertainment. I will avoid spirit airline at all costs going forward."
Cons: "Due to weather conditions, our pilot had to continue past Fort Lauderdale and land our plane at Tampa. However, after landing we were forced to stay on the plane for 3 hours with very little updates on what was going to happen. Then their only solution was to bus us back to Fort Lauderdale which would take 6+ hours, causing us to miss our connecting flights. Therefore we were forced to rent a car (paid for out of pocket) and drive to another airport in order to make it to detroit"
Pros: "With all the hidden associated fees such as having to pay for all beverages and snacks, they charge you more than any other airlines for your checked luggage and the allotted weight limit of your luggage had to be 40lbs vs the 50lbs with other airlines. Additionally, they do not include the international taxes and fees when traveling internationally so you incurr that fee when leaving the country. By far the worst airline!!!!!"
Cons: "With all the hidden associated fees such as having to pay for all beverages and snacks, they charge you more than any other airlines for your checked luggage and the allotted weight limit of your luggage had to be 40lbs vs the 50lbs with other airlines. Additionally, they do not include the international taxes and fees when traveling internationally so you incurr that fee when leaving the country. By far the worst airline!!!!!"
Pros: "price"
Cons: "We left from Fort Lauderdale. It was chaos. Massive lines to get to the kiosks which they said we had to do. Finally got to a kiosk only to be told none of them were functioning. Lines to get to the check in desk was terrible. No one told us what was going on. Overall it was a poorly organized mess. They charged extra for everything. A cup of water was 3 dollars. Seats were small and no leg room."
Pros: "Customer Service team was great"
Cons: "No complimentary snacks or drinks, not even water! The seats don't recline Over $180 in baggage fees for a round trip flight!"
Cons: "The seats are the most uncomfortable I've ever experienced in my life. Horrible experience. Nothing cheap about it. Charges for everything. Never again"
Pros: "They got our bags onto our connecting flight even though it was only 20 minutes between landing and takeoff."
Cons: "We had to pay the airport taxes separately and unexpectedly to leave Costa Rica. I know that Spirit wants to save us costs by not charging us for things we don't need but that cost isn't optional so it's just deceitful to not include it. The baggage check at the airport is also only open at a certain time so we had to wait an hour and a half in the baggage check line to wait for it to open and THEN it turns out we were accidentally in the express members line (which was unlabeled) and the spirit employees made us get to the back of the regular line which was huge at that point (note we were the first people at the counter before that happened. AN HOUR AND A HALF IN LINE before it opened, another HALF HOUR to get through the line when we had to get in back. THERE IS NO FOOD BEFORE THE SECURITY CHECK. When I was reserving/buying my seats the website gliched so I had to refresh and all the prices doubled!!!!! Note this is in a five minute window."
Cons: "Bad completely service"
Pros: ":)"
Cons: "Wasn't aware of the carry on fee or charge for food (including water). The airline also marked my ticket as one that required extra checkpoint at security thus causing me to miss my connection."
Pros: "Good service from fliht attendants and good snacks"
Cons: "flight was delayed by one hour. THere was a dark barking the last two hours of the flight right next to me. Our luggage was taken off the plane and sent to me 3 days later."
Pros: "Literally nothing. I mean, I guess the cold hard tile floors were shiny to sit in."
Cons: "They lied about volcanic ash to delay their flight because their crew was not ready to fly (they didn't have enough down time) meanwhile EVERY OTHER FLIGHT FLEW OUT. They would not give us a new flight. They would not give us food vouchers. No car rentals. No housing. We were stranded in a foreign country for 12 extra hours with NOTHING. On top of that they were rude, unhelpful, and after the 12 hour delay, DELAYED THE FLIGHT AGAIN. They would not help with anything. They simply blamed the "ash" that apparently didn't affect any other airline but Spirit. Never ever using them again."
Pros: "The planes arrived... eventually."
Cons: "Packed insanely tight Not even a free cup of water--nothing! 4 hour delay due to mechanical failure"
Pros: "The crew was nice and good"
Cons: "I didnt try the food and there was no entertainment so I cannot comment on that"
Pros: "flights were on time"
Cons: "No free water/soda"
Pros: "very nice"
Cons: "every thing"
Cons: "You would think that when you pay extra for the bigger seats that they would recline. The seats in the first row reclined not the second row... Same price for the upgrade. That should be disclosed or the seats should be lower."
Pros: "It was okay"
Cons: "Entreteimen we didn't have any? ???"
Pros: "Nothing."
Cons: "Hidden fees. Hidden taxes... Just crappy! Not cost saving at all!"
Cons: "Escribo esto en español para poder expresar mejor mi indignación ante el servicio tan mediocre que recibimos. Después de que el vuelo se atrasara más de 4 horas, nunca logré entender porque fue que nos atrasamos. Nos decían que íbamos a hacer una cosa y hacían otra. Pasamos de ilusiones y luego desilusiones durante horas. Amo viajar y nunca en mi vida me había sentido tan estresado como viajando con Spirit Airlines. No solo fue el atraso del vuelo, sino que también salíamos a las 12:45pm de San José, hora a la que usualmente creo que todos almorzamos, y no se les ocurrió darnos de comer sino hasta las 6:00pm (hora de Costa Rica) y yo no se si según ellos por darnos una latita de Pringles y un vaso de Coca Cola ya se nos iba a olvidar el terrible atraso que tuvimos. Cuando llegué al aeropuerto de Miami noté que habían roto una rueda de mi maleta y se lo dije a una empleada de Spirit Arilines que no sabía que hacer así que recurrió a otra y lo que me dijeron fue que eso no era problema de ellas porque probablemente había sucedido en Costa Rica y luego se fueron. Ahora mismo estaba tratando de hacer el Check In para mi vuelo de regreso y nunca había sido tan complicado hacer un Check In, ni siquiera entiendo porque no puedo hacerlo. Entro a la pagina de preguntas y soporte al cliente de Spirit Airlines y para responder a la pregunta de COMO hacerlo, lo único que saben decir son los beneficios que tiene, beneficios a los cuales me ENCANTARÍA tener si tan solo en su pagina dijeran COMO se hace. He pagado casi $100 en equipaje solo porque nunca nadie me dijo que si lo pagaba como un mes antes iba a salir más barato, que por cierto su pagina de internet es de lo PEOR que he visto, porque después de pagar mi maleta para ir de regreso, ni siquiera me decía si se había cargado bien a mi tarjeta o me daban una factura, simplemente volví al sitio para administrar mi viaje y ahora solo estoy rezando para que cuando llegue al aeropuerto en serio el pago se haya realizado correctamente. En fin, voy a tener que seguir viajando muy seguido a los Estados Unidos desde Costa Rica y puedo jurarles que NUNCA voy a volver a viajar con Spirit Airlines."
Pros: "Richard, our steward, was the only reason the flight ever made it out of the country. Without him I would have been stranded in Costa Rica for another night."
Cons: "We sat on the tarmac in a hot plane for 5 hours after an aborted take off due to brake malfunction. They offered no food, no compensation, no protection, and instead of booking me another connecting flight they forced me to take a van they rented from fort lauderdale to my final destination, orlando."
Airlines flying from San José to Fort Lauderdale have enacted additional safety measures and adjusted policies to better accommodate travelers. Policies vary by airline.
Heightened sanitation
Daily cleaning, installation of cabin HEPA filters on flights from San José to Fort Lauderdale
Mandatory masks
Masks required on board, masks provided on flights from San José to Fort Lauderdale
Social distancing seating
Middle seats unavailable to book on flights from San José to Fort Lauderdale
Pre-flight testing
Testing for antibodies, testing for symptoms for flights from San José to Fort Lauderdale
Flexible cancellations
Waiving of change fees. Search flexible flights from San José to Fort Lauderdale
San José (SJO) Costa Rica
Fort Lauderdale (FLL) United States