American Airlines from Birmingham

[Andymc79]

Hi,

Wonder if anyone can help me. We are flying to Orlando indirect for the first time from Birmingham (BHX) to New York JFK with a 2hr 40min wait and then down into MCO on flight 2285 also with AA. With this the first time we've done this I'm a little nervous about missing my connecting flight, especially with security so slow these days. Does anybody know if my flight from BHX will use Terminal 8 (The same terminal for the MCO flight)? Or will I have to travel to another terminal which will obviously take more time. Hope you can help

Thanks

 

[2Tiggies]

If you take your flight numbers and plug them into flightstats or flightaware you can see which terminal is used for arrivals and departures for your flights. This may change, and sometimes it does at the last minute, but it give you a general idea. Various factors come into play, such as how busy it is, how long you spend at passport control, whether your flight lands early or on time, how comfortable you are navigating a different airport, etc. For example, we have connected at EWR several times with a 90 minute connection, both with and without a terminal change and never had an issue. We had 2 hours 50 minutes in December, it was 2 days before Christmas and very busy, so although we sailed through passport control with no line at all, it took almost 40 minutes for the luggage to show up and then we had to clear security again. By the time we had run to the gate where our plane was, our flight had already begun boarding about 10 minutes earlier.

I'd be quite happy with anything over 2 hours, but I'm also not particularly stressed if I miss a connection and have to get them to put me on the next one, as long as it's not the international flight.

 

[Andymc79]

If you take your flight numbers and plug them into flightstats or flightaware you can see which terminal is used for arrivals and departures for your flights. This may change, and sometimes it does at the last minute, but it give you a general idea. Various factors come into play, such as how busy it is, how long you spend at passport control, whether your flight lands early or on time, how comfortable you are navigating a different airport, etc. For example, we have connected at EWR several times with a 90 minute connection, both with and without a terminal change and never had an issue. We had 2 hours 50 minutes in December, it was 2 days before Christmas and very busy, so although we sailed through passport control with no line at all, it took almost 40 minutes for the luggage to show up and then we had to clear security again. By the time we had run to the gate where our plane was, our flight had already begun boarding about 10 minutes earlier.

I'd be quite happy with anything over 2 hours, but I'm also not particularly stressed if I miss a connection and have to get them to put me on the next one, as long as it's not the international flight.

Thanks very much for the reply. Did your luggage not automatically get transferred onto your connecting flight?

 

[2Tiggies]

It does - sort of, but because you have to clear customs and immigration at your first port of entry (JFK in your case) you have to collect your bags to go through customs and then there is a bag drop after you exit and they take care of the rest. On the return journey, the bags all go straight through from your first check in to your final destination, as long as your ticket is for all sectors of the journey.

 

[Andymc79]

If you take your flight numbers and plug them into flightstats or flightaware you can see which terminal is used for arrivals and departures for your flights. This may change, and sometimes it does at the last minute, but it give you a general idea. Various factors come into play, such as how busy it is, how long you spend at passport control, whether your flight lands early or on time, how comfortable you are navigating a different airport, etc. For example, we have connected at EWR several times with a 90 minute connection, both with and without a terminal change and never had an issue. We had 2 hours 50 minutes in December, it was 2 days before Christmas and very busy, so although we sailed through passport control with no line at all, it took almost 40 minutes for the luggage to show up and then we had to clear security again. By the time we had run to the gate where our plane was, our flight had already begun boarding about 10 minutes earlier.

I'd be quite happy with anything over 2 hours, but I'm also not particularly stressed if I miss a connection and have to get them to put me on the next one, as long as it's not the international flight.

Thanks very much for the reply. Did your luggage not automatically get transferred onto your connectinggr

It does - sort of, but because you have to clear customs and immigration at your first port of entry (JFK in your case) you have to collect your bags to go through customs and then there is a bag drop after you exit and they take care of the rest. On the return journey, the bags all go straight through from your first check in to your final destination, as long as your ticket is for all sectors of the journey.

Great, thanks for this.

Appreciate it

 

[2Tiggies]

If it settles your anxiety about missing flights, go onto a flight booking search site and plug in a search for AA flights (and BA and US Airways, which are partner airlines) and see what flights leave JFK for MCO after yours. If you miss your connection, they will put on on the next flight as long as there are seats available. We found AA service outstanding.