JFK airport

[stoneyloon]

Has anyone got any experience of getting through JFK?

We land in Terminal 7 and depart for MCO from Terminal 8. A quick Google suggests the AirTrain is the way to go but the info on here is usually better!

Also, how long did it take for you to clear customs etc?

 

[stoneyloon]

No one?

 

[juliebro]

Very limited experience, I'm afraid!

We went to New York for a few days in 2006 to celebrate DS's 18th birthday.

With BA, we flew MAN to JFK. As far as I can recall, it was pretty quick going through immigration. Certainly a lot quicker than when we arrived in MCO on our first direct flight with Virgin earlier this year.

Can't help with AirTrain decision, as JFK was our final destination. We got a yellow cab over to Manhattan.

 

[Fobgirl12]

As a former new Yorker, AirTran is fastest. It basically does a loop around the airport. Taxi lines are loooong at JFK.

 

[catherine]

It's almost 15 years since we flew into JFK so I can't really remember much, so it must have been hassle free! Next year we're also flying into JFK and I thought that it was going to be easy as we land at terminal 8 and leave from terminal 8 that's until I discovered that there are two concourses!

 

[Wills Mom]

Its been about 6 years since I did a connecting flight through JFK, it was relatively painless IIRC! Busy though, verrrrrrry busy! I'm afraid I can't help with the Airtrain part, I *think* we got some kind of train alright and we had loads of time within our 2.5 hour stopover to get food, freshen up and get to our departure gate.

 

[disneyholic family]

we almost always fly through JFK - it's not the easiest but not the worst either..

the air train is relatively painless - make sure that you're actually on the air train and not the regular train, which comes by to the same stations...

every time i use that air train, i ask the airport worker about a thousand times to make sure i'm getting on the air train.....no way do i want to end up in the middle of queens somewhere...

you can tell the airport worker you need to get to terminal 8 (i think that's the American Airlines terminal) and he/she will direct you to the train.

terminal 8 has the longest line for security you'll ever see....ever ever ever.....if you see that you're running late, tell the TSA person in charge of the line that you're going to miss your flight and they'll push you to the front...usually....(with a lot of nasty looks and comments from the new yorkers)...

i've never landed in terminal 7, so i can't tell you anything about it...
but i've flown in and out of terminal 8 a number of times...

oh...another thing to know about JFK immigration......if your international flight is arriving late tell the cabin crew on board the plane - they will notify immigration on the ground who will be at the plane to give you a fastpass to use at immigration. Of course, only if there is a long backup at immigration and only if you're within about 1 hour of your flight. It's really quite magical. We experienced that last year for the first time. We were given this big orange fastpass which lets you into a special speedy immigration line. that was because our flight was almost two hours late and there were lots of people on board who were about to miss their connecting flights.

once we were through that and customs and dumping our luggage back at the connecting desk, we made a mad dash to the air train to get over to terminal 8 and then almost missed the flight because of the security line, but were then pulled through there and made it with about 5 minutes to spare

it's not a bad airport, just a HUGE and very busy one.
the AA terminal is nicer than most of the others.

 

[stoneyloon]

Thanks for the info. We're flying business so should get off the plane quickly and are due to have 2hr 45mins to do the transfer.

 

[disneyholic family]

Thanks for the info. We're flying business so should get off the plane quickly and are due to have 2hr 45mins to do the transfer.

we were business international and first class on AA - so there is a separate line for security in terminal 8 - but it was just as long and slow as the regular line..
truly i've never seen such a bad line for security other than in orlando...

by the way, we were scheduled to have 3 hours between flights -but the international flight was 2 hours late...thus the need for the fastpass....

 

[catherine]

Beth, do you know if the AA international flights land at one of the concourses at terminal 8 and the the AA domestic flights depart from the other concourse?

 

[disneyholic family]

Beth, do you know if the AA international flights land at one of the concourses at terminal 8 and the the AA domestic flights depart from the other concourse?

we didn't fly the international segment on AA - only domestic....

but i think that AA flies both international and domestic in and out of terminal 8...

so you don't have to switch terminals (no air train)...

i don't know about different concourses since we came from a different airline (different terminal)...