Is 55 minutes enough to transfer on AA from domestic to International?
It seems too close, but AA is allowing it as a legal connection.

Domestic to international is just like dom-dom connection. You deplane at one gate, walk over to another and board. Assuming your dom flight is on time, you will have time for a quick drink at the bar...

Sure it's enough time, and AAFF is the expert on this sort of things. But, the key is if first flight is on time. What time of year, time of day, day of week? And is international flight the only one of the day going to wherever? If you miss that, are you stuck until the next day?

Well, it's probably the worst possible time to do it...5:00pm on a Sunday night in early June.
Another option is to fly to LGA and arrive late morning and then cab it over to JFK for the 5:55pm flight. Less stress that way for me, a mom travelling with 2 teenagers. Just curious, how much would a cab or shuttle cost for 3?

Cab will be better and cheaper than a shuttle for three. Maybe $28 or so.

From where are you starting. A lot of airlines fly into JFK. Although they would be different terminals, getting around JFK is easy and may afford you more options and less hassle than LGA.

If you do fly different airlines you'd want to make sure you purchase the whole trip as one ticket, i.e. through a travel agency like orbitz, expedia, etc.

~$25-35 for taxi and on mid-Sunday afternoon it shouldn't take more than ~30 minutes.

The shuttle will be more since you're paying per person.


http://www.panynj.gov/CommutingTrave...n_connect.html

Because you expect to arrive at 5:00 p.m., I expect you will be traveling mid-day. This is not a good time to have a close connection, even on a Sunday.

I think you are far better off taking an early flight and spending the money for a taxi to reduce the stress. The last time I did that, the cab fare was about $35 and I got a car service for $50 that I could pay with a credit card.

We took an 11:00 a.m. flight from DFW, arrived at LGA about 3:00 and, with carry on only, were checking in at JFK before 4:00.

I appreciate all the feedback. Normally, I wouldn't do this but we're going to use AA FF miles so the options are pretty limited.

Sounds like the cab is the way to go. Thanks.

Anytime I have flown AA into JFK it has been on a tiny plane (from Boston) and been subject to all sorts of delays. Consider that as well.

mollmatt,
On international award tickets with AA, you are usually better going into LGA and taking a cab to JFK. I have found that the connections are usually better (or in some cases the only way). Cab will be the best way and you will be must more stress-free (as stress free as you can be with 2 teenagers).
I have historically found that if you are asking the questions "is this enough time?", it ususally isn't.
Enjoy the trip.

I've booked an itinerary that has us arriving at LGA at 12:25pm and leaving JFK at 5:55pm. It's certainly enough time to make the transfer via a cab. How will AA handle the check-in? Obviously, we'll have to collect our bags at LGA and then re-check in at JFK. Will the ticket agent in Florida only check us in for the first 2 legs of the trip and then we'll start over for the flight over to CDG? (Our routing is RSW-MIA-LGA-JFK-CDG)

You will be checked in all the way through, but as noted, you will have to pick up your bags in LGA. It is an easy transfer, considering the fact that the connection involves 2 airports.

(btw, I realize everybody has a different comfort zone and you picked yours, but I would have stuck with the MIA-JFK-CDG connection. JMHO )

Have a wonderful trip!

Again, these kinds of stuff depends on your situation and the specific flights.

First, AA has a later JFK-CDG flight at around 9:35p. You can book that one to start with; or if you miss the earlier flight, they can put you on that later flight if there's room.

Second, AA usually have a flight around mid-day MIA-JFK. Why do you have to go through LGA?

Third, consequences... If you can leave home early, why not? Or if you don't care being a day late to Paris, then not a big deal if you miss your connection.

Everybody's situation is a little different, so there's no one single "correct" decision.

I saw that later JFK-CDG flight and thought about that as an option if we missed the earlier flight but don't really want to risk it as we only have 1 week to spend in Paris and wouldn't want to miss that first day if they couldn't put us on the later flight.

It also now seems that we'd only have 40 minutes, not 55 that I originally thought to make the connection. The flight from MIA lands at 5:15pm, not 5:00pm. That really would make me uncomfortable.

As I mentioned before, my options using miles are limited and my dates aren't too flexible.

I'm sure it will work out fine, at any rate, we know that once we get settled in on the flight to Paris, we'll probably be exhausted from the days travels and will hopefully be able to sleep a little.

Thanks for everyone's help! Now it's off to find an apartment to rent! Just discovered we'll be there the last week of the French Open. Hope that doesn't mean rentals will be scarce and really expensive!

Why not book that later JFK-CDG flight to start with?

Because it wasn't offered to me as a choice using miles on the dates I need.

But now that they've changed the connection to 45 minutes, you should be able to switch to almost any flight you want from MIA to CDG that day.

That might be the case if the OP was originally confirmed and there was a schedule change, but I'm not clear if the OP was ever confirmed on those flights.