Help-Penn Station to JFK/Check in time
 

Hey, please help. I will probably post this in the U.S. forum too just in case this is the wrong spot for this.

My husband and I have a 5:30 PM flight with Aer Ligus out of JFK airport later this month. We are coming from Virginia on the Amtrack and will arrive at 2:00 am at Penn Station.

I have flown international at JFK many times and think that of we arrive around 1:30-2 we have plenty of time to check luggage. I planned to sit in the Amtrack lounge at Penn for about 4-5 hours and then use the Amtrack luggage storage facility to hold our luggage so we could have a breakfast and run an errand in Herald Sqaure. If we make it back to Penn Station by 12:30 does that leave us enough time to make the trip to JFK on either the E train or the LIRR?
Also we will leave VA on Sunday at 5:30 pm, if we arrive at the airport around 1:30-2 will we have enough time to avail ourselves of the T-5 Lounge and have a quick shower? I realize it's around $25-$30 which is worth it to me to not have to arrive in Europe on Tuesday covered in Sunday's grime.
I'm am incredibly patient travler who has spent many a long wait/layover/night in airports and train stations but if you all think that it makes more sense to arrive on Saturday to New York and spend one night in a hotel I would consider it. If we do book a hotel should we book one close to the airport and take the train into Herald Sqaure for the Sunday morning errand?

Thanks for any and all info!

Check-in closes at 75min before departure, or 4:15pm. That means get to the front of the line by 4:15, not the back of the line.

If you make it back to Penn Station by 12:30 that is plenty of time to get to JFK with more than enough time.

I would not book a hotel at JFK - that doesn't make sense to me. There is no hotel directly at the airport, so getting back to your hotel after Herald sq would require way too much effort. If anything, book a hotel in Manhattan near Penn Station.

We did this mid-town to JFK 3 weeks ago. We left our hotel on W. 28th and 6th at 1 pm. We walked to Penn Station and took the LIRR. It was Sunday and we got cheap fare, so it was only a bit more than taking the E train {have done that before, train was more comfortable}. We had plenty of time to get to our gate, for 5:20 pm departure, and had time for drink too.

To me this is complete lunacy. You start out somewhere in Virginia on Sunday afternoon, travel until you reach Penn Station at 2 un the morning, hang out in the "lounge" at Penn Station from 2am until 7 or 8, then have breakfast and "run an errand" in Herald Square, get back to Penn Station around 12:30, Head out to JFK for a 5:30 flight, then wind up in Ireland early Tuesday morning. Good grief. Are you trying to channel the suffering of those who came over on the 7-day steamship trips of the early 20th Century?

You could take the 11am train from Union Station (Washington) on Monday, get to Penn Station at 1:50, and you'd be at JFK by 2:30 or 3:00, easily enough time for the flight. Or if you feel like giving yourself a huge buffer, take the 10am train from DC that gets into Penn Station at 12:50.

I don't know where you're starting from, but I certainly wouldn't ever -- ever -- consider a plan like the one you outline. (Have you ever seen the "lounge" at Penn Station? You really want to start a trip by spending 5-6 hours there on a Monday early morning?)

Thanks, you made me laugh!

I don't want to have to drive(endure traffic on 95)/long term park(expensive especially since I won't be back for 2 1/2 weeks) in Washington DC and catch the exact same train that I could board 10 mins from my house. I've actually stayed overnight in Penn Station a couple of times.

I think I will probably take the train in on Sunday and see if I can move my appointment to that day as well. Gotta check the cost. I know my crazy sleep anywhere, beatnik travel style isnt for everyone just wondered if I left myself enough time if I left the station in the early afternoon. Thanks for the forthright advice!

Sunday morning I meant.