Meredith

Hi, there,

Looking for some advice on flight options and time between terminals at JFK. We will arrive into JFK on an Icelandair flight (Terminal 7, I believe) at 6:15 p.m. and are hoping to catch the last Delta flight out to Atlanta (Terminal 2, I think) at 7:45 p.m. We will not have to deal with checked luggage, as we will carry our bags. Of course there's always the possibility of a late-arriving flight, but otherwise does this sound doable? We would need to go through immigration/customs, get from Terminal 7 to Terminal 2, and I believe go through security again... Thoughts?

Thanks!
Meredith

J62

Are you US citizens/perm residents with Global Entry, or non US citizens?

Will you be able to check-in for your delta flight before you leave Iceland? If not, then check-in time is the cutoff you need to be aware of.


If yes, then you have a much better shot, as you only need to get to the gate by around 7:30. (when they close the doors)

That means through security by about 7:20 or so. If you assume it takes 20min to get through security (you can make up your own # that you are comfortable with), that's arrive at security by 7:00

Backing up further.
Airtrain (walk from customs) 5min walk to air train, 5 min wait, 5 min ride, 5 min walk, that = departing customs at 6:40.

Line at customs, guess at 10min. So clear immigration at 6:30.

So that leaves 15min from arrival at the gate, get off the plane, walk to immigration, wait in line, and complete immigration. If you can do all that in 14min then you have 1min to spare.


You do the math...and decide your own risk tolerance.

DonTopaz

If you have Global Entry & Pre-Check, then you have better than a 90% chance of making the connection.

If you have Pre-Check but not GE, the chances go down to about 60%.

If you have neither GE nor Pre-Check, the chances go down to less than 50%.

Meredith

Thank you both - I appreciate your help!

doug_stallings

If you are a US citizen, you can get almost all the benefits of Global Entry by using the app Mobile Pass. You pre-register your passport, take a photo, and then enter your flight details on arrival on the tarmac. By the time you get to the line, you get into the expedited line (but not as expedited as Global Entry and with no expedited Customs). But it does save time.

But if you don't have pre-check, I agree that this is at best a 50/50 proposition for you. I'd never schedule an international-to-domestic transfer with a change of terminals for less than 3 hours.

Huggy

Using GE is great, however, the time eater is 30/45 minutes required to be re-screened through security from international to domestic terminal transit. That was my last experience with Delta in Atlanta.

Agree with Doug above, 3 hrs.