I am about to book a flight with American Airlines (SF-JFK JFK-Milan) The flight going to Milan has a layover time of 2hrs and 45 minutes, but the return flight only has 1hr and 50 minutes between flights. Both planes arrive and depart from T8. Will that give me enough time to do everything I need to do (I am a naturalized American citizen) Also, I'd like to know if I have to leave the terminal to go through customs. Do I have to take my bags to the AA counter myself after customs? The last time I flew with Delta and, if I recall correctly, there was an area behind customs where we left our bags (or maybe it was just wishful thinking!) Thank you in advance.

I think you have plenty of time.

You do not need to leave the terminal to go through customs. Immigration, baggage claim, and customs are all inside the terminal.

After customs you will drop off your bags right outside customs. They will already be tagged all the way to SFO.

You will need to go upstairs and pass through security again to get to your gate for SFO.

You will have plenty of time going and not enough time on the return, and I say this even if your connection is "legal" (i.e., allowable by airline rules).

On your return you have to pass through immigration (which can take up to 90 minutes at peak travel times) and reclaim and then recheck your luggage (you have to take your bags yourself to the re-check desk, but it's just beyond the customs area of T8---I believe within baggage claim, but it might be just outside). Then, unlike at almost any airport in the world, you have to go back through security, though you will not have to check in again. You just go straight to your gate, still in Terminal 8. But this process can easily take 2 hours on a bad day. Oh ... and at JFK, you need to re-check your bags within an hour of the flight, though I'm not sure if there are less stringent requirements for rechecks.

Recently, I passed through immigration in T4 within 35 minutes (very good for a busy day), then had to wait about 10 more minutes for my luggage). Security can take anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes. On that day I would have had time to make the connection. But back in October, immigration alone took over an hour in the same terminal and security took 30 minutes, so I would not have made the connection.

Short story: you need 2 hours 30 minutes minimum to be safe.

OK..so I got two completely different answers probably both valid at different times and in different situations!

Try re-posting in the Europe forum, where you will get many more answers, but this is a question that has been widely discussed at some length in other threads. We almost universally agree that 2 hours is not always enough time to connect from an international to a domestic flight at any major U.S. airport but that JFK seems to be particularly bad, especially at peak travel times.

Doug, thank you and the other people who answered. I think I found something better with Delta (2 hrs and 45 minutes on the return layover both in T4) on Wednesday 10/24. Delta used to make their SF-Milan stop in Atlanta which I think is a more manageable airport than JFK, but I don't see that any more.

I'd feel comfortable with that time, and it should do unless something totally out of the ordinary happens. You can never predict when there will be a meltdown at JFK, though we do get late afternoon thunderstorms from time to time, but you also can't plan your life around the exceptions.

I read that the minimum connection time from Int'l to Domestic at JFK for most airlines is 1 hour 15 minutes, which seems laughable to me since that will work at best only 60% of the time.

If your flight is late, definitely ask to be put into the fast-track line, but you'll need a printout with your schedule, so be sure to take one along.

I've done similar connections at T8 without any difficulty. Since AA uses widebody planes on JFK-SFO, and since the next flight (assuming this is after late August when AA reduces the layover by 10 min.) isn't until 3 hours later (with a 10:10 PM arrival at SFO) I would absolutely risk it. Worst case they put you on the later flight. Three hours in T8 (assuming you don't have lounge access) is two too many IMO.

Sorry about missing the Delta/Atlanta options. Personally, I'd pick AA through JFK without thinking twice about it, but YMMV.