I think I'm going crazy -

I'm looking for a flight to Montego Bay from JFK. Delta has a 7.55AM flight that arrives at 10.35AM and is listed (both at Delta and Expedia) as a 2 hour and 40 min. flight.

American has the same flight, leaving at 8am, but arriving at 11.55, listed as a 3 hour 55 minute flight. Why would American's flight take an hour and 15 minutes longer? Is Delta not accounting for a time difference? And then does that mean that American's flight gets in at 10.55 local time?

To add to the confusion, Delta's nonstop return flight leaves at 5.15PM and arrives in NY at 9.50PM - listed as a 4 hour 35 minute flight.

Has anyone taken any of these flights and if so can you please explain what's going on? I guess Delta's outbound flight time is an error, but I'd like to believe we can get there that fast.

Thanks!

how about calling the airlines and asking them? maybe the longer flight is not a nonstop? maybe it's a direct flight which means it stops but you don't change planes. also, maybe theres a time diff between ny and jamaica.

I probably will end up calling the airlines, but my experience has been I will get someone on the phone who will look at a screen just like the one I saw and tell me that that's just how it is and it's a matter of luck whether I get someone on the phone who will look into it further. This board is often so helpful that maybe someone else came across this problem or has actually taken either of these flights and can clarify. Thanks!

There could easily be a difference between what airlines call a DIRECT and
a NON-STOP flight. American often routes
thru Miami with a 1 hour stopover; Delta/an Air Jamaica co-share, generally
flies direct from NYC but can also on some flights to/from MoBay route thru
Miami.

How can they call a flight DIRECT when it lands somewhere on the way, even if you do not disembark and change planes.

Anyway it should say clearly on the itinerary 1 stop (or more).

In airline parlance a Non-stop flight is just that - you take off from on airport and the planes lands at your destination with no stops in between. A Direct flight leaves from one airport, makes one or more stops before going on to your final destination. A Connecting flight is when you change planes at an intermediate airport before going on to your final destination. You just have to understand the lingo.

Nonstop flights between JFK and MBJ are a little under 4 hours. American's flights are nonstop. Jamaica is on Eastern Standard Time all year. Schedule times are always local time, so in summer, you are flying EDT to EST when going JFK-MBJ, and EST to EDT from MBJ to JFK. Winter is all EST to EST. (Add the hour time change to Delta's 2hr, 40 min and you have a 3hr, 40 min actual flight)

Thanks everyone, especially xkenx. I am still a little confused - does this mean when we arrive to jamaica, local time will be 10.30? or 11.30? Because air jamaica, who actually runs the delta flight has arrival time as 11.30. No one at either airline was able to explain any of this to me.

Thanks everybody!

Arrival times and departure times are always stated in the local time/ground time.

I realize they SHOULD be stated in local time, but in this case, either Americans is not stated in local time or Delta's is not, since the flights should be arriving five minutes apart but show as an hour apart.

Eitehr Delta is wrong or there is a stop.

(And "direct" does not mean "non stop&quot

...just the fact that Delta calls it an hour too little going out and an hour too much on the return tells me they've got the time wrong. It should take about 3 1/2 hours.

travellamb, I assume you are traveling late this fall or winter, after the time change back to EST. Therefore, all airline times should be showing the same time zone (EST) for both JFK and MBJ. American's 3h, 55min is then correct, and Delta/AJ is not. You can't fly JFK to MBJ in 2h, 40min.

ps. Air Jamaica's times are correct. Since it is the same flight, Delta's arrival time is a typo. BTW, if you have a choice, fly American. They are very reliable to the Caribbean. Delta is using Air Jamaica planes in some kind of code-sharing arrangement.

Thanks everyone for all your help.
Xkenx -and others - have you flown both Air Jamaica and American and found Air Jamaica to be unreliable? The flight times on Air Jamaica are better, but if they tend to have delays or other reliability problems, it may be less stressful to take American...