Planning a trip to Paris in May. Although I could get a direct flight from JFK, I would prefer to fly out of Hartford which is near my home. This will require a connection through the usual U.S. hubs - Philadelphia, DC, Newark, etc. or I could get a flight to Amsterdam and connect there. Does anyone have any input on which might be better? I already got some info on the ease of connecting in Amsterdam, but didn't know if there was an advantage to doing it there or if there may be reasons I should make the connection in the U.S. Fares are comparable as is travel time. Thanks!

Hi. We used to live in Simsbury Ct but still flew out of JFK. Diret routes are the way to go. It is only a 2 hr ride. Less chance of delays, missed flights and lost luggage.

Take the Amsterdam connection as it's painless.

It means you only have to "enjoy" the TSA experience once in each direction - and you won't have to take your luggage off the plane and recheck it when you first arrive back in the US

plambers' advice is probably good.

I generally prefer to make my connections in Europe. If the first flight arrives late for any reason, there will probably be a shorter wait for a flight from Amsterdam than from a US airport.

We live in East Hartford and we also do international flights out of JFK. We're going to Paris in May too and got tickets for a direct flight for $659 RT.

Last year when we went to Italy, we found a great service that picks us up at our door and drives us to and from JFK for $55 per person each way. They waited for us when our plane was delayed coming back for Venice for almost 4 hours.

Everything about doing this way is cheaper and easier than driving and parking and/or stop-over flights. It's easy and relaxing. If you're interested, I'll look up the info on the service. They're Polish, out of New Britain and when we went last year to JFK for our Italy trip, we were the only people in the van that didn't speak Polish but we didn't care. So worth it!

NW just announced they are resuming Hartford to Amsterdam service in the Spring. It may be worth waiting to book that with a connection to Paris.

seafox - the OP's trip to Paris was Last May . . .