moo

Traveling from ORD to Milan via JFK in March. The connection time between the ORD to JFK flight and the JFK to Milan flight is 70 minutes. Is that enough time to make the transfer? We will be ticketed all the way through on American Airlines (Saturday afternoon flights during spring break).

Have never been to JFK and don't know the layout for domestic terminal and international terminal. Must you take a bus/tram to get from one terminal to another?

Any opinions from those of you who frequent JFK on the 70 minute time frame?

Thanks!

rkkwan

It will like a domestic connection. You walk from one gate to another, and that's it.

All AA flights use Terminal 8.

gail

As always, the issue is whether or not your first flight will be on time - and both ORD and JFK are subject to weather delays in the winter. No way anyone can predict that.

nytraveler

If your flight lands on time you should be OK (JFK has many different terminals, but AA flights all use the same one). If your flight is late be prepared to run to the other gate.

You need to be sure your checked luggage is checked to Milan, not JFK (look at the tags to be sure).

However, if your flight is late coming in you may have a problem. In that case - assuming this is all one ticket - AA must find another way to get you to Milan (either the next day's flight - or, if there's time, perhaps a flight to London and a transfer on to Milan).

If this is not one ticket and your flight in is late - then you're up a creek without a paddle. But I assume it's all one ticket.

basingstoke2

We have just been there, done that. We had about 3 hours between our American Eagle flight to JFK and AA flight 198 to Milan. We did not make it. Remember, you want your luggage to make it too. Terminal 8 is really big with 2 wings. If your incoming flight is in one, and your departing in in the other, it could take a good 20 minutes at a fast walk to get to your gate. E.g., gate 5 to gate 31. Coming from ORD in March, it is still possible that you plane will need to be de-iced and that will cut into your time, especially since at ORD you may also have a long take off line as well. If your ORD-JFK flight is on American Eagle, expect it to leave late. I have never been booked on an American Eagle flight that left anywhere near on time with one notable exception that will be in the last part of my trip report. Sitting in the American Eagle waiting area, you will hear lots of announcements that begin with "We regret to inform you...."

Flight 198 at I think 5:30 or so is the last AA flight to Milan. If you still want to get there the next day, you will have to take the AA Heathrow flight later that evening and change at Heathrow to the British Airway's (a one world partner) flight to Milan in a different terminal than the one where you arrived. That flight will get to Milan in the evening. If you do that, you will have to leave the terminal secure area to be reticketed and go through security again. You will also have to go through security at Heathrow.

My advice, especialy if your ORD-JFK leg is on American Eagle, 70 minutes is not enough. Get to JFK as early as you can. Hanging out there is better than the alternative.

yk

ditto what rkkwan says.

AA uses Terminal 8 at JFK. All you need to do is walk from one gate to another inside T8, which takes no more than 5-10 mins max. There is no need to go through any security or anything.

If you have Platinum status with AA, you can enter the Admirals Club at ORD and JFK before your flights.

basingstoke2

yk, that is just not right. If OP's incoming flight and outgoing flight is in the same wing, then indeed the gates could be near each other. However the terminal is U shaped and you could also end up with a very long walk if you have to go from one wing to the other- that is something we had to do since we missed our connection even with a 3 hour lead time. If that happens to OP, then you have to leave the security area to be reticketed. We had to do exactly that a few weeks ago and the memory is still fresh. If the flight from ORD is on American Eagle, then assume it will leave late.

J62

If the weather or other conditions are so bad that the flight is late enough to miss a 3 hr layover then it really doesn't matter if you plan for 70min, 3hr, or 6hr layover. If you're delayed that long all bets are off. Whether it take 2min, 10min or 20min to get from one gate to another also wouldn't matter.

If you're the type to fret about these kind of things then take a morning flight into JFK (very few flights from ORD) or LaGuardia (basically hourly flights), and camp out at JFK for the day.

If you're like me, then be confident that 70min is plenty of time, relax, and enjoy your trip.

rkkwan

It is about 1/3 mile from one end of the U to the other. If you can walk at 3MPH, it will take about 7-8 minutes.

nytraveler

The problem isn't the distance - it's when the incoming flight will arrive. Have you checked the on-time record of that flight in March?

gail

Here's what I would do. Keep the flights. Often when really bad weather is predicted airlines will waive change fees - so if you hear a few days out that bad weather is predicted for ORD or NY, call airline and see if this applies - although it may not seem so at times, the airlines do not want a bunch of stranded travelers any more than we want to be one.

suze

Personally I never take a connection that short anywhere, anytime. It jangles my nerves.

As others have clarified, it's only in small part what's up at that particular airport, it's about whether the first flight lands and deplanes on time.

rkkwan

The OP is flying AA2332 ORD-JFK. For the last 61 days, the flight has been on-time 50 times. On-time meaning <15 minutes late. 15-29min late 3 times. 45 minutes or more late 7 times. Cancelled once.

So, it's 53/61, or about 93% that the OP would have made it in the last 2 months.

AA only flies ORD-JFK once a day. If he/she's not happy about it, then alternatives are flying a much earlier flight ORD-LGA and then taxi over to JFK. Or switch to ORD-LHR, and then on BA to MXP/LIN.

basingstoke2

It is not just the weather where you are that causes the flight to be late. First the plane has to arrive from its previous point on time - weather is only one reason for late arrival. The weather at the destination point also must also be ok. I agree that 3 hours is more than enough time since that is what I had set up. The major part of the delay was the plane coming late in the first place. The killer was the long take off line and the final cut was waiting more than 10 minutes after landing for a gate assignment and 5+ minutes more for a jetway driver to be found. If one listens to the AE announcements, the majority of the delays are flights arriving late. The weather that day at BWI was fine, and even though there had been a bit of snow earlier that day at JFK, the flight to Milan left on time.

My entire point is that the consequense of missing the Milan flight is such that it would be prudent to build in more time. On time data aside, things can and do happen. BTW, the distance from the gate where our AE flight finally arrived and where the Milan flight left was not long at all, but you can't count on that.

nytraveler

Only the OP can know their tolerance for uncertainty. And being from NYC this is a problem I usually don't have. I never leave less than a 2 hour window unless it's a route with a ton of flights (like ORD to LGA, that goes every hour).

Momof4boys

I hope this is helpful: In October, we flew from Europe to JFK with 4 little kids and had to make a domestic connection. We had a 45 minute layover and our plane was 1/2 hour late! Yikes!

JFK moved us quickly through the process, having special desks available and shuffling us off to our plane.

I would hope they wouldn't make you a reservation if it wasn't easily manageable (or do I have too much faith in a problem-plagued industry?)

Good Luck.

rkkwan

Momof4boys - Your post is only helpful if you were flying AA. What happened in other terminals at JFK have nothing to do with the OP.

AAFrequentFlyer

I would have no problem taking the 70 minutes connection, non whatsoever.

What may happen, what happened, "what happened to me one time stories" are useless evidence.

95% of the time everything happens according to the plan. If it's a really bad weather day then even 3-4 hour connection won't help you.

I'm with rkkwan on this one. This is an easy connection and in all probability it will happen as planned.

Have a great trip!

rkkwan

Well, I didn't say either way whether it's a good idea to take this connection. Like nytraveler says, only the OP can determine it. I'm just providing the facts - over the last two months, the chance of making it is over 90%, and the walk shouldn't take more than 10 minutes between gates.

I've always said it, if one's going to sign a last-minute multi-million contact that next morning, or have a wedding, or have a bus tour to catch within a few hours, etc... the level of chance one can take is very different if one's going to relax in Milan for a few days, when missing a connection isn't a big deal.

And since this is JFK on AA, there are later flights to LHR, and they can put the OP on BA to fly to MXP or LIN if the OP does miss the connection. Or perhaps other connections via MAD, etc.

basingstoke2

Perhaps I take a more conservative view. There are flights from ORD to JFK that will give the OP more transition time.

For me, I would prefer to hang around JFK longer than miss my Milan flight knowing that by doing so I will arrive in Milan in the late evening rather than early morning with a lot of hassle built in.