Connecting flight help needed

[gazingatgoats]

My DD is flying from the UK to the U.S. next month and needs some well travelled person to explain how connecting flights work. She will fly into JFK New York and then get a connecting flight to Portland, Maine. The problem is there is only 2 hours between arrival time and departure of the connecting flight.
We have no idea what she needs to do when her first flight arrives re immigration and luggage and I'm now panicking that 2 hours isn't long enough and she will miss her connection.
The flights are all with the same airline and I know they will put her on the next flight if there is a delay, but the next flight with that airline is not until the following day.
I would really appreciate any advice or anyone with experience of flight connections. Thank you

Did she book this as one journey?

Tell her to make sure to ask if she needs to collect her luggage to put onto the next flight. I got a connecting flight for the first time recently (via JFK) and had to collect my luggage. Looking online and asking other people I'd got the impression you didn't need to and it automatically got transferred.

Generally connecting flights are straightforward.

When the first flight lands and you disembark, you follow the signs for connections rather than for immigration. You'll be in the departures section of the airport as though you had already passed through security. Then you just look for your gate.

Connections in the US can be different as they sometimes make you collect your luggage and put it through again. The whole process can take way longer than connections in other countries.

It can depend on the individual airport, what country you are flying from and what your final destination is.

Probably best to check on the airport website.

There will be someone at airport to ask
Tell her to ask someone when she lands

Was it booked together or two separate flights? Getting through immigration in the US can be slow, I've been stuck in the queue for over an hour before. & as mentioned above some flights you seem to need to collect your bag and recheck it for the next leg.

Usually you have to go through immigration and collect (and recheck) your luggage. 2 hours will be OK as long as the first flight is on time, and usually they are good at getting the transatlantic flights off on schedule. JFK can be a bear but I reckon she will be OK. (I fly from US to UK a lot.)

Thanks everyone for tips and own experiences. The flights were booked together so I was hoping she wouldn't have to go through immigration or collect her luggage, but having never had to get a connecting flight before I am pretty clueless!

She will follow,signs for flight connections. She should in theory be checked in for both flights at first check in and luggage will be transferred for her.

I've never ever collected luggage or gone through immigration for a flight connection

She will have to go through immigration and customs. Collect her bag.
Then there will be a desk to redrop bags for connecting flights. She may need to change terminal so check that too.

Sometimes they’ll give you a luminous coloured tag thing to show at immigration to show you have a connecting flight and you’ll get put to the front of the immigration queue. But I’ve not always had that happen.

You always have to in the USA. They don’t have the airport set up to have people enter the country and leave without officially entering it, if that makes sense.

You go through immigration at first airport then transit to second flight.

As JFK is her first point of entry into the US she will have to go through immigration. She will more than likely have to collect her bag and recheck it, but all this may mean is collecting it from the carousel and then taking it to a nearby special check-in desk for connecting domestic flights rather than having to go landside. At check in they should tell her what she needs to do and there will be signs in the airport for her to follow.

Flying into the USA is a different story when it comes to flight connections.

As soon as you touch US soil, you are required to go through immigration and customs (unless you’re flying in from
Dublin where they do this pre-departure).

She’ll disembark and then go together with everyone to passport control. This can be a 10 min or a 2 hour wait… depends on the day of the week, time of day and terminal as to how staffed they will be. For New York I usually fly into Newark and I’ve both walked through within minutes, or had to wait hours in an unventilated cramped area. Tell her to refill her water bottle and use the toilet before getting off the plane, just in case.

After getting through immigration, she’ll have to collect her luggage and go through customs (mostly non-existent nowadays, but they might give a slip of paper to complete on the plane. You hand this in to the officer). She then proceeds outside of international arrivals area per se.

After coming out of immigration / customs, there will usually be a dedicated area to drop off bags for connecting flights. Very rarely do you have to queue again - these areas / belts are well signalled so she should be able to find them pretty easily.

If there is a change of terminal, she does that. Then proceed to security (again, there might be a dedicated line for those coming off connecting flights, if she’s lucky). Normal security check, except than in the US you always take shoes off too.

So to sum up, immigration first, then reclaim bags, walk through customs (maybe hand in a form, airline will tell them), drop bag off, change terminals if needed, clear security, go to boarding gate.

2 hours is on the tighter side but totally doable at most US airports, if she moves fast.

Check on her ticket if a change of terminal is required. Aim to sit as upfront in the cabin as possible, if she has the chance to select her seat ahead of time.

You’ve never connected in the USA then.

The only way to connect there is by doing immigration and customs first. As soon as you land in the country, they need to process you, regardless of where you’re going next.

She'll need to go through immigration, collect her luggage, go through customs and then re-check her bags, as NYC is her point of entry into the US.

Once she gets to Portland she'll just collect her bags and go.

(British expat living in the US for 20 years; I've done this a number of times.)

Exactly. Regardless of forwarding flights, you have to go through US customs and immigration at your first port of entry into the US.

I would move the second flight to a later time. 2 hours doesn't allow for any delays. 3 hours would be better. She might get stressed with not getting off plane quickly, all the immigration queues and finding her next departure gate. Better to move the second flight if you can.

I’ve done a 45 min connection before if that helps. I selected as seat as far forward as possible and ran/jogged once I got off the plane. I was right near the front of the queue at immigration, luckily the bags came off fast and I managed to change terminal too.
2 hours will be fine if her plane lands on time and no delays with luggage. As it’s the same airline they will have details of connecting passengers so try not to worry.
If she misses it then go to the airline staff and they should help rebook her.

Yup otherwise that would be a very easy way of people to enter the USA illegally!

The first flight will be international#, the second domestic, so she has to go through the immigrations between them.
Very probably she will have to pick up the luggage after the immigrations, but that doesn't mean much further delay, as the immigration queue typically takes longer than baggage operations.

The best preparation is to have all paperwork ready and check which food items aren't allowed in, so she doesn't get stuck explaining her illegal carrot sticks.
I missed my connection once in Washington, so after I got through immigrations, my airline gave me a hotel voucher, meal voucher and told me where the shuttle bus stops to get me there. This was really smooth.
My friend once missed the connection at JFK and instead of waiting for the next day, the airline got them to the destination with different combination of flights (one more connection than planned).

#Unless there would be a full US immigrations preclearance at her departure airport. I've met this full check at Toronto airport and than the flight was considered domestic, but in Europe I've met only the fast pre checks, not this full one.
Based on the US BCP website only Ireland participates in this.

A two hour connection time at JFK is too tight. It should not have been sold to her. Some days you can wait that long in immigration. There is usually an area for transfer bags to be dropped just after clearing immigration and customs.

She may well need to stay overnight and fly into Portland in Maine the following day.

I've noticed that web sites like Skyscanner sell all sorts of "connecting" flights with no account taken of transfer times. We always do 3 hours even if it's Schiphol. We have been 2 hours late arriving on flights before now and had to run for a departure gate. It's no fun and it's stressful. I'm USA I'm thinking 4 hours is probably more sensible over our 3 hours! Sometimes a departure is held if they know passengers are in the airport from a connecting flight but this works better if it's the same airline.

Generally you go through immigration on arrival at the first airport, it's a faff but the next flight is a domestic flight so you just walk off it. 2 hours should be ok, jfk is huge so lots of immigration officers on duty, unless there's a tech outage of something the queue moves quickly. Even the worst immigration I've been through recently (tech issues not included) was only an hour.

You do normally need to collect luggage too btw then follow connections to put it onto the next flight, it's been quite a while since I did jfk though