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

Yep, this is frustrating – although a lot of the time I've found there's an insurance included (my last one was with DoHop at Gatwick) so if your first flight gets delayed, you can let them know and they'll get you on the next flight out.

A little reassuring, but still not ideal if you're only going away for a short time and don't want your trip eaten into!

As others have said she will need to clear immigration and customs at JFK. She should ask at check in/bag drop in the U.K. if there are any particular instructions to follow. They might advise what signs to look out for for the connection, etc.

Worth her checking the JFK departures online a few days ahead so she knows where second flight usually departs from. There will usually be information online as to how long it takes to get from the departure lounge to each gate.

Two hours for transit in a US airport is not ideal. I would only book a ticket with that connection time if there was nothing riding on me making the connection. It's not like connecting in other countries. There is no transit at immigration and absolutely no staff will help you go to the front of any queue if needed.

She'll be fine, especially as flights are all with the same airline. Depending on if there's a hub for that airline at the connecting airport, the luggage will either be automatically transferred to the next flight, or she may have to collect it and re check the bag. They will be able to tell her at the UK airport if the bag is getting automatically checked as they attach different labels depending on this. Worth double checking this at the connecting airport though, just to be sure the bag has definitely gone across. We've done connecting flights before, with a similar time frame and it's always been absolutely fine. Usually the checked luggage has been transferred across automatically, but at smaller airports (Austin being one) we had to collect and re check ourselves. And similarly when we've flown connecting using two different airlines, we've had to re check, and it's always been fine. Most U.S airports are geared up for connecting flights really well, as it's a bigger country and internal "hopper" flights are commonly used by passengers to get to their final destination. You wouldn't really want more than a 2-3 hour connection as you don't usually leave the airport, and it can get a bit boring!

JFK has seven terminals and if the Ops daughter has to transfer from her arrival terminal to another she is very likely to miss her flight to Portland in Maine. I have personally seen too many people miss connecting flights due to delays and I would never now do a same day flight like this (unless it was through Charlotte airport in SC and that is because it’s small)

@Bunnyhopskip thank you for that information. She's flying both parts of the journey with Jet Blue who use terminal 5 I've just downloaded their app which lets me view an interactive map of the terminal. This all makes me feel a bit less stressed so thanks everyone for your help

You can ask this when you check in at the British airport.

They will check it through to Portland Maine or to JFK.

Its likely they'll check it all the way through to the final destination.

Two hours may not be ideal, but if the airlines sell tickets with a 2 hour connection window, then it surely must be possible, otherwise they wouldn't sell them.

Yes, that's what I did. Good job too or I would've arrived at my final destination with no luggage.

This is true of any country where you connect to a domestic flight, because there isn't going to be passport control or customs at your final destination, where 98% of people getting off the plane are local citizens/residents. Of course, the US is the place with the most domestic flights!

I assume the PP who mentioned never having done it was referring to connections somewhere like Amsterdam or Frankfurt, coming off a long-haul flight and connecting to the UK or vice-versa. In that case you don't enter the EU, you spend the whole connection airside.

Its likely they'll check it all the way through to the final destination.

If you're switching to a US domestic flight, you have to accompany the bag through customs at the arrival airport, because at the domestic airport there are no checks and you could just walk out of the terminal with your 10kg of drugs or whatever.

The bag itself may well have a tag on it with its final destination, and the passenger can then quickly drop it at a self-service desk rather than having to queue up, just as she will also already have their boarding card. So in that sense the bag would be "checked through", but you still have to physically accompany it past the customs officers.

@BlackLambAndGreyFalcon @fashionqueen0123 very helpful, thank you both

In the US you have to. They even make you go through immigration if you are reboarding the same flight (even when you are only allowed to sit in one room between sections of the flight - this happened to me flying LHR-LA-Auckland). No other country that I know of does this.

We were flying from uk to Newark and then on to Florida. We missed our connecting flight as our travel agent hadn’t allowed us enough time to clear customs etc. we were in a state of panic but it’s common place in America apparently. There were too many of us to go on standby so they popped us on a flight to either north or South Carolina (can’t remember which) and then onto Florida. All at no extra charge and gave us food vouchers for our time in the airport too.

I would not take that route with only a two hour connection if the onward flight is the last of the day. IF the first flight runs on time then there should be just enough time to go through immigration, collect and drop off luggage and then go through security (all are mandatory when entering the UE, no exceptions).
If there are any delays the airline will find you another flight but it could be the next day so a hotel will be needed. In my experiences it varies from airline to airline on how much help they give you with this.
AA booked and paid for a room, arranged transportation and gave us food vouchers. On other occasions it's been left to us to arrange and then go through the hassle of claiming refunds for everything.
I don't know how old the OP's DC is but under 21's can have difficulty checking into hotels on their own too.
A lot of potential for things to go slightly wrong for an inexperienced traveler!

Do try to change the second flight.
We took 3 hours to transit & caught our connection by the skin of our teeth.

We then had to go through the whole unpleasant business of immigration on the way home - when we did miss our connection despite a 3 hour gap.

@penjil airlines will sell tickets with a 45 minute connection even though the boarding time of the second flight might close 20 or 30 minutes before take off so if the first flight is even the slightest bit delayed there's no chance. There's then the situation of luggage not making the connection. Just because an airline sells the ticket it doesn't mean it's realistic. The US is an entirely different affair when it comes to connections than almost anywhere else in the world. Friendly, polite & helpful are words I would never use to describe the process of transiting or arriving in a US airport.

Thank you @RobinHood19 lots of good points, particularly the one about using the toilet on the plane. If only I'd known own this 15 years ago when I made my only visit to the US and was first off the plane but decided to nip to the loo before going through immigration. 5 minutes later came out of the loo only to find that 2 more planes had landed just after ours and there was about 400 people in front of us in the queue. Will definitely pass that tip on to DD

This is incorrect. In the US you always go through immigration and customs (ie you must have your luggage with you) at your first port of entry. Her bags will not be sent through to Portland. She needs to collect them at JFK, go through customs and then re-check them.

Well it wouldn't be if she had to go through immigration at Portland. But maybe they don't have 'proper' immigration at US airports that mainly serve the domestic market?

I've only done connections in Europe and never went through customs/immigration because I stayed airside and didn't officially enter the relevant countries (France, Belgium and the Netherlands). But it sounds like it doesn't work like this in the US.

This would lead me to think, given the reputation of US immigration, that 2 hours might be insufficient to get through immigration and board her connecting flight, but if it was booked as a connecting flight, does the T&Cs of the connection, or information about using JFK, give any information about the minimum connection time, or what happens if she misses her second flight - is there another flight to Portland on the same day with the same airline that she could be moved onto, preferably without charge?

Bunnyhopskip's information is actually not entirely correct. YES, the departing airport will tag your daughter's luggage through to her final destination. NO, this does not mean that your daughter doesn't need to collect it at JFK. As others have said, because JFK is your daughter's point of entry to the US, she'll go through passport control, collect her luggage, go through customs, and drop her luggage off. There will be a counters just after customs where she can do this (she won't have to go up to the normal check-in desks).

She will also have to reclear security.

You can check out details here (Connecting Flights - JFK - John F. Kennedy International Airport (jfkairport.com))

Note the line that says: For international arriving passengers, you must claim all checked bags at Customs and recheck with your departing airline, even if the bags are checked to your final destination!

They just don’t have the airside thing in the USA. The airports aren’t set up that way. It’s not like some other places where you follow signs to flight connections and don’t actually enter it officially. (So she wouldn’t go through immigration at Portland because she’s on a flight which left JFK, they will usually have different terminals for international flights)

So as soon as you land you are in the USA and you to have an esta or Visa even if you are exiting straight away to another country.

2 hours will be ok if her flight lands on time and she is given access to front of the queue or immigration and bags go quickly. I’ve done it a few times and as I said I once did a 45 min connection which was deemed as the minimum. So yes the airline will take care of putting her on the next flight. Or as someone else said sometimes they will hold a flight if lots of people are connecting.

Just to reiterate everything that @RobinHood19 has said is accurate and current, the toilet tip is very handy and whilst I have no recent experience of JFK as I use Newark for NY, my advice would be to be ready to get off and walk briskly to immigration, every person your daughter passes could be 1 less person in the line in front of her. Signage is usually clear for non-US passports and there are people (shouting) guiding you to the correct lane. They also tend to manage the queues well, although it is still so variable as to how long it will take, even same airport, same flight, different days can vary enormously. I prefer a 3h layover and have done the run (without shoes on) through the terminal before to make it to the gate, only to meet the pilot as I arrived who told me to take my time, grab a coffee if I needed as he would be a while running his checks as he was also late, which I found quite bizarre.

Is your daughter aware that she will be asked questions by the immigration person, purpose of stay, length and address are the basic ones, my tip would be to have the address on a piece of paper.

@McSpoot thanks for the link