JFK, yes or no from Europe at customs????

[bjrose]

For those who have flown in and out of JFK concerning customs and changing planes there, how bad was it??? How long should I give in between flights also? For example, if I fly out of London Heathrow to JFK, then to Miami from there, how does the custom's check work and for how long did it take? I heard about Atlanta, which I can also use if I fly from here to Atl then onto London, but I can get a cheaper airfare deal out of JFK.

Please let me know ASAP so that I can make my plans.

Thank you.

BJRose;)

[Globaliser]

Are you thinking of buying two separate tickets? I am taking this from your sentence "I can get a cheaper airfare deal out of JFK."

 

The reason is that if you are buying two separate tickets, you will need to allow longer for immigration/customs/security at the connection point. If you have one through-ticket, you are protected if you misconnect because of delays in the process.

 

Also, it will help to know which airlines you are thinking of for the JFK route.

 

Personally, I would pay quite a lot of extra money to fly non-stop from London to Miami. But maybe that's just me.

[bjrose]

Are you thinking of buying two separate tickets? I am taking this from your sentence "I can get a cheaper airfare deal out of JFK."

 

The reason is that if you are buying two separate tickets, you will need to allow longer for immigration/customs/security at the connection point. If you have one through-ticket, you are protected if you misconnect because of delays in the process.

 

Also, it will help to know which airlines you are thinking of for the JFK route.

 

Personally, I would pay quite a lot of extra money to fly non-stop from London to Miami. But maybe that's just me.

 

Hi Globaliser,

I am not sure what airline because a few go thru JFK from FL. I will either fly out of Miami or Palm Beach International and change planes. I do like the direct from Miami to London, but if I can save $400, why not?

No, I would buy a roundtrip for the 2 of us from FL to and from London, not 2 separate tix.

Where do you live in UK??? I did graduate work in East Anglia in 1983 and have been back and forth a few times in my life. I was submerged in medieval rubbish heaps at the River Thet. One of my friends lives outside Manchester in Warrington. She has a place here in FL. Also, my favorite place was going to Cromer and then up to King's Lynn for the outdoor market. Those were fond memories. In pursue of medieval artifacts, under the arches at Charing Cross were kiosks with people having all kinds of chips and pieces of things in little bags in the 80's. It was so much fun searching through things. When we go on our British Isles cruise this summer aboard Crown Princess, we will be visiting a few places I wanted to see. Liverpool is among them and never got there.

I am keeping my eyes opened for a good fare from here. So far everything is easily $1200 per person for July 15th, eek!

Let me know if anything appears that you think I might be able to book.

Cheers,

BJRose;)

[Globaliser]

I do like the direct from Miami to London, but if I can save $400, why not?

Everyone will have their own views about this, but personally I would gladly pay $400 extra to get the non-stop flight.

 

Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner? ;)

[Twickenham]

Everyone will have their own views about this, but personally I would gladly pay $400 extra to get the non-stop flight.

 

Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner? ;)

 

North Americans definitely have a different view towards travel than most Europeans, especially car travel. My family and I would think nothing of driving 7-8 hours to a holiday destination; I once was chatting to a guy in the UK who thought a 2-hour drive was far. Different perspective.

And the one time I connected through JFK to LHR was to save $200 on the direct YUL-LHR flight. I remember we gave ourselves lots of time both ways, but it went quite smoothly, especially going. We were on Delta, and did have to change terminals, but were adjacent so it went well. Coming back was longer, as we had to pass customs and the line was long, but again other than taking about 1 1/2 for this, the process was actually pretty smooth.

[jollyjones]

I can only speak for American Airlines since that is what I usually fly.

 

Arriving in JFK internationally to terminal 8, you will go down three floors and walk about half a mile to go through Immigration which is not usually too slow unless you have been unlucky enough to come in right behind another bunch of planes. Then you will wait for your luggage - the time for that is very variable - and take it through Customs, then straight away give it back to the AA agents for it's onward journey. You then wait for an elevator (one was out of service recently) or, apparently, there is a way up if you go outside but I haven't found it yet, go up three floors, go to your right and queue for Security which can take anywhere from a few minutes to half an hour or more, then walk half a mile back to the gate.

 

If you are changing airlines and, therefore, terminals, turn left out of the elevator instead and go up another floor to the AirTrain which is a quick, simple and free transfer between terminals. You'll have to go through Security at that terminal.

 

The process can take anywhere from about 30 - 90 minutes. I consider a scheduled connection of less than 90 minutes as too tight for comfort (2hours is pretty much my minimum) even though I have often made it in much less time but there's many possibilities for delay.

 

Of course the irony for me is that I am usually in transit back home to Bermuda so after going through all this kerfuffle to enter the USA, I then promptly leave the country again ... oh, for a transit lounge ...

[Globaliser]

North Americans definitely have a different view towards travel than most Europeans, especially car travel.

Car travel, yes. That's primarily for two interlinked reasons: First, we generally have good public transport systems that are better driving yourself in many cases. Within the UK, if you have to drive for two hours to get to your destination, you're often better off getting the train. Second, because Western Europe is more densely populated, long-distance driving can often be difficult and tiring.

 

But none of that's got much to do with whether we'd prefer to take a non-stop flight, thereby saving hours each way and a pile of hassle; or to save $400. That's going to be a personal decision for everyone, and I know plenty of people who would pick either over the other.

 

And as you know, my personal choice has nothing to do with a fear of perceived distances.

[1lovehols]

We flew Delta to Jfk before our cruise in Nov. we did have a 3 day stay before flying down to Miami.

 

The flight from Manchester landed at the same time as 2 other flights and we queued for at least 45mins to get thru customs then we had to wait for our luggage. people where panicing cos they had a connecting flight within a hour of us landing at JFK. All i could think was what if the plane was slightly delayed.

 

Coming home we did Miami-Atlanta-Manchester and Atlanta was very nice a smooth.

 

if our hol hadn't involved us doing a city stop in NYC and they were direct flights from Manchester to Miami I would do direct to save the hassle.

[fbgd]

The flight from Manchester landed at the same time as 2 other flights and we queued for at least 45mins to get thru immigration then we had to wait for our luggage.

 

Fixed for pedantry.

[Tesla]

Are you thinking of buying two separate tickets? I am taking this from your sentence "I can get a cheaper airfare deal out of JFK."

 

The reason is that if you are buying two separate tickets, you will need to allow longer for immigration/customs/security at the connection point. If you have one through-ticket, you are protected if you misconnect because of delays in the process.

 

Also, it will help to know which airlines you are thinking of for the JFK route.

 

Personally, I would pay quite a lot of extra money to fly non-stop from London to Miami. But maybe that's just me.

 

I'm American and I agree with paying the extra money for a non-stop flight. First off JFK can be a total nightmare with Customs and in the interest of not missing the connecting flight I would go with a non-stop from Miami to London.