Connections at JFK Airport in NY

Dan Gwinner

I have returned from several international flights at various airports. Normally, after you clear customs and immigration, you claim your luggage and then put it on a conveyor where it is sent to your domestic flight. Since JFK has several terminals, is it the same procedure there?

Thanks,
Dan

British

I have never flown on from an international flight at JFK but I think that is the law. Our local airport has six terminals and just last week we arrived on an international flight and everyone had to claim their bags before continuing on other flights, that's the normal procedure. This is why it is a good idea to have plenty of time between flights, we waited over an hour for our bags off that flight. Then customs, walk to correct ongoing terminal etc.

Dan Gwinner

I am concerned about making the connection to my domestic flight. Due to a schedule change, I now only have two hours between my international arrival and the domestic departure.

British

Get them to put you on a different flight, they made the change so they should be able to change it to a better flight, we have certainly had to do that a couple of times on our travels. The only other tip I have is to make sure your shoes are the best for running in over ease of taking on and off, and, that your carry on is also easy to run with, that has helped us catch a flight more than once. When we last went to Africa, our flight arrived late in Amsterdam, we made the flight but our bags did not, the airline were surprised we made the flight so apparently did not hurry our bags. Of course it will probably be that you end up having loads of time but I would always want to be safer than sorry and I guess you do to or you would not be concerned. Good luck. If Tauck originally booked your flights, they should make the changes for you by the way, just call, they are very helpful!

AlanS

It depends on where you originate. Baggage can be ticketed through to your final US destination if you originate at one of the handful of international airports where there is US pre-clearance, like Dublin, Shannon, many Canadian airports, Bermuda, Bahamas, Aruba, Abu Dhabi, etc. You can read about it here. Per Wikipedia the plan is to significantly expand the number of pre-clearance sites.

"The United States Customs and Border Protection (USCBP) facility at Terminal 2 in Dublin Airport is a purpose built facility that allows US bound passengers (note: this applies to all passengers not just US citizens) to undertake all immigration, customs and agriculture inspections at Dublin prior to departure.

Dublin Airport is one of only a handful of airports outside North America that offer the CBP facility. Having cleared USCBP, passengers arriving in the US are treated as domestic arrivals, which allows for a faster processing through their arrival airport in the United States including the checking through of any baggage to the traveller’s final destination.

Passengers on all US bound flights clear immigration, customs and agriculture inspections at Dublin Airport."

We will be returning from the Best of Ireland this year. We depart from Dublin and change planes at JFK then to RDU. It sure will make it easier to transit JFK.

Pre-clearance is not without issues, however- It can take longer (35 min +) at Dublin unless you have Global Entry which is lightning fast (we do : ~) ); once you are cleared you can't re-enter the flight-side terminal to get something to eat or do some duty-free shopping- there is none of that in the cleared hall the last I heard; and there may also be issues with flights arriving at hours when pre-clearance is closed (not 24 hrs?). You can read about it on Flyer Talk and other such websites.