okay so i literally just landed at jfk and im stuck here for like another six hours waiting for my next flight and honestly its always a whole thing connecting through jfk so i thought id just quickly dump some thoughts and advice here cause like maybe someone else can learn from my mistakes or whatever you know its just such a big place and its so easy to get lost or confused especially if youre already tired from travel and you just want to get to your final destination but you have to navigate this whole maze first.
its not lax its not o’hare its jfk and its got its own set of rules basically and its not always intuitive especially with all the terminals and the airtrain and all that jazz so if youve got a connection coming up hopefully this helps a bit cause honestly i wish someone had told me some of this stuff before i started trying to figure it all out on the fly cause its just a lot.
The connection game plan
first things first you absolutely need to know your terminals before you even land its like mission critical cause jfk has got what like eight terminals something crazy like that and theyre not all connected inside the secure area which is the biggest pain point for literally everyone so check your boarding passes check the airport map cause youll probably be using the airtrain and thats its own little journey but its free inside the airport system so thats a plus i guess but it takes time and you have to factor that into your overall connection time cause you cant just magically appear at another terminal you have to wait for the train and ride it and then find your gate and its just a whole thing.
Do you have enough time?
this is honestly the million dollar question and its where most people mess up cause they see a two hour layover and think great thats plenty but at jfk it can be a scramble like a legit scramble especially if youre doing an international to domestic transfer or vice versa so for domestic to domestic i honestly wouldnt recomend anything less than two hours and for international to domestic or international to international even with just a visa you definetly want at least three and a half hours maybe even four cause customs can be a beast and security is a whole other beast you know and if youre cutting it close you’re going to be sprinting through this airport like its the olympics and thats not fun for anyone.
- The baggage hassle:
- if youre flying domestic to domestic and staying on the same airline or its a codeshare usually your bags are checked all the way through but always always confirm at check-in cause you dont want any surprises.
- international arrivals that are connecting to a domestic flight? you are almost definetly going to have to pick up your bags clear customs and then re-check them at the transfer desk for your next flight which basically means an extra hour easily.
- domestic to international usually your bags go through but again confirm with the airline when you drop them off or at check-in cause policies can change and its better to be safe than sorry.
- international to international on the same airline or alliance usually they go through but if youre on separate tickets or different airlines that arent partners then yeah youre probably collecting them and re-checking them its a pain but thats how it is sometimes.
- Clearing security all over again:
- if you change terminals at jfk you are almost certainly going to have to clear security all over again there might be a rare exception but basically assume you will need to and plan for those lines.
- if you arrive internationally and have to retrieve your bags to clear customs and then re-check them then yes you are definetly going to go back through tsa its just part of the process cause youre basically entering the us and then re-entering the secure area for your next flight.
- even if you stay in the same terminal for a domestic-to-domestic connection sometimes you still have to reclear if your gate happens to be on the other side of a secure area divide or if you leave the secure area for any reason like to grab food outside or something so its generally safer to just assume youre going through security again and budget time for it and if you have tsa precheck or clear thats great it helps a ton but those lines can still be long sometimes its just jfk man its always a lottery.
so yeah thats basically it for my little rant slash advice session its not the easiest airport to connect through but if you plan ahead and dont cut your layover too short you can survive it just remember to stay calm hydrate and maybe grab a really expensive coffee to keep you going youre going to need it good luck out there and safe travels everyone cause this place is a jungle sometimes i swear.