Flight Connections in USA Airports

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redchariot

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I am travelling to Las Vegas later this year and the best prices I have found involve connections in JFK (2:55 hours) or Atlanta (2:45 hours)

I know that these times are more than adequate for somewhere like Paris CDG or Amsterdam Schipol but I have heard that it not quite as simple in USA airports; for instance I am required to collect my check-in luggage, clear customs and check the luggage in again afterwards.

I am a bit concerned that the above connection times are not long enough but the next options are as long as 6 hours. I would be glad to hear about any experiences other people had connecting through these airports.
 
Indeed you must clear US Immigration & Customs at your first point of entry to the US and then recheck your baggage to its onwards destination. But I think those connection times are probably fine for you as I'm guessing you're traveling to ATL / JFK on a flight from Ireland and thus will be immigration pre-cleared so should only have to do baggage and customs which is usually not that time consuming (the big queues in my experience are the immigration queues)

What they may do (it's a long time since i've done this so it may have changed) is to tag your bag through all the way to Vegas ... but you'll have to pick it up and clear customs and then just hand it back over at a special desk just after customs (you don't have to really check back in as the bag is tagged already - it's more than you physically have to take it through customs yourself)

At any rate I'd be comfortable arriving on a pre-cleared flight with those connection times (in fact even if my flight wasn't pre-cleared I'd still be happy enough with those connection times)
 
I agree with the Evil Dr. I had similar connection times in Newark a few months ago, and had plenty of time to spare. As the Dr says, the problem is if you have to clear Immigration. If you are flying out of Ireland, you should be pre-cleared.
 
jrewing said:
I agree with the Evil Dr. I had similar connection times in Newark a few months ago, and had plenty of time to spare. As the Dr says, the problem is if you have to clear Immigration. If you are flying out of Ireland, you should be pre-cleared.
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You should be ok but the last time I flew to New York there was a problem with the system at Shannon when we stopped over. Queuing to clear immigration in JFK took an hour and twenty minutes. Another time coming from Sydney to LA we had to wait for nearly three hours at immigration because their system crashed.
My advice would be book your tickets with the same airline...then you'll be ok if you miss a flight for these reasons. But if it's Southwest or similar I'd imagine you're goosed.
 
If you're flying all the way to your destination with only one airline then you will be fine. The bags are checked to your destination and there is no need for you to collect them and recheck. For example, Delta check your bags the whole way through and don't allow you to collect at baggage collection. Anything over 2 hours is perfect.
I flew through Atlanta last year (vast airport) and had a stopover of 2 hours and there was no trouble. The couple in the seat in front however only had a stopover of 40 mins and the airline informed them that they would have to wait for their luggage at the other end because 40 mins simply wasn't long enough to transfer the bags.
 
mo3art said:
If you're flying all the way to your destination with only one airline then you will be fine. The bags are checked to your destination and there is no need for you to collect them and recheck. For example, Delta check your bags the whole way through and don't allow you to collect at baggage collection. Anything over 2 hours is perfect.
I flew through Atlanta last year (vast airport) and had a stopover of 2 hours and there was no trouble. The couple in the seat in front however only had a stopover of 40 mins and the airline informed them that they would have to wait for their luggage at the other end because 40 mins simply wasn't long enough to transfer the bags.
Click to expand...
 
mo3art said:
If you're flying all the way to your destination with only one airline then you will be fine. The bags are checked to your destination and there is no need for you to collect them and recheck. For example, Delta check your bags the whole way through and don't allow you to collect at baggage collection. Anything over 2 hours is perfect.
I flew through Atlanta last year (vast airport) and had a stopover of 2 hours and there was no trouble. The couple in the seat in front however only had a stopover of 40 mins and the airline informed them that they would have to wait for their luggage at the other end because 40 mins simply wasn't long enough to transfer the bags.
Click to expand...

perhaps things have changed since last year but when I travelled with Delta from Shannon to orlando in Jan I had to change in NY and collect my bag and hand it in again.
I did ask at Shannon if it was possible to send it straight through and was told no. If travelling from Shannon you will have cleared immigration there and in NY you only have to pick bag up and hand it to person around corner from where you picked it up. There was no checking in again and 2 hours in loads of time(assuming your flight leaves in time)
 
I had the same situation last year, I travelled with Continental from Dublin to Newark and then again on Continental from Newark to DC, and I had to collect my bag even though it was the same airline. But as others have said it doesn't take very long. Going through security at Newark took far longer!
 
Thanks for all your replies; looks like the connection times are fine then. The flights I am hoping to get are from Dublin to Las Vegas via Atlanta or JFK with Delta; pretty much the same price either way but the Atlanta flight on the date in question doesn't involve a stopover in Shannon while the JFK one does. So I think I will be flying via Atlanta
 
You do have to pick your bags up and drop them off again. It's not an airline thing, it's a customs and more than likely a security thing too, so I don't know how it worked that way for mo3art.

I have flown through Chicago, JFK & Newark in the last year with Aer Lingus, American & Continental and each time you had to pick your bags up.

Just be aware that last year at least for the last Aer Lingus flight of the day to New York the pre-clearance was closed and you had to do the immigration thing in JFK. It added a significant delay.

z
 
Hi,
I am currently looking a at flying Dub-San Francisco with Aer Lingus and then down to Vegas with either United or Us Airways. I have 2 and a half hours planned for a layover.

Is anyone familiar with SFO airport... Is this enough time bearing in mind I will probably have to change airlines?

Tickets not booked through.

Thanks a mil as always
 
2.5 hours should be okay if there's no delays to your arrival .. SFO aiport is relatively compact.. you'll have to change terminal, but that's no real hassle at all there.

Virgin America fly from SFO to Vegas several times a day ... check them out and see if their flight times suit ... I believe they're supposed to be much more pleasant than the "old style" carriers like US Airways and United.. who are pretty crappy.
 
I flew through Atlanta a few weeks back & didn't have long delays re-checking my luggage.

Like a previous poster said, it's clearing the immigration that takes time. Much easier if you can do it in Ireland. Last time I had to clear immigration in LA - en route to NZ - I just arrived at my connection gate after they had begun to board. It was a bit too close for comfort ! If you're sure you can do this in Dublin you should have no probs.
 
Armada, bear in mind Lingus is now point-to-point. If they are late arriving and you miss your connection, I don't think you've any comeback.
 
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