My partner and I are flying from National airport tomorrow morning on the first leg of an international itinerary (DCA-JFK-NRT-etc.). Do we need to leave ourselves two hours for check-in at National since it's for an international itinerary? Or is 1 hour (maybe 1 1/4 hour) enough since the first leg is domestic on AA and there won't be a lot of other international flyers from National?

I feel like I should already know the answer since I've flown internationally before, but it's always been directly from the starting airport. I'm AA Plat if that makes a difference. Thanks!

Arrive early enough to make another flight to JFK from DCA if something is wrong with your flight to JFK.

My partner and I are flying from National airport tomorrow morning on the first leg of an international itinerary (DCA-JFK-NRT-etc.). Do we need to leave ourselves two hours for check-in at National since it's for an international itinerary? Or is 1 hour (maybe 1 1/4 hour) enough since the first leg is domestic on AA and there won't be a lot of other international flyers from National?

I feel like I should already know the answer since I've flown internationally before, but it's always been directly from the starting airport. I'm AA Plat if that makes a difference. Thanks!

I do DCA-JFK-overseas quite often. Check-in 75 minutes before DCA flight departure is generally well more than sufficient at DCA. 60-75 minutes in advance is fine. If I checked in two hours early for an AA-issued international itineraries for DCA-JFK-___ as a premium traveller (i.e., elite status or forward cabin) it would mean, more often than not, waiting around the airport for at least an hour after check-in.