New York City - LH-DL Interline time at JFK in December?

Hi all,

My Christmas travel every year is from Nice to New York (usually via Frankfurt as I fly LH), an overnight stop, then to Elmira. Until this year, I have been getting to Elmira on USAir via Philadelphia, as only USAir and Northwest have served Elmira, via Philadelphia or Detroit respectively. I build in an overnight stop because I'm too old to sleep in the airport anymore, and going from LGA through PHL would get me into ELM way too late at night for my parents to have to come and get me (I don't drive so can't rent a car).

Now, however, Delta have a non-stop from JFK to Elmira that looks awfully attractive and would get me to ELM at 1755.

But -- I'm not sure about the time. LH 400 gets in at 1325, then I have to go through immigration (I'm a US citizen) and customs etc. Do I then have time to check bags with Delta and hustle to their terminal for a 1630 departure? And do I have time to do so in December? Or am I better off to stay with USAir and the overnight stop?

The big problem I see is that if I have a reservation on a Sky Team flight, but a Star Alliance flight fails to deliver me on time because of for example snow in Frankfurt, or an iced-up plane in Nice (it happens!), Sky Team has no real need to do anything for me. If I stay within Star Alliance, they have in the past been pretty good at USAir about changing reservations with no fees, if LH has a weather problem.

My reasons for picking LH are that I do a lot of travel to Dusseldorf during the year, almost all of it on LH, so I've built up miles and status. I know AF do a NCE-JFK nonstop, and if I had status with AF I'd do that instead, but I don't.

Thanks for the help!

E.

Three hours is plenty of time.

Even in December? And, obviously the bags will have to be checked in. Is there a DL counter outside of international arrivals that can do that (including the retagging), or would I need to schlep on the airtrain to T3?

Thanks for the feedback!

Even in December? And, obviously the bags will have to be checked in. Is there a DL counter outside of international arrivals that can do that (including the retagging), or would I need to schlep on the airtrain to T3?

Thanks for the feedback!
Even in December you should be fine. That said, anytime of year things can happen -- weather problem, maintenance delays, air traffic control -- that could cause problems for you. But with three hours between flights, you should have enough time to overcome most (not all, but most) problems.

LH should be able to tag your bags all the way through. They will not need to be retagged. You'll have to claim them at JFK to clear customs and then recheck them, but you should be able to do that without taking them over to DL yourself (although some people advise that you should bring them to DL anyways, to minimize the chances of them not making it on time; I personally don't think that's necessary). There will not be a DL-specific desk, but there will be an area to recheck bags that have properly been tagged to their final destination.

Even in December you should be fine. That said, anytime of year things can happen -- weather problem, maintenance delays, air traffic control -- that could cause problems for you. But with three hours between flights, you should have enough time to overcome most (not all, but most) problems.

Good to know. I may book a hotel room "just in case" and then cancel if I don't need it. Since my favorite hotel chain has a 6pm cancellation time, I'll know well in advance of that if I'm going to need the room or not.

LH should be able to tag your bags all the way through. They will not need to be retagged. You'll have to claim them at JFK to clear customs and then recheck them, but you should be able to do that without taking them over to DL yourself (although some people advise that you should bring them to DL anyways, to minimize the chances of them not making it on time; I personally don't think that's necessary). There will not be a DL-specific desk, but there will be an area to recheck bags that have properly been tagged to their final destination.

Or maybe I'll get "lucky" like I did in February during the strike, and they'll leave the bag in Frankfurt an extra day. It did make the NYC-ELM travel a breeze, with only a carry-on. ;)

Thanks again!

E.

Even in December you should be fine. That said, anytime of year things can happen -- weather problem, maintenance delays, air traffic control -- that could cause problems for you. But with three hours between flights, you should have enough time to overcome most (not all, but most) problems.

LH should be able to tag your bags all the way through. They will not need to be retagged. You'll have to claim them at JFK to clear customs and then recheck them, but you should be able to do that without taking them over to DL yourself (although some people advise that you should bring them to DL anyways, to minimize the chances of them not making it on time; I personally don't think that's necessary). There will not be a DL-specific desk, but there will be an area to recheck bags that have properly been tagged to their final destination.

Actually there is a DL bag drop at T1 given that a number of Skyteam Airlines and DL codeshares arrive there.

Legal connecting times:
Results from ExpertFlyer.com (http://www.expertflyer.com/?a=s)Connecting Cities:
Connecting at JFK
Incoming airline LH
Outgoing airline DL
Flight type International to Domestic

STANDARD.D/D...D/I...I/D...I/I.
ONLINE 1.00 1.15 1.45 2.00
OFFLINE 1.00 1.15 1.45 2.00
** OR * ARE ALL
**-DL ID 3.30 TRM 1 - **
**-DL ID 3.30 TRM 7 - **
**-DL ID 3.30 TRM 8 - **
**-DL ID 3.30

The timing should be fine, even in December.

What I'd try to do in this case is see if you can get the ticket priced with the LH and DL tickets as a single reservation. You might have to use an OTA or a real travel agent but assuming the fares allow end-on-end pricing then it should be just the sum of the two fares anyways. That offers you protection in case of delays or such.