New York City - Best time of day for international arrivals to JFK

Sorry, if this is the wrong forum to post this in.

I'm going to be travelling to JFK via LHR with BA.

I've got a choice of several flights that arrive in JFK from 11am New York time through to about 2pm.

So, my question is are there any times that I really want to avoid arriving at JFK? For example, are the afternoons really bad or maybe it's the mornings I need to avoid?


Also, I've never been to the USA before, so if there are any posts here about tips on dealing with JFK - I've heard so many horror stories about the place - then I'd welcome it if you pointed them out to me.

Thanks

I've flown to JFK from LHR once, although I've flown to neighbouring airports (PHL, EWR) many times. The only time I flew to JFK I arrived at around 13:15 pm and it was fine, from plane to roadside it only took around 30 mins? I think, could be less, could be more but from what I remember it was perfectly fine.

As a general rule of thumb, airports get busier as the day/afternoon goes on and then start easing off again in the evening, atleast that's my personal experience, someone correct me if it isn't true :)

BA have their own terminal in JFK, so the only issue arises if for some reason immigration have not cleared the previous BA flight. It's not like the common-user zoo in Miami or LAX. However, there are only a few agents provided, so the key thing is to get to the queue as quickly as possible. You will see people running past you.

The last time I was there the big issue was cabs outside, took nearly an hour in a barely-moving queue to get one. You can always try taking the (free) inter-terminal AirTrain if this happens, looking down from it to see which terminal has cabs standing.

Also, if you are going into Manhattan by cab, there is a fixed price fare. Someone doubtless thought this was a good idea, but twice out of three times now, when confronted with slow traffic approaching your destination, the cab driver has tried to unload me prematurely, with all my bags, saying "it's just down there".

Enjoy New York !

dmitritony, welcome to FlyerTalk.

Let me move this to the Destinations->New York City forum as New York area airports, such as JFK, are usually discussed there. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.

Thanks very much for your replies.

I really appreciate that you took the time to give me some help

BA have their own terminal in JFK, so the only issue arises if for some reason immigration have not cleared the previous BA flight. It's not like the common-user zoo in Miami or LAX. However, there are only a few agents provided, so the key thing is to get to the queue as quickly as possible. You will see people running past you.ANA and Cathay also operate into that terminal. It looks like there's an ANA arrival at 10:45 and Cathay around 1:15.

I arrived last March on the BA115 which arrived IIRC around 7.30pm and clashed with a CX flight from Hong Kong , took 2 hours to clear Immigration and Customs.

Thanks for your help everyone, I'll go with the flight that arrives at 12.35

Welcome to FlyerTalk and to the NYC Forum, dmitritony! :)

I think that FlightAware.com used to have arrival/departure frequency stats for various airports, but I can't seem to find it now. At any rate, my understanding is that JFK gets really busy in the evening with international departures, so your midday arrival should be good as far as tarmac delays at least.

Please feel free to ask any other questions you may have about your NYC visit here as well!

I think that FlightAware.com used to have arrival/departure frequency stats for various airports, but I can't seem to find it now. At any rate, my understanding is that JFK gets really busy in the evening with international departures, so your midday arrival should be good as far as tarmac delays at least.I use www.flightstats.com -- it will show you all scheduled arrivals/departures at an airport, with the option to filter by hour/terminal/carrier, exclude codeshares, etc.

It's better than FlightAware for that type of search.

I use www.flightstats.com -- it will show you all scheduled arrivals/departures at an airport, with the option to filter by hour/terminal/carrier, exclude codeshares, etc.

It's better than FlightAware for that type of search.

Thanks. FlightAware used to have a graph of all flight activity during a 24 hour cycle, but FlightStats may be a better way to get info on delays directly.

ANA and Cathay also operate into that terminal. It looks like there's an ANA arrival at 10:45 and Cathay around 1:15.

There's several airlines that use JFK-T7 (http://www.jfk-airport.net/terminal-7.html).

When I flew PHX-JFK on US, we were in that same terminal. But I doubt an A321 (without needing immigration or customs) would have that much of an impact, perhaps on luggage.

There's several airlines that use JFK-T7 (http://www.jfk-airport.net/terminal-7.html).

When I flew PHX-JFK on US, we were in that same terminal. But I doubt an A321 (without needing immigration or customs) would have that much of an impact, perhaps on luggage.Yeah, I was only looking for International arrivals.

There's several airlines that use JFK-T7 (http://www.jfk-airport.net/terminal-7.html).

When I flew PHX-JFK on US, we were in that same terminal. But I doubt an A321 (without needing immigration or customs) would have that much of an impact, perhaps on luggage.

Baggage is separate until it clears customs; completely different facilities, albeit in the same terminal.