Originally Posted by
NickB
Well, it would be a T5->T5 connection, so pretty painless.
One thing the OP should be aware though, if (s)he starts his/her trip in Florida is that, afaik, Openskies does not interline in any way, shape or form with anybody, not even with OW (and not even with BA themselves, afaik). So baggage would have to be reclaimed and re-checked in JFK and plenty of padding should be allowed as there is a risk of losing your ticket if you don't turn up by check-in deadline due to a delay to the Florida-NYC flight.
Jetblue fies non-stop TPA-JFK first flight of the day at like 8am. Openskies leaves at 5pm. I figure that's a safe cushion.
Really it's a matter of getting a comfortable ride on a student budget when i dont have the miles or status. I normally hop around the US on WN which has done nothing for my CO or United miles. Thus BA and EC sound like a pretty good deal. Pricing for just steerage-class-econ on CO is actually more expensive then prem+ (for all intents and purposes, business class in the US) for my travel dates. So for just a few hundred more (the TPA-JFK connections) i'm making a big jump in flight quality over the Atlantic.
I did the math, and even flying the day before and getting a cheap night at JFK or something would cost within a reasonable amount of CO-econ via EC prem+. To me, it seems prem+ is a better choice.
A short flight up the east coast of the US really isn't even worth a first or biz ticket, it's the TATL i want to be comfy on. Did econ once on DL to Gatwick from Newark and with a 4 hour delay on the tarmac i was not really happy about it nor comfortable.
Side note: If anyone is willing to donate points/miles/vouchers to support my education I'm all for that
