When I was through AA last week coming home from Madrid, there was an AA agent handing out orange-colored express pass envelopes which entitled those with short onward connections to priority passport control (special lane) and a priority TSA handling (AA rep will send you to a particular lane when they see the orange envelope). When you get off the plane at JFK, keep an eye out for an employee holding a stack of orange envelopes and check if one might be for you. I've seen this program in action twice now and took advantage of it myself once.