Originally Posted by
navatwal
I am travelling for the first time using Eithad from Abu Dhabhi to SFO via NYC on the A380 Apartment ( I usually fly EK direct)
My connection at JFK with AA to SFO is currently 3 hours, there is another flight available which departs 1.5 hours after my arrival into JFK which is my preference to take if it works.
Is this suitable to transfer at JFK?
I have never had to connect at JFK and would think 1.5 hours is doable as US Immigration is performed at AUH on Departure.
We just made a similar connection last week. Our layover at JFK was closer to your current 3 hours, so we went to the DL lounge at around gate B31 in T4 to shower and relax for awhile before going to T8 to catch our connecting AA flight. From the time we left the DL lounge (which is a pretty long way out there in T4) to the time we reached gate 36 in T8 was 40 minutes - at least 10 min of which was spent at the ticket counter in T8 getting our boarding passes re-printed w/Pre-check on them (stupid, I know, but I hate taking all my crap out/off). So we could have made it reliably in 30 min.
EY does a decent job with on time performance these days AUH-JFK, primarily because they have padded their schedule so dang much that it's almost impossible for them not to be on schedule or early. So, personally I would take a 90 min connection, especially given that you have options if you miss the earlier flight.
Several times, however, AA has refused to allow us a connection of less than 2 hours, which apparently is their MCT for I-D from a partner airline at JFK. I did the whole "pre-clearance, basically a domestic arriving flight" thing until I was blue in the face, and they wouldn't budge. On DL, I think I could have gotten them to bend the rules, but I have no status w/AA. You may have better luck. If so, I would (personally) go for the earlier connection.