Originally Posted by
vivrant
Many thanks and very helpful. You are right about NZ flying out of T5, not T3, my typo.
Sounds good in theory - but I just can't see us splitting up for several hours. In retrospect, I should have booked us on an airline that would land in T-3 (out of JFK) to avoid all this hassle (if that was even possible). But after reading the ordeal
this person went through and still could not make into ORD to catch his NZ flight, I am glad we are erring on the side of being super early.
I have one more creative solution for you. Land in T2, go
straight to the Polaris lounge in T1 (you can walk airside). Let your luggage go around the carousel and end up in the DL baggage office.
At 6pm or so, leaving yourself plenty of time, go claim your bags from the baggage office, take landside bus to T5, check them in with NZ, go through security in T5 and use SAS lounge for last hour before your flight.