Originally Posted by
pjrubindc
This is the outbound flight, not the return. The benefit of doing this therefore is that I will otherwise have to collect my baggage at JFK, go landslide to a different terminal and go through security again, all to get an 11:20am flight to NRT. Who is to say how much time that would take? A three-hour layover would not be enough.
Ah, I had it mixed up. Makes a little more sense now with regards to the luggage, however the answer is still basically the same in that it will be next to impossible to add an AA BOS-JFK paid segment onto an existing JFK-NRT award booked through AF.
Three hours would be plenty for this. With an on time arrival, even if it takes 30 mins to get your bags, you're still checking in with JL around 2-2.5 hours before. That said, if it were me on the outbound portion of a "big" overseas trip like this, I would just fly to NYC the night before.
One last idea, I have no idea on the in's and out's of awards booked through AF, however you might see if it's possible to add a DL BOS-JFK segment should availability open up.