Originally Posted by
ohmark
We have some 9 hours between Delta arrival at JFK Terminal 4 and BA LHR departure at Terminal 8. On similar flights last year when BA was at Terminal 7, we discovered that BA closed all check-in and bag drop after last morning flight until midafternoon. This resulted in us having to sit in some uncomfortable chairs waiting for about 3 hours, staring at the closed and gated BA check-in and bag drop. Despite flying in Club World and the lounge being open, we couldn't access the lounge....
Normally you wouldn't be allowed in the lounge anyhow. They only allow people in a maximum 3 hours from departure?
And why would you want to check-in many hours before the flight? There's nothing to do in a lounge much - I can spent about 2 hours in there, max. Far too much sitting around too, which isn't good for the body.
When I have a similar situation, I simply store my bags and head off into town or similar. No need to hang around at the airport 'uncomfortable chairs'. When we had a 6 hour layover in Vancouver, we took the train into the city and spent almost 3 hours there. Amazing what you can get done in 3 hours. Was a really great day, too.
Not saying you should try and get to Manhattan from JFK, but no reason why you couldn't head towards Brooklyn or similar. You can train it in next to no time without luggage.