Originally Posted by NWIFlyer

A welcome as well from me, enapace. It would be remiss of me not to mention that we also have a very comprehensive help guide for ITA Matrix in our Travel Tools forum, which has the advantage over YouTube of being able to post queries and get responses from a set of experts.

ITA Software Matrix Airfare Search Consolidated Information and Help Thread

As you look around this forum, and further into the site, you'll find yourself leaning quite heavily on routing tools such as Matrix to build complex itineraries for things like Tier Point-efficient routings and starting points outside the UK mainland that can result in significant cost savings on premium cabin fares. If you're prepared to go to Dublin, you should possibly be thinking about starting your trip there and coming back through London to drive some big cost savings - lots of detail on what are generally known as ex-EU itineraries in this forum

I'll agree with others that the myriad of options for entering the US means that the advantages of pre-clearance are rapidly diminishing, particularly with the introduction of Mobile Passport Control and the associated app, along with Global Entrg for those who - like me - are prepared to pay for it. Certainly it was helpful yesterday when a late arrival meant my 95 minute connection had become 60 minutes - even with having to see an officer because I was entering on my current passport for the first time, and printing a BP at the Flagship check-in area, I was still airside again at JFK T8 just 12 minutes after leaving the plane.

So yes, you're right: LCY is a lovely, compact airport - but more so for arrivals. The same might be said of EWR where passport control is generally very good, but departing not such a great experience.

Originally Posted by wetrat0

There is a train to Newark Airport train station from Penn Station. From there you still need to change to the slow and clunky Newark AirTrain to get to the actual airport terminals. For JFK, there is a train to Jamaica, from which you need to change to the JFK AirTrain to get to JFK. Either way, you have to transfer from the regular train to a separate "airport train".

JFK and EWR arrivals both highly depend on the terminal and time of day. But LON-NYC is one of the most traveled air routes in the world and I think you're vastly overthinking this. There are so many non-stop options between the two cities that you can choose from almost any imaginable combination of departure times, airlines, and airports on either end, and if something goes wrong you have tons of backup options. Taking a connection when you have so many excellent non-stop options just simply does not seem appealing. Any hassle you'd save on arrival is outweighed by the extra time spent connecting and added risk of a misconnect.

Originally Posted by rockflyertalk

I’m surprised by so many Fters opting for the non-stop options!! Just think of the extra tier points!!!

Perhaps like some, the OP is quite happy taking extra time to enjoy the journey and flying vs just wanting to get there quickly. I’m certainly someone as a leisure flyer who enjoys the journey as much as the destination! Whilst sensible and practical advice is always welcomed on here, many outside FT would simply find FTers bonkers for flight hopping to Hawaii just to get a shiny gold card!

So if the OP is happy to get to NYC via a slightly different route then why not! Like any journey, fingers crossed it all goes to plan.