If I need to buy a positioning flight to get to an International Award Flight which airport- JFK or ORD would you recommend ?

I would fly in on a Domestic flight and then pick up checked in luggage and then go to International Departures.

Fly in the day before and enjoy either city and limit your risk. Both airports can be affected by weather if you're traveling during the storm seasons.

What airlines are you flying for each leg? At O'Hare, terminal 5 is the international terminal. However, most (all?) international flights on US-based airlines depart from Terminals 1-3, so you might not even have to change terminals.

In terms of airport hotel convenience and quality, I would pick ORD (Hilton connected to the terminal, Hyatt choices, etc.) unless one plans to stay at the TWA Hotel at JFK.

ORD has bad roadway construction and changing between T1/2/3 and T5 (international) is horrible; airport hotel shuttles might not go to T5. OTOH, changing between most terminals at JFK isn't pleasant or convenient either (but there are some tricks, such as walking between T2 and T1, taking the airside shuttle operated by DL called the JFK Jitney between T2 and T4, where many airlines use the enlarged T4). I'm not sure whether the airport hotel shuttle buses actually serve the terminals at JFK or force one to use their landside train, but off property hotels at JFK seem bad in general.

I live in Chicago so I might be a bit biased but o hare for sure. Much better airport and a lot nicer city. Plus you can take a picture at the bean if you leave a day earlier. I mean what more could you ask for?

Really impossible to answer without more specifics.

For starters you need to secure your award ticket before choosing -- are both ORD and JFK currently available? What airlines are you proposing to fly? Are they partners (in which case there might not be a need to collect at the domestic terminal and then re-check for the international departure)

For example if you are flying all DL, JFK is a much better option because the domestic and international operations are next to each other in T2/T4 where at ORD the international flights are all SkyTeam partners so leave out of T5 (while the DL flights go into T2). If you are flying United connecting to *A, ORD is the best option.

If flying in the night before, I agree that ORD is the much better option (I've lived in Chicago and my family lives in NYC so I have extensive experience with both). Hotels are plentiful near ORD and it's really easy to hop on the blue line and go into the city for a nice meal and walk around.

If your positioning flight were to get cancelled or significantly delayed, would you be able to get to either JFK or ORD by ground transportation/one-way car rental/flight on a different airline in time to make your international flight?

Note that if your domestic flight were on AA, and your international flight were on any oneworld carrier (including AA), AA's current policy is to protect you in the event of IRROPS -- even on separate tickets.

With the limited information you provided, no one can give you a sensible answer.

Sorry, I was waiting to firm up my plans !

I will have to use JFK. Will be flying on on either AA or Delta from ATL. Then I will connecting to Qatar Air.
Thanks all for your help,
Gary

If you are buying a separate positioning flight ATL-JFK, understand that you do not have a connection. You have two separate tickets. If you do not check-in/present yourself for boarding in time for you QR flight, that entire ticket (out and return) will auto cancel and you will be left with whatever value the ticket has (probably zero, plus taxes). QR does not have an obligation to reroute you or to accommodate you in any way. You will likely have to buy a new ticket.

Given the unpredictability of things like weather, I would recommend you arrive in JFK the night before. That way you have alternatives in case of delays or cancellations. Otherwise your window to get there in time for your QR departure may be very small.

Yes, I understand what you wrote and that is why I asked about getting from Domestic arrival at JFK to international Departures.

If connecting to QR, your best bet is going to be AA.

They won't interline or protect your connection (they stopped doing interlines on separate PNRs even though both are OneWorld) but both QR and AA use T8 at JFK so it should be fairly seamless to get your bag and then walk upstairs to the check-in counters and re-check for the QR flight.

If you fly Delta you'll have to make your way from either T2 or T4 (depending where you flight arrives) over to T8 which is going to take a lot longer than simply going up the escalator as is the case for AA/QR.

Sounds like you already decided on JFK which is the better choice since QR goes out of T5 at ORD which is a pain whether flying DL, UA, or AA for the domestic flight.

Even though AA no longer through-checks bags on separate tickets, it appears that they still protect on separate AA-oneworld tickets in the case of IRROPS.

However, the ATL Airport Wikipedia entry indicates that AA flies ATL-LGA nonstop, but not ATL-JFK. So unless there has been a recent change, if the OP wants to fly AA out of ATL, he will either have to connect somewhere to fly into JFK, or arrange his own ground transportation from LGA to JFK.

Edited to add: This recent post indicates that AA can put an award ticket and a cash ticket on a single PNR, which would allow through-checking of baggage. However, that does not solve the LGA/JFK problem.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/32027001-post988.html

Since your second flight would be on QR, have you looked at possibly connecting at one of QR's other North American gateways, like MIA, DFW, or PHL -- all of which should have AA nonstops from ATL?