I have a flight in January that leaves JFK at 2:30 pm. I will fly to JFK from Atlanta that morning to connect. Would you take an initial flight that arrives in JFK at 12:15 pm, or the one that arrives at 10:30 am, thus playing it very safe? I'm thinking not so much about minimum connection times as I am about possible incoming flight delays.

Update: I'm on different airlines and different tickets, so I need to claim my bags and recheck them. If I miss the 2:30 flight the next one is the following day. My choices for later flights are with Delta or JetBlue. Earlier flight is Delta.

Thanks.

Will you be connecting on one ticket? Same airline? Different airlines? Will you have checked bags? What happens if you miss the 2:30 flight?

Good questions. (I updated my original post.) I'm on different airlines and different tickets, so I need to claim my bags and recheck them. If I miss the 2:30 flight the next one is the following day.

Is the airline for the flight out of JFK a Sky Team member? Are you traveling before January 15? If you miss the flight out of JFK, will you lose the value of that ticket, and have to purchase a new, last-minute ticket?

Yes, the airline is a Skyteam member. Curious why that matters? Traveling after January 15. I'd have to buy a new ticket if I missed the flight, although I have travel insurance for this trip.

(Deleted incorrect information. See Post #10.)

I looked up the policy. It seems to have ended in 2013.

That's not what I'm seeing:

https://pro.delta.com/content/agency...e-policy-.html

(Edited to delete some incorrect information.)

Weird. I clicked on one of your links and it gave me the 2013 date. As you said, moot point.

Must be a typo in the Delta statement, since the View From the Wing post is from this year, and the Delta link which contains the exception for DL => selected Sky Team transfers has a copyright year of 2022 at the bottom left.

Edited to add: My apologies, RAKTYO. I just looked more closely at the View From the Wing post, and it is from 2012, not 2022. However, the Delta statement that I linked to -- and which does show the exception for selected partner carriers -- does have a copyright year of 2022. And this FlyerTalk thread indicates that DL was continuing to through-check bags across separate tickets to those partner carriers enumerated in the Delta statement even after January, 2013. The thread suggests that you might even be protected across separate tickets on certain DL partners in case of IROPS:

Checking thru luggage on separate tickets

(Be sure to check the more recent posts.)

RAKTYO, please see important edits to the preceding post.