I'll post here, since it seems to fit the thread title. For a BOS-SMF trip, we have an incentive to go on B6, and we're looking at 59 minutes to connect at JFK; it would be midweek in late March. I know it will work if the inbound is on time, but would you book this trip? The earlier alternative connecting to the same flight would effectively require us to spend the night in Boston and add that cost.

JFK-SMF operates once a day, in the evening. 59 minutes in winter ops is tight, but then again there's a decent chance the JFK-SMF will also be delayed. If you miss the flight, however, you will have to go to SFO (or OAK if it's not too late) or travel the next day. FWIW, I think you'd be much better off connecting in SLC or even LAX on another airline.

-J.

You can book a multi-city itinerary right? As long as you get it all under one PNR, you should not have a problem and they will or I'll say "should" check your bags through. In this situation I would 100% carry on just in case. Because even if the connection time is tight, all the gates are in one terminal and you could make it from one end of T5 to the other in 10-15 min max depending on how fast you walk.

Now coming from an international leg and connecting to a domestic leg is the real challenge if you have a tight connection time. Because you have to go through customs and then collect and re-check your bags which is a PITA.

I once had a wacky situation when I was flying BOG-LGA via FLL with about 85 min in between flights. And for reasons too lengthy to go into, decided to check my bag for the FLL-LGA leg. After going through the ridiculous customs line and having to walk in between terminals, I had just under 45 min to make my flight and still had to go through TSA. I tried to check my bag via the self service kiosk however I had *just* missed the cut off by a couple minutes and it wouldn't let me. And the line for the counter was about 10 people deep. I found a GA standing off to the side talking to someone and begggged him to let me check my bag and explained the situation. Fortunately he was a very nice young man and took me over to the side and personally checked in and tagged my bag and radioed ahead to make sure it would get on the plane. By the time I got through the TSA gridlock and I had about 10 min before the doors closed and had to sprint through the terminal to make it.

So yeah. Don't be like me. Carry on whenever possible!

I think 59 min is tight. Those BOS-JFK flights are expendable in IRROPs since there are so many of them. I don't know how much time you have but if time is an issue I would fly nonstop on another airline.

If time is not an issue, I would definitely be very prepared with a viable Plan B.

No one outside of summer goes non-stop BOS-SMF, but I see that Southwest has a 1-stop direct. Part of our incentive to go B6 is that it's our one trip per year to use the perks of the Plus MasterCard, and we may be able to do the whole trip on points. We would return on an SFO-BOS non-stop, and maybe we should just fly to SFO on the outbound as well, and deal with the extra complications of getting to the Sacramento part of our trip. We'd have similar perks going on AA with a 1-hour late-day connection at PHX, and I'm not sure if that's better.

If we do the JFK B6 connection, my wife gets wheelchair assistance, and I don't know if that would help alert the connecting flight not to close us out at the 10-15-minute mark, not that that keeps us from missing the connection.

Unless you are checking >4 bags a year, the plus card shouldn't be worth it. In this case, you have to go out of your way to fly JetBlue and make a risky connection. If you miss your flight, the Plus Card will not help your case at all. I would dump the card and use up the points. You are better off with a hotel card or CSP or CSR if you fly other airlines more often. A credit card should never be an incentive to fly a certain airline, unless you have hundreds of thousands of points with them. From what you've written, it does not sound like you are in the golden handcuffs yet.

The Delta Air Lines Gold SkyMiles card from American Express includes a free checked bag. I would suggest you take a look at that card. SLC is a much better place to connect than JFK, any time of the year.

-J.

JetBlue friends, I have a question about requesting wheelchair service with JetBlue for a family member and transfering from Terminal 5 (where JetBlue will land) to Terminal 8 for an outgoing international flight on Qatar. My question is: Will JetBlue's wheelchair service ensure the transfer to Terminal 8, considering that one has to get out of the terminal, cross the road, get on the AirTrain to get to Terminal 8. Or, as Qatar and JetBlue have no partnership, JetBlue will consider its obligations complete once delivering my family member to the Baggage Claim area in Terminal 5? How can I ensure that the wheelchair transfer is all the way to Terminal 8. Would a call to JetBlue help?

A related question is: My family member will be traveling from PBI to JFK on B6 and then on to Doha on QR. The tickets are not linked by a common PNR and will have been purchased separately. Will the B6 agent be able tag the bags for transfer all the way to the final destination or will they just tag to JFK and we will have to claim baggage at JFK? If the latter, would the wheelchair attendant be able to assist my family member to move luggage to Terminal 8 as well?

What are our options?

Just to note, we would allow more than 4 hours of transfer time at JFK, so we are not considering a short transfer.

Your help is much appreciated. Thank you.