Determined

Flying on Qatar Airways today. Had a long transit of 10 hours at JFK. Donno why had to collect bags at JFK. The main problem began after that. Terminal 8 is the most dreadful terminal. Nowhere to sit, No charging station. Just one cafe. Had to sit on the floor for 8 straight hours (with two big bags). They start checking in passengers 3 hours before the flight. The crews are as usual super rude. I spent around 3000 for an economy round trip. Etihad and Emirates are way better than this BS airline.

kvan

Well…you knew you had a long connection when you booked. And you always have to claim bags at your 1st arrival airport. Was this on one ticket? If your bags were checked through you should have been able to drop them after clearing US Customs/Immigration

Determined

I don't mind the long transit. The main issue is they should allow checking before 3 hours. Terminal 8 does not have any seats. I saw a kid getting sick. It was all in one ticket.

moondog

Did you know that you're allowed to leave the terminal during transits?

Determined

I know. But I have two large check-in bags with me.

florin

So you've flown to JFK on another airline and you're connecting to an onwards QR flight. You are frustrated with terminal 8 and JFK employees, and the fact that QR won't allow you to check in your bags until T-3 hours. Am I getting this right?

Determined

I booked a ticket from syracuse-chennai from qatar airways. No separate tickets. One ticket. My itenary is like this. Syracuse - New york (jfk) - Doha- chennai. So i started from syracuse at 10:30 AM. Reached jfk at 12 pm. Had to collect my two checked in baggage (for every other airlines my baggage directly went to chennai) . Then had to come to terminal 8. My flight is at 1:25 AM. As i had to recollect my bags at jfk i had to recheck my baggage at a check in kiosk which they wont open untill 9 PM. So i had to pass 9 hours on the floor. There are no seating options, no food, no charging station in terminal 8. Of course there were other people too. My only complain is as my ticket is a single ticket bought from Qatar airways it should be directly delivered to my final destination.

KingCanute

Book a dayroom at a nearby hotel. Use one of the various baggage storage options. Take a cab into the city for some merry NYC xmas vibe. There are plenty of ways to pre-plan for an enjoyable (and known) 10 hour layover. Happy Holidays

Also, your through checking issue sounds like the policy of whichever airline flew you to JFK. QR haven't had the pleasure of your company yet

Antarius

Why did you need to collect your bag? It should have been sent all the way through.

Also, if you think JFK T8 is bad, be happy you aren't in T4. Heck, between most of JFK and MAA, T8 is the best of the bunch.

dvs7310

Quite curious about that too. The SYR-JFK flight almost had to have been B6 who does have a baggage interline agreement with QR. DL also is on the route, but they don't have interline with QR for ticketing or baggage, so wouldn't be DL on a single ticket.

I guess it could have been a hacker fare from some of those shadier OTAs, many passengers don't realize they have one of those, but if this was actually purchased from QR directly then it had to be B6.

KingCanute

Perhaps there's some other issue like a visa check or similar. Either way, with a long transfer from one airline to another at a different terminal at what is reportedly the US's worst airport for baggage mishandling, I probably would have been happy to make sure my bags had arrived, pop them into storage between flights and head into the city. I can’t see how anyone "had" to sit on the floor for 10 hours.

Sheikh Yerbooty

The entitlement vibe is rather nauseating in the OPs whinge post. Here’s something for you to ponder: Assume responsibility for your own choices.

Just checked QR’s website. There are a phalanx of options between Syracuse and Chennai, some of them offering transfer times in either ORD or PHL between 1.5 and 3 hours. All connection flights are with AA, except via JFK which is B6.

In short: Shorter connections are available; it’s easily possible to avoid JFK and; it’s possible to select a connecting flight which will interline your bags.

IAN-UK

There's a lot of kicking of a low-post OP criticising QR. His beef isn't so much with the long connection time, but with JetBlue not checking bags through to Chennai.

I, too, would have been annoyed, but that annoyance would have surfaced at my origin and been directed at JetBlue.

remymartin

OP flying through an AA hub, presumably with a boarding pass for next flight - surely approaching an AAngel to check in bags might’ve accomplished something?

moondog

What would you expect AA staff to do apart from maybe pointing out the storage lockers?