JFK - Switching Airlines?

[hmcrn]

I am considering flying into JFK on American, and then going on Delta to Rome.  I have a ton of Delta miles, but not enough for 2 of us all the way from home, only if we go from JFK.

If we pay to fly on AA to JFK, and switch over to Delta to fly to Rome, is that feasible?  We would need to go to baggage and get our luggage, check it in, then go back through security (we have TSA precheck), then to our gate.  How long would i need to plan?  We have the day, so do you think i would need more than 4 hours to do this?  It would be so great to finally use these miles for a long trip!  Has anyone done this?  If so, i would love your feedback! 

[Twickenham]

I have done something similar, although not out of JFK. I have flown on a separate ticket to another airport (both times YYZ, actually) to join up with a tour group. First time was same day, but quite early in the day, second time I overnighted in TO as the departure was early afternoon and we were flying on EL AL, so extra security.  The same-day connection worked quite well, but I did give myself a large buffer (I think at least 4-5 hours). Four hours would be my absolute minimum buffer, I would be more comfortable with 5-6 hours.

 

Can you not fly Delta to JFK? I ask because when you check in for your first flight, they might (emphasis on might) check you through. I'm not sure of DL's policy regarding this, you could contact them and check.

[hmcrn]

Thanks!  Yea, maybe i should plan for 5-6 hours just to be safe. 

I could get both tickets on Delta, but it is a bit more money.   But then I could call and see if they could connect them.  I have silver status on Delta which is not worth much, but that may help them be willing to set it up for me.  

Thanks again!

[fbgd]

AA use T8, DL use Terminals 2 and 4. The terminals are connected landside by the AirTrain. 

 

Personally I’d leave a lot more time, not for JFK reasons but because it could be very expensive if you end up with a weather/mechanical delay. Overnight in NYC, or at the TWA Hotel at JFK and play things safe. 

 

Will DL even connect separate itineraries? A lot of airlines won’t, even for top tier elites.

Edited December 18, 2019 by fbgd

[waterbug123]

11 hours ago, fbgd said:

AA use T8, DL use Terminals 2 and 4. The terminals are connected landside by the AirTrain. 

 

Personally I’d leave a lot more time, not for JFK reasons but because it could be very expensive if you end up with a weather/mechanical delay. Overnight in NYC, or at the TWA Hotel at JFK and play things safe. 

 

Will DL even connect separate itineraries? A lot of airlines won’t, even for top tier elites.

 

To clarify, Delta's two JFK terminals, 2 & 4, are connected airside by the jitney that runs between those two terminals, so if the OP decides to fly all Delta, even if on separate tickets, the need to exit and reclear security won't be an issue.  If they stick with the AA/DL combo, then yes, they need to exit, take the Air Train, and then check in again and clear security again. 

Further, when Delta "connects" itineraries, it is just a comment in the note screen.  The two tickets don't really get combined into a single ticket or a single reservation number.  The OP would be better protected though, as Delta would through check the bags to the final destination, and would almost certainly assist the customer if a delay on the first flight led to missing the latter flight.  And that is something that is definitely not guaranteed to happen with the AA/DL combo.  Miss the first flight on AA, and DL has every justification to say "sorry, you weren't here on time for your flight, buy a new ticket for a later flight."  They might not actually be that tough, especially since the OP is an elite level medallion member, but they would have that right. 

I would feel reasonably comfortable with a 4 hour connection if doing the AA/DL option, but let me ask this:  If your initial flight was delayed, and it began to look like a rolling delay, meaning one that keeps getting pushed back another 30-60 min at a time, would there be another AA flight to JFK that you could take  (pending available last minute space on the flight) that would get you there in time for your DL flight?  Because that would be your safest bet. 

 

[terry&mike]

One thing you may want to consider is that you use your miles to buy one ticket from your home all the way through on Delta, and you use cash to buy the other ticket from your home all the way through, on Delta, same itinerary. Then you have Delta tie the 2 reservations together. This way, you don't have to worry if a flight delay causes you to miss your connection, as it falls to Delta to get you to your final destination. 

[hmcrn]

Thanks everyone!  All great info.  I will have to do a bit more research i think before i buy the tickets based on your replies.  

 

[waterbug123]

On 12/18/2019 at 7:52 AM, terry&mike said:

One thing you may want to consider is that you use your miles to buy one ticket from your home all the way through on Delta, and you use cash to buy the other ticket from your home all the way through, on Delta, same itinerary. Then you have Delta tie the 2 reservations together. This way, you don't have to worry if a flight delay causes you to miss your connection, as it falls to Delta to get you to your final destination. 

 

In this situation, there is little to no need to tie your reservations together, since they are for completely different legs of trip.  And doing so doesn't really combine them into one; it simply means the agent puts a comment in the notes screen to indicate that you have another Delta ticket for your return, but no other agent would know that unless that happened to look at that screen.

Two additional options are to do the entire trip as one reservation using a combination of miles and cash.  That's generally not the best redemption rate for miles, but if you want it all on one reservation it's an option.  To do this, you search for an award ticket, but at the payment option, look for the "miles + cash" option.  It lets you reduce the miles needed by using some cash.

The other way to do it is if you have a Delta branded Amex card.  If so, do. search for a non-miles ticket, and at the payment option you'll see the opportunity for "Pay with miles" which means you can use some miles to reduce the cash cost of your ticket.

Again, these options are not generally the best redemption rate for miles, and there's no particular need to have the outbound and return legs of your trip on the same reservation, but if you want to for some reason you could do it this way. 

[terry&mike]

31 minutes ago, waterbug123 said:

 

In this situation, there is little to no need to tie your reservations together, since they are for completely different legs of trip.  And doing so doesn't really combine them into one; it simply means the agent puts a comment in the notes screen to indicate that you have another Delta ticket for your return, but no other agent would know that unless that happened to look at that screen.

Two additional options are to do the entire trip as one reservation using a combination of miles and cash.  That's generally not the best redemption rate for miles, but if you want it all on one reservation it's an option.  To do this, you search for an award ticket, but at the payment option, look for the "miles + cash" option.  It lets you reduce the miles needed by using some cash.

The other way to do it is if you have a Delta branded Amex card.  If so, do. search for a non-miles ticket, and at the payment option you'll see the opportunity for "Pay with miles" which means you can use some miles to reduce the cash cost of your ticket.

Again, these options are not generally the best redemption rate for miles, and there's no particular need to have the outbound and return legs of your trip on the same reservation, but if you want to for some reason you could do it this way. 

I think you misunderstood my post. I meant to buy a ticket for passenger 1 with miles for the entire route, from home to destination and return. And buy a ticket for passenger 2 with cash for the same thing. Then have them tied together. The reason to tie them together would be that if there were schedule changes on the route that required re-routing or other significant changes, then both passengers would be given the same new itinerary.

Sorry if I wasn't clear. 

She said she didn't have enough miles from home to destination, round trip for 2 passengers, but had enough miles from JFK to destination round trip for 2 passengers. Most likely this means she has enough miles from home to destination round trip for 1 passenger, and could purchase the ticket for passenger 2 with money. 

Just an option for consideration.

[waterbug123]

36 minutes ago, terry&mike said:

I think you misunderstood my post. I meant to buy a ticket for passenger 1 with miles for the entire route, from home to destination and return. And buy a ticket for passenger 2 with cash for the same thing. Then have them tied together. The reason to tie them together would be that if there were schedule changes on the route that required re-routing or other significant changes, then both passengers would be given the same new itinerary.

Sorry if I wasn't clear. 

She said she didn't have enough miles from home to destination, round trip for 2 passengers, but had enough miles from JFK to destination round trip for 2 passengers. Most likely this means she has enough miles from home to destination round trip for 1 passenger, and could purchase the ticket for passenger 2 with money. 

Just an option for consideration.

 

Thanks for clarifying!  Still, the pax in question should know that "tying" two individual passenger reservations together is of little value.  If there were schedule changes, the computer would not recognize that the two were linked, so they could end up being rerouted differently.  They would thus need to call and let the agent know the rez were linked.  The agent could then go into the notes screen and see the comment showing they are traveling together, and try to get them reaccommodated together.  This is a common misconception... that "linking" two separate reservations combines then into one when it actually does not.

And, even if the "pay with miles" or "miles + cash" option is of no use to this poster, at least the information might be helpful to someone else.  There are some Delta frequent flyer forums I participate in, and even among those frequent flyers, people are often unaware of these two options, or the differences between them, so I'm sure on a board like this, with a combo of both frequent and very infrequent flyers, there is someone out there who might be able to find use in one of these options at some point.  🙂