45min transfer at JFK?

[tanyabanya]

Hi, we are looking at flying indirect next year , we are happy to not have direct flights as we have done it about 3 times now, but i have noticed that on the way home the transfer from jfk to london is only 45mins is it doable?
and what happems if we miss the connecting flight? will the airline just have to put us on the next flight out to london?

Thanks!

[loldis]

Are they both JetBlue flights, or codeshares? 45 minutes does meet minimum connection for a same airline/terminal change, although it's a little tight for me to be comfortable. I'm pretty sure 45 minutes is the actual MCT at JFK from memory. If everything is on time, it should be fine as it's just walking from one gate to the next. But any delays on your first flight (and MCO is delayed a lot due to weather) will mean that you would risk missing the onward flight.

But yes, JB would be responsible to put you on their next available flight if you miss the connection since they sold it as a single ticket. It may not be until the next day though, as I believe they're only flying once per day to London.

I wouldn't personally accept that short of a connection, I'd look for an earlier MCO flight. They do that flight several times a day so there should be alternatives available.

[tanyabanya]

Yes they are both JetBlue flights 😬😁

[Elmhurst 5]

Minimum outbound for me would be 2 to 3 hours - inbound minimum 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Never done less than these times.

[Peko]

Is a 45 min connection doable at JFK with JetBlue? Absolutely yes (from what I can see, JetBlue will sell a connection as short as 35 mins, that is the MCT for this particular connection). That’s based on an airport/airline calculation that such a connection would be made the majority of the time, it’s not a guarantee.

Is there much contingency for delay? Obviously not. Depending on gates used, anything much more than a 15 min delay on the domestic would make it risky. So, it all comes down to attitude to risk, considering any price difference (and extra time in Orlando rather than at JFK) between the short connection and an earlier domestic flight.

As for what happens if the connection is missed, although JetBlue does currently only have one flight a day to London scheduled, missing it does not necessarily mean a 24 hour wait at JFK. JetBlue has a codeshare agreement with AA, plus broader what are called interline agreements with AA, Aer Lingus and other carriers, and could use those to rebook you the same day if possible. I would suspect rebooking onto a later AA flight (albeit this would be to LHR, and JetBlue is using LGW), if seats are available. Getting you to LGW via Dublin with Aer Lingus is also a possibility.

Lastly, if an overnight stay in JFK were required, since this is a non-UK/EU airline flying from a non-UK/EU airport, there is no legal obligation for the airline to cover duty of care (meals and accommodation). It might, but US carriers often don’t unless they have to, just something to be aware of (your insurance might cover it).

Would I do this connection? Travelling alone (and that would be with hand luggage only), probably yes. With the family, unless there were a material (to me) financial saving over taking a longer connection, on balance I probably wouldn’t risk it (and I’m not bothered too much by short/missed connections). Everyone is different, only you can decide. Hope the info helps.

[Pupbelly]

What are your dates? We are doing a JFK stop on our return flight to Heathrow in April and it was originally circa 45 minutes which is why we went for it. However Virgin / Delta has recently amended the times and we now fly at 11:40am to JFK and leave at 7pm which is a little annoying as we have now lost almost a full day on our last day due to a big time shift (previous flight from MCO to JFK was around 8:00pm from memory).

We were going to rebook but the costs and availability are crazy.

Worth sanity checking the times.