Long layover at JFK

[Pointby2]

We are flying from SNA to JFK in October. Our SNA flight leaves at 9:22PM and arrives the next day at 5:00AM. We are flying on American Airlines, first class. We will meet our NY based family there and wait for a flight to Edinburgh that leaves at 10:15PM.


Would flying into JFK first class allow us access to one of the lounges even if our outbound flight is not first class? We've never had access before. If it's not included would it make sense to get a day pass or should we just tough it out? Otherwise, any ideas on what to do for the day at the airport?


Our only travel card is Chase Sapphire Preferred and it doesn't have that benefit.

 

[athena53]

I'm pretty sure you would since you're an Arriving passenger. From the section on lounge access on their site:

Qualifying First and Business

Includes customers in First or Business on a qualifying departing or arriving international, transcontinental or other domestic flight marketed and operated by American, a oneworld® airline or marketed by JetBlue and operated by American.*

*Lounge access is not permitted for flights to / from Europe that are marketed by JetBlue and operated by American.

I have membership from a credit card and have been able to use it as an arriving passenger on a domestic flight. Note they may have limits on how long you can stay there, but enjoy it while you can!

ETA: I clicked on more details and it has to be ticketed as Flagship service, but SNA-JFK does count.

 

[erkevin]

Most lounges limit your time anyway (usually about three hours). Am I seeing this correctly; you land at 5 am and don't depart for 17 hours? Another issue might be bags. I believe that American will only hold and transfer checked bags for up to 16 hours.

 

[Freedom56]

Access to lounges are normally restricted to the class of travel on departing flights and whether the final destination airport is domestic or international. We have flown first class on AA many times on domestic routes from LAX to FLL and lounge access is was not included with a domestic first class ticket. But lounge access was always included on AA business class flights from LAX to LHR. Just call AA to check.

 

[Pointby2]

I ended up calling the Admirals Club 800 number. The answer was "no" we would not qualify. Why? Because our flight wasn't non-stop. We have a layover in Charlotte. That's some weak sauce.

 

[Aerides]

Lounges are nice enough, but not 16-hours nice. Is there a hotel at the airport that caters to layovers? I'd spring for it and just want a nice place to lay down, shower, etc.

Airport lounges are super busy lately too... finding space for a while and not getting thrown out would be a challenge.

 

[athena53]

I ended up calling the Admirals Club 800 number. The answer was "no" we would not qualify. Why? Because our flight wasn't non-stop. We have a layover in Charlotte. That's some weak sauce.

Wow. Any excuse to keep people out. As you probably know, clubs are getting overcrowded because the airlines got greedy selling memberships directly but also selling them to banks to use as perks for premium credit cards. I made the unhappy discovery a couple of years ago that you can no longer assume day passes are available- that's the first group they cut off. And, even though they claim you get AC access if you're flying First or Business on international flights, Canada and most Mexico destinations don't count.

I like aerides' idea of a day room in a nearby hotel.

 

[mystang52]

I haven't been to it, but the TWA Hotel at JFK is supposed to have some very nice amenitie$. For a 16 hour layover, probably worth it. JFK Airport is way out of there, from NYC, so I would not consider going into Manhattan.

 

[PaunchyPirate]

I’d also get a hotel room. Perhaps…

https://www.twahotel.com/

 

[Go-NoGo]

Wow. Any excuse to keep people out. As you probably know, clubs are getting overcrowded because the airlines got greedy selling memberships directly but also selling them to banks to use as perks for premium credit cards. I made the unhappy discovery a couple of years ago that you can no longer assume day passes are available- that's the first group they cut off. And, even though they claim you get AC access if you're flying First or Business on international flights, Canada and most Mexico destinations don't count.

I like aerides' idea of a day room in a nearby hotel.

OP, I would NEVER suggest that you do what this gentleman did in Germany at the Lufthansa lounge:

https://viewfromthewing.com/man-hit-2000-euro-bill-scamming-lufthansa-lounge-access/

A man in Germany bought a fully flexible business class ticket from Munich to Zurich for 745 euro but never actually intended to fly the ticket. Instead he just wanted to use Lufthansa’s Business Lounges in Munich. And so he did, 36 times over the course of a year. When the year came to a close he refunded the ticket and took his money back

 

[walkinwood]

We are flying from SNA to JFK in October. Our SNA flight leaves at 9:22PM and arrives the next day at 5:00AM. We are flying on American Airlines, first class. We will meet our NY based family there and wait for a flight to Edinburgh that leaves at 10:15PM.


Would flying into JFK first class allow us access to one of the lounges even if our outbound flight is not first class? We've never had access before. If it's not included would it make sense to get a day pass or should we just tough it out? Otherwise, any ideas on what to do for the day at the airport?


Our only travel card is Chase Sapphire Preferred and it doesn't have that benefit.

Get a hotel nearby for the day & get some sleep/rest. Two consecutive night flights is going to be rough on your body and you don't want to start a holiday being bone tired.

 

[Pointby2]

I haven't been to it, but the TWA Hotel at JFK is supposed to have some very nice amenities. For a 16 hour layover, probably worth it.

The TWA hotel is an interesting option. $199 if you stay from 6AM until noon. And it looks like you can just walk their from Terminal 5.



Thanks for the idea.

 

[Scrapr]

The TWA hotel is an interesting option. $199 if you stay from 6AM until noon. And it looks like you can just walk their from Terminal 5.



Thanks for the idea.

We stayed there last year. We really liked it. Yes easy walk to the hotel. Well marked on the floor. Rooftop pool. Wasn't open when we were there. We arrived late at night though. Good & interesting exhibits of the way it was... Not much to eat that appealed to us. It was a fun night

 

[healthyandfun]

The TWA hotel sounds like a wonderful option. I would suggest calling them direct to see if they would make special accommodations for you. The Hilton Hotel near LAX allowed me to stay past the check out time once by three hours when I had an evening flight with no extra fee. A different time they allowed me to check in at 6:00 a.m. when I arrived on a morning flight. I was staying that night and they just added a small fee like $50.00 for the extra hours. Calling direct to the hotel, you may be surprised how helpful they can be. It would be great to begin the second leg of your trip well rested.