Flying to New York via Heathrow and connecting flights

I got a good deal on flights to New York for Paddys wk next March (370 euro each)but they are from Cork to Heathrow and then on to New York.I've only flown direct to New York from shannon before ( by the way i live in Cork)
Now some people in work are telling me i'm mad to go via Heathrow as i'll have very long queues - around 6 hrs or more ,to get through customs in NY cos they check you more on flights from UK.Is this true?As far as i remember last time all the flights had to collect bags at same place and then you just walked through no matter where you came from.
Has anyone flown to New York via Heathrow and if so what was your experience?

Also i've never flown on connecting flights before.I fly Aer Lingus from Cork to Heathrow and i have 2 and 1/2 hrs and then fly to Ny with American Airlines.Will my bags go straight through or will i have to collect them and check them in again?
The weight your allowed is different on both airlines so coming back again will i have to recheck my bags in Heathrow?If so i'll probably get caught for excess.
Sorry if these seem silly questions but i haven't a clue what to expect and now after talking in work maybe wishing i'd paid the extra and went with Aer Lingus from Shannon.When booking i took into account the time i'd spend driving to Shannon so it seemed ok to go from Cork but having second doubts now.Can anyone reassure me or am i bonkers???

I don't think the queues will be quite as bad as that at immigration but be prepared to wait up to 90 mins. The longest I've waited at JFK was 45 mins but that was not on such a busy travel time.

Your bags should be checked all the way through both ways so don't worry about that part.

As for the 2.5 hour connection time, that's enough to change terminals usually but my advice is that on landing, don't delay, head straight for the terminal your US flight departs from. The queues at flight connections and the wait for the buses to the other terminals from T1 can be long.

tina27a said:

I'll have very long queues - around 6 hrs or more ,to get through customs in NY cos they check you more on flights from UK.Is this true?

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This is nonsense - As you correctly observe Customs is the same process

AA use Terminal 3 at Heathrow. 2 1/2 hours is plenty of time to get there from Terminal One where your flight form Cork will arrive. Assuming you bought this all as one ticket (i.e. you didn't buy the Aer Lingus tickets to LHR separately yourself) then you should be able to check your bag in at Cork all the way to JFK and you'll have the full AA baggage allowance for transatlantic flights which is more generaous than Aer Lingus shorthaul flights.

As an aside I would always advise bringing enough in your hand luggage to survive for one night just in case your bag goes astray on the connection and gets to NY a bit later than you - pretty unlikely but it does happen and LHR has a bad reputation for baggage handling at the moment.

US Immigration when you arrive in JFK is a bit of a lottery .. it can be really quick or it can be quite slow .. totally depends on what flights arrive just before your flights ... it's well worth getting a seat towards the front of the plane to get off quicker and get higher up the immigration queue. I think 45 mins is the worst I've ever had to queue for US Immigration when arriving on a flight that's not pre-cleared. The other point to note is that the Aer Lingus flight may be pre-cleared for immigration but you might have to wait for your bags anyway which takes some of the good out of it (you go through immigration before collecting your luggage and doing customs - usually by the time you clear immigration the bags are already on the carousel)

Your bags should be checked all the way through both ways

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Only if your flights are booked on a single ticket. If you've booked them separately online, the airlines are under no obligation to interline your luggage.

For customs you will be treated the same no matter where you arrive from, but the *big* advantage of Shannon & Dublin is that you can clear immigration here and so avoid the queue in New York. That delay can be significant. I am pretty sure you don't pre-clear immigration in Heathrow, just Dublin or Shannon.

There is a definite distinction between immigration (are you allowed come to the country) and customs (are you bringing something in your luggage that isn't allowed) and the queues and processing are different.

You will have one baggage allowance (as long as you booked both flights as connecting ones) so just read the ticket and it will tell you the allowed weight. If you booked an Aer Lingus fare you will get the EI allowance, if you booked an American Airlines fare you will get the AA allowance.

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Thanks for the replies.I booked on the net through Ebookers and it is all booked on one transaction as connecting flighs but it doesn't say anything about weight restrictions or anything like that.Maybe i'll give Aer Lingus a ring just to be sure.
I've also just spotted we have only 50 mins between connecting flights on the way back in heathrow.A bit worried now as most of you have said 2 1/2 hrs should be okay so it looks like theres no way in hell we;ll make it in 50 mins on the way back ( espeically if we have to recheck our bags)

50 mins on the way back is certainly not enough .. it's below the legal minimum connection time for Terminal 3 to Terminal 1 connections (I think that is 90mins) ... eBookers should not have sold you this as a through ticket - you should contact them immediately.

Thanks Evildork
I got onto ebookers and i now have a later connecting flight from Heathrow.I have now got a 5 hr layover which will give me a lot of time.Only for your advice i would have just stuck with the origanal schedule and panicked all through the holiday!!!
Thanks again.

Better that way ... 50mins is really not do-able - I've done it in the past when flights have been delayed but it's only luck if it works and you need to know where you're going etc. - even if you did make it your bags certainly wouldn't!

It's highly surprising that eBookers sold you those flights in the first place - as I say it's not a legal connection so it shouldn't have been possible to for them to book these flights for you on one itinerary.

The original booking had 1hr 50 mins between flights but i had an email last week saying that had changed to 50 mins.Thanks again for your help.

The only time I flew to New York via Heathrow it took me 3 days to get there. Although I don't think Heathrow's air traffic control system crashing is that likely to happen again. Was flying to Washington last October with Aer Lingus dub - new york - washington. The flight to NY was cancelled so we were given dinner and a hotel for the night and were routed through Heathrow next morning and flown from there to Washington with BA. Have to say a much more comfortable flight with BA, free drinks, own tv screen with choice of channels. Much better than Aer Lingus. The morning flight from Dub was delayed so we only had about an hour in Heathrow but it was fine, plenty of time. Grabbed a quick coffee and straight through, no delays. And because the original flight had a 5 hour stopover in NY we got to our destination only 3 hours late, and with a €200 compensation (shopping) cheque each. the flights had only cost €350. So even if there's a screw up with connections or delays, etc.. it won't necessarily be a nightmare.

Thanks for the replies.I'm just gonna look at it now as a means to an end and at the end of the day we'll be spending Paddy's week in New York so any hassle with flights ,connections etc. will be worth it.