JFK to Paris with plane change in London

You are landing in another country and staying for a night, so yes you will go thru Immigration and the walk thru of the Customs area. How long it takes depends on how many flights land at the same time in your arrival terminal.

TSA and CLEAR are US programs and will not assist you in any way when you enter UK or when you leave UK or France.

Heathrow is really busy so I would give it more than 2 hours but go by what your airline recommends. I am very risk averse so I allow more time than recommended.

Yes, of course you would have to go through passport control. I can't imagine spending 13 hours overnight in an airport. There are no hotels inside the security area AFAIK. As for how long this might take, it depends on how many other international flights are arriving then. Could be less than an hour. Could be twice that.

I don't think it's likely that you won't have to claim your bags and then recheck them the next morning. I don't think your airline would hold them for that long (assuming you are using the same airline for your ongoing flight). Two hours before your flight would be the bare minimum to arrive in the morning . I'd check with the airline to be sure. And TSA preclearance or CLEAR has no power in other countries.

Unless your transatlantic flight is free, I can't understand why you would do this?

If we choose to leave the airport that night (for a hotel close to the
airport) do we have to go thru Immigration and Passport control when
we land?

Yes. Staying overnight means going through immigration at LHR when you land at LHR.

If so, about how long would it take that hour of the night?

There is no simple answer. The time to go through immigration varies based on # of immigration agents working, how quickly you deboard your flight, and how many flights (full flights or not) landed ahead of you.

Do we have to pick up our luggage and recheck it the next morning or
does the airline move it to the morning flight that evening?

Unless your checked bags are going through to Paris (verify that when you check your bags at JFK), yes, you will have to wait at the baggage carousel to pick up your bags. Who knows how long THAT wait will be?

Any possibility we could walk of the plane with our carry on, leave
the airport that evening and return the next morning around 9 A.M.?

Only if your luggage is going directly to Paris. Otherwise, no. I am unfamiliar with of a one-ticket itinerary from JFK to Paris that requires you to overnight in London.

About how long should we allow to clear security the next morning?
Both of us have TSA clearance as well as CLEAR.

TSA clearance and CLEAR have no bearing in London. You will be waiting on lines to check in your bags, at security, and at passport control. For an international intra-European flight, arrive 2 1/2 - 3 hours early.

So why are you doing this to yourselves??

I have taken a morning flight to LHR a number of times and have never encountered a really long immigration queue. Usually I am through in under 30 minutes.

If you go out of the airport you will have to recheck bags and go through customs again. And I doubt the airline will hold your bags for that long. I would advise next that you don’t leave such a wide gap between flights.

I've never done an overnight connection after a TA flight, but I've done it the other way - FCO-LHR, then onto YUL the next day. They did keep our luggage overnight at LHR, so we just had ou carry-ons to take with us to our hotel - which was not at the airport, but in Central London. Indeed, with your flight times I would definitely be going into town via the Heathrow Express, rather than staying out at LHR - as long as you're at the airport by 9 am, you should be fine.

Need to chime in here.

If this is all on one ticket, you should be have no problems checking your bags all the way through to your final destination (Paris) without having to pick them up. Just make sure the bags are tagged to your final destination.

I have done this many times and even done it with double overnights.

- Did this going to Egypt with an overnight in Athens (flights included United, Lufthansa, and Aegean)
- On another trip coming back from Africa, checked the bags in Zanzibar, overnighted in Frankfurt and then continued to the US (flights were on Ethiopian, and Singapore)
- Also, did this coming back from Sri Lanka a number of years ago where we had overnights in both Singapore and the next night in Hong Kong and had no issues with the bags continuing on.

3 key things to keep in mind for this to work:
1) It should all be on one ticket
2) When you get to the airport the next morning in London, have an agent scan your luggage tags to confirm the bags are continuing on the same flight (mainly done for security purposes)
3) You cannot be switching airports during your overnight. i.e. Fly into Heathrow but leave out of Gatwick

Is this a single ticket you booked with an airline, or an itinerary you booked through something like expedia?

How your luggage is handled is likely dependent on which type of booking you have.

You might want to call the airline you're taking from JFK and LHR and make sure they will interline your bag. (I'm guessing you're flying AA.) If they interline your bag, meaning they transfer it between flights, then you won't have to worry about it. Just pack what you need for overnight in your carry on.

Also make sure you know which terminal you arrive at and which one you depart from. There are four terminals at Heathrow. Don't assume the one in which you arrive is the one in which you depart.

The answers to the questions asked in the above two posts are in the original post. This is an award booking using AA miles, JFK to LHR to CDG on one ticket, with an overnight stopover in London. It is on one ticket. The first leg would be on American Airlines and the second flight (LHR to Paris) probablybon British, but could be another AA partner. Ordinarily the bags would be checked through as it is one ticket, but I do not personally know how that works with an overnight stopover. Someone else upstream said it should be no problem. You could call American Airlines to be sure.

My question has to do with your actual savings from the change. Does that $375 include your hotel in London as well as the additional night in Paris? And transport from Heathrow to your hotel and back?

As to whether it is worth it to make the change, that is highly subjective. We always fly BA in Business class (with miles) and really like the schedule with an overnight flight from Seattle and noon arrival in London, with or without an ongoing flight to a destination on the continent ( where we would arrive in late afternoon). Service on BA is very nice (in business class) and we enjoy the dinner and sleep well afterwards. We arrive pretty well rested and do not lose a day to jet lag or travel fatigue. Conversely, on the return flight, which is a daytime flight, we do not sleep well and we both experience several days of jet lag after getting home. So personally, I would never choose a daytime flight going TO Europe. But of course, not everyone reacts that way and you may well be fine.

The taxes on BA award tickets are high, I agree. But we feel it is worth it to fly their business class, especially if we can fly a 747 or A380. Last March we used our miles to fly business class to South America with American Airlines in 777s. It was OK but not as nice as BA.

So the AA flight ( $50 fees) has you spending a night in London and an extra night in Paris? If so, I think your estimate on spending only $375 more for a net saving of $575 is suspect

Hotel, meals, ground transport in London plus one more hotel night in Paris ( plus meals) all for $375, sounds 'too good to be true' to me. Since you arrive London at night, its not really a touring day, so what is the value, to you, of an extra day in Paris? I think in the end your out of pocket difference is a lot less than $575 to add one day to Paris.

As I see it, you can have the expensive direct flight, or have one more day in Paris, with a less than ideal flight to Paris, with the same total outlay. Purely a subject choice on your part on how to spend the $$$.

Does the AA flyer program let you buy one way? Keep the direct flight to Paris and take the lower cost return a day later.? That should save $500 and that should cover the cost of an extra day in Paris and leave a few extra $$$ in your pocket.

Biz class tix to Paris for $500 a person sound like a steal to me.

Using miles for a daytime biz flight that’s only JFK to London is a waste of miles. You lose a day and are spending the miles just for a lounge, better food, legroom and one more suitcase. I'd just go upgraded coach and save the business miles for a longer flight. Hower, Paris overnight in lay- flat seats would be worth the miles. You get the above perks and gain a day but lose the hassle of overnight at Heathrow. To me, it’s more than the higher fee..

I always fly the BA day flight to London Heathrow (6 hours). The flight arrives about 19:30. I fly to my European destination the next day, usually 11:00 AM or later. I stay overnight at the Sofitel Heathrow at Terminal 5, pamper myself and have a lovely dinner. I sleep in and then catch our flight. This allows us to enjoy the entire trip, not suffer until we arrive at our destination and then force myself to stay awake until a reasonable hour for sleep. I never have jet lag with this system. I am never fatigued from the flights. I do have jet lag after my return to New England, usually two flights in one day. We are now thinking of breaking that day up as well because I hate sitting that long...drives me insane the last couple of hours. So...I recommend the day flight on AA, even though I much prefer BA, and the overnight at a hotel at the airport before flying to Paris, at least.

PS, I will add that as your flight is from JFK, not further west in the country, the amount of sleep you will get is minimal. Can you fall asleep at 7:00 PM, 9:00 PM, 11:00 PM...and then they wake you up at least an hour before, so even business class reclines don't benefit the east coaster as your amount of sleep, 4 hours if extremely fortunate, is not a full night...is that sufficient to keep you not fatigued? Not me. Give me a private room, a real bed, and 8 hours! ;)

I wanted to add a correction to my earlier post.

One of my overnights that involved a checked bag was on two separate tickets. The first was to Athens on a United ticket using UA and LH. The 2nd was on Aegean from Athens to Cairo. United checked the bags all the way through.

All of my overnights with checked bags have been on star Alliance carriers and they don't seem to have any issues with the bags. I do know that Oneworld carriers (American, BA, etc.) were making it difficult to interline the bags if on 2 separate tickets. If all on one ticket you should be fine but a call to AA should settle it.

Just an FYI. If you arrive at LHR in business class you should get a pass that lets you use the priority lane for passport control which could shave 30 to 60 minutes off your wait.

We fly to Europe with AAdvantage miles and I agree that the BA surcharges on business class are a total ripoff.

With that said, I usually bite the bullet and take the more convenient flight. Spending the night in an airport hotel on the way to your destination is just eating up vacation time. If I were you, I would hold my nose and pay for the convenience of the non-stop flight to Paris.

I usually take the early morning BA flight from JFK to LHR and may take the morning AA flight in the future. Ever since I switched from the overnight flight to the day flight I haven't had one bit of jet lag after arriving in Europe.

Since I like to spend a few days in London on each of my European trips, I head to my hotel in London and usually get to bed by midnight local time. (Considering I had to get up super early to make the BA flight I'm usually pretty tired.)

I also use miles to fly in Business. It's a 747 and the upper deck only has 20 seats. Very quiet, great service with two flight attendants for that cabin, and I feel relaxed after the flight.

Since you will be in business, you will get a pass to use Fast Track immigration which is usualy faster than the regular immigration lines. Get yourself a hotel either on the airport grounds or nearby and have a good sleep.

You'll arrive in Paris just a few hours later than you had planned but much more rested.

Only you can determine whether the price savings is worth it to you. We all have different ceilings for value, and indeed, even our own ceilings may change depending on the trip (I paid out the nose to fly home to the States this summer, but I had so many other complications affecting my trip that I was willing to pay -- for me -- top dollar for my transatlantic flight).

Good luck as you make your decision!

Don't know if anyone mentioned this, but there is sort of a hotel with in Heathrow. Yotel, https://www.yotel.com/en/hotels/london-heathrow-airport, bed & bathroom. Minimalist, but would meet the needs for just an overnight & you do not have to travel outside of the airport.
Enjoy your trip.

Well, I’ve been convinced that this daytime flight with an overnight is a wonderful way to get over the pond. Bon voyage.