Flight change

Just the fact that you're concerned about it now means that you may be stressed about it on the day of travel. I came in through Newark (not JFK) in October; immigration (with Global Entry) took next to no time. There was no line at the machine and I just handed the little slip to an officer as I walked towards the exit corridor. Customs took zero time - just walk through the exit door.

My pictures show that it took 1hr 18 min from my photo as we were landing until I was at the gate waiting for my next flight. Had the flight departure been 1hr 15 minutes, and assuming boarding closes (say) 10 minutes before departure, I'd have missed the flight.

And you can't count on all of that.

That seems very tight. Are there additional flights to RDU that depart after your scheduled flight?

AA has only one flight a day from JFK to RDU. There are 3 other airlines with direct flights. If you miss the connection they will either send you to another airline with space or put you in a hotel and give you food vouchers until the flight the next day. But between now in May it is possible your original ticket with change again.

Thanks for your advice. American easily changed the flight to a longer layover.

AA has numerous flights a day between JFK and RDU. I fly that route a few times a year.

The last three times I came in to Terminal 8 at JFK, it took me 7 minutes, 8 minutes and 12 minutes from walking off the plane to walking out of the terminal thanks to Global Entry. In fact, three weeks ago, I had never seen the arrivals hall as busy as it was. The area was packed. There were two people ahead of me at Global Entry. We were given priority. That was the 7 minutes record.