RTW TP Run in Jan 2026: Day 21 – Dallas (DFW) to New York (JFK)

By Nige on February 7, 2026 at 6:02 pm
Type: Post
Story: Round the World Tier Point Run in Jan 2026 Category: Travel
Tags: American Airlines | Dallas | DFW | Hilton | JFK | New York

Having reached the Hampton Inn Dallas/Irving–Las Colinas not long before midnight, I didn’t turn the light off until around half past twelve. The bed was really comfy, but I just couldn’t switch off.

I spent the night dozing rather than sleeping properly, so the quality of rest wasn’t great. By about 2am, I gave up pretending I was asleep and ended up doing admin until around 5am.

At least that gave me a reason to head out to Starbucks.

It was fresh this morning — around 7°C — but the walk was invigorating and the reward was well worth it.

By the time I got back to the hotel, I decided I might as well head straight to the airport. I caught the 7:39am DART Orange Line train from Hidden Ridge to DFW.

TSA Pre-Check was very quiet and I was through airside in no time. From there, I headed to SkyLink and took the train over to Terminal D and the AA Flagship Lounge.

It was nice to catch up with the Vickster, who had slept really well — reassuring to hear. I enjoyed some breakfast in the lounge and spent a few hours catching up on client work.

I was also tempted into a second Starbucks from the store near Gate D27.

My flight to New York JFK seemed to be floating between a number of gates throughout the morning, but we eventually settled on Gate C8.

There was only about an hour between the inbound aircraft arriving at the gate and my departure, which felt tight — but I suppose that’s fairly standard turnaround time for American Airlines.

I headed over to the C Gates early so I could walk the SkyBridge rather than take the SkyLink train. Extra steps, and it helped pass the time.

When I reached the C concourse, the contrast was stark. It clearly felt much older than Terminal D — drab, dated, and a bit uninspiring.

But it is what it is. If my flight was leaving from a C Gate, then that’s where I needed to be.

The flight to JFK was scheduled at just under three hours, so I was confident I could cope with that in a reclining seat.

My onward flight to LAX would be lie-flat, so I was already looking forward to some proper shut-eye later.

Down at Gate C8, I was perfectly positioned to be first on after ConciergeKey. The guy who was due to sit next to me tried boarding at the back of the CK group and earned himself the red light — followed by the inevitable walk of shame. Some people, eh?

On into seat 01A, and I was looking forward to more non-descript food. If it turned out as good as last night’s non-descript food, I’d happily support the complete removal of menu descriptions altogether!

On into seat 01A, and I was looking forward to more non-descript food. If it turned out as good as last night’s non-descript food, I’d happily support the complete removal of menu descriptions altogether!

We pushed back on time and, when it came to ordering food, the choices were — once again — simply “chicken” or “pasta”.

This time, I asked for a bit more detail. The chicken sounded very similar to what I’d had the night before, so I opted for the pasta instead.

As it turned out, the pasta was the vegetarian option. It was fine, but I could really have done with some protein. Had the choice been framed as “chicken or vegetarian”, I’d have gone chicken without hesitation.

Still, no real complaints.

I dozed for the rest of the flight and managed to take a few icy-looking photos on approach into JFK. Even after the weather front from a couple of weeks earlier, New York was still properly chilly.

Final approach was really bumpy — Vick would have hated it.

We arrived into Gate 5, which meant it was a relatively short walk to the lounges for the next leg.

Next up: My flight from New York (JFK) to Los Angeles (LAX) on Day 21 of my Round The World trip of a lifetime.

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Round the World Tier Point Run in Jan 2026