Whenever I am trying to get a flight to nyc, I get many somewhat conflicting opinions from various friends and sources regarding which airport is best. Let’s put together a little guide to airport transportation options. Submit a comment to this thread with any information on any of these criteria for a given airport:
- what affordable (non-taxi) transportation is available from the airport to manhattan or brooklyn
- how long does it take
- how many transfers are there
- any other factors (convenience, safety, et cetera)
Then I will put together a post consolidating all of the info.
update (July 1 2006): This topic is now covered by a wonderfully detailed and informative article on Wikipedia. Hooray!
Train from Newark (EWR) to New York Penn Station: $11.55
Transfers: 0
Time: I can’t remember… under an hour i’m pretty sure.
Slight correction: you do have to take the free airport shuttle train thingy to get to and from the airport to the train station. So if you include time waiting between getting off the shuttle and getting on the train, it will probably be a little over an hour for total travel time.
J
it depends, if you can take the a/c to your destination, then jfk is great. also, cabs to jfk from brooklyn run around $30 so that’s nice.
otherwise it goes like this
jfk and laguardia have a shuttle service that will get you to grand central every 20-30 minutes for $12 and you take the subway from there. travel time: 30-45 minutes depending on traffic. i think it’s called new york airport shuttle or service
what he said about newark is correct. personally, though, i find that between the airtrain and the train and then the subway, the trip from newark is the longest. laguardia is the quickest (unless you’re in brooklyn, then it’s jfk). they all cost roughly the same.
as far as safety, they’re all safe. that’s not an issue. none of them are convenient. there are no transfers.
So from JFK you can take the Airtrain ($5) to the A,C ($2 or “free” on unlimited Metrocard) into brooklyn. I’ve never actually done it, but I’m guessing it’s about 45 min to my house, or about an hour to 14th street in Manhattan. A cab runs about $30, car service about $25.
LGA is hard to get to by pubic transportation - there’s the M60 bus which will take you right there from Columbia or 125th street in harlem. It’s bus price ($2) and takes about 45 min from 120th street and amsterdam. There’s also a bus from Roosevelt Ave Jackson heights ($2) which takes about 30 min - just to go what seems like 2 miles within Queens. And it takes 30 min to get there from midtown, 45 from 14th street. Bunz. Or car service ($25). Or cab ($30).
Islip? Fuggettaboutit. One million hours for one million dollars! In theory it’s 1.5 hours on the LIRR from Jamaica - about $12 and a tram. Unless the train isn’t running. And the tram keeps strange hours so you might have to take a $20 cab from the train station to the airport which seems like it’s only half a mile away. Coming back is a lot better than going because you can just hang out and wait for the train instead of wringing your hands and freaking out about missing the plane. So in theory, if it all works, it’s 2 hours and $20 by pubic transportation.
For me the hard part is getting TO the airport. Like, transportation could take anywhere from 1 hour up and busses run on weird schedules. The airtrain sounds like a magical beast of convenience - even though it killed that guy. I would love to take it. So when are you coming to New York?
abi cohen you read my blog?! yay!
thanks for all the info. the maelstrom of almost-convenience that you describe was pretty much my impression of the situation. but what about cat’s assertion that there are magical $12 van’s from jfk and lga?
i’m coming to nyc this weekend (april 8-10). going with cat’s “lga is shortest to manhattan” advice, i got a flight to and from lga, and also prebooked a van that will take me to “any hotel” in “all of manhattan” for $17 each way. that seemed like a good combination of convenience and affordability. so assuming i can find a hotel near my destination, i’m set. i guess we’ll see if the van is off schedule or otherwise slow.
dude. just take the the airport shuttle to grand central, the 4 5 or 6 to 14th st/union sq. and the l to williamsburg
Dear Anonymous,
dude, which shuttle? is there only one shuttle? do any shuttles go to the 14th st/union sq. station anyway?
:-)
John
You’re coming this weekend?!?! For the Grassroots media conference? Will you have time to come play with me?
Hi, I have a question for you all.
I am taking a flight from Buffalo, NY to La Guardia and than I am taking an international flight to Brazil. I am just wondering, how long does it take to get from one airport to the other by airtrain, and also how much and how safe it is to travel by train instead of other resorces of travel. I never been to N.Y and I am a little nervou on taking the wrong train and route. So if you could help me out, telling me wich exact train aI have to take and also on the way back, that would be great.
Thanks,
Naj
I forgot to mention that my international flight departs from JFK, so i have to take a train from La Guardia to JFk and them JFK - La Guardia on the way back…
Thanks
I am leaving NY at 0750 and need to get to the airport at 0430. How can I do it apart from getting a cab. If I get a cab to JFK from Mahatten how much will it cost me with tips.
i would like to know how much is a cab from Bean Street in Brooklyn, 11213 going to JFK airport and what cab services are available nearby. I would also like to know how long it takes to get there.
Hello all!
That’s for transport information to/from JFK
http://www.ny.com/transportation/airports/JFK.html
Hi there,
I am flying to Florida with three kids out of JFK. Is it easier to park at a friends in Queens and call a cab from there or to drive to one of the parking lots that shuttle over to the airport? I have never flown out of NY and have no idea what to expect.
Any thoughts would be great.
check out supershuttle’s rates for renting out an entire van
http://www.supershuttle.com/
Hello Gad,
We just moved to Brooklyn & had never flown out of JFK before last month. It all depends on what you consider to be easy.
I imagine that if you have kids, you will also be bringing several bags. A mess of kids & bags will be hard to get into a taxi, so calling a van or limo service will be your best option if money is no object.
We recently flew out of JFK to Europe. Since we live in Brooklyn, we decided to drive our car and park it in the long-term parking lot, which is $15 per every 24 hours. This is relatively cheap if you’re just going away for a long weekend, but may become a huge expense if you’ll be gone longer. Also, something to consider is the wait for the Airtrain. It doesn’t run until 6 a.m. We arrived & parked promptly at 6 and waited a few minutes for the train. Since it has to go in a loop, we didn’t arrive at our check-in terminal until 6:34. Apparrently, we were 4 minutes late to check in for our international flight & then had to wait 12 hours for the next flight! It would have been impossible to arrive earlier since the train doesn’t move until 6 a.m. In that case, we should have taken a taxi.
Travel time, time of flight, number of bags & expense are all factors that should help you decide what option is best. I hope our story might help you figure out what you want to do.
HedgeHog-
Thanks for the thoughts. Sorry to hear about missing your flight, that sounds horrible!
Did anyone park their car in long term parking at JFK over the period 8/27/2007 thru 9/15/2007. We parked our car there over that period and when we returned we observed that our car was covered in a clear paint like substance. The car has been sent for detailing and the car service place could not remove the substance. Has anyone heard a story like ours??