How to go to downtown New York from JFK airport.

The New York airport dedicated to former President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, better known as the JFK, is the main international airport in the Big Apple. The second port of call is the one located on the other side of the Hudson River: the Newark in New Jersey.

The other airports La Guardia and Islip, however, are dedicated to domestic and direct flights to Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

Which JFK terminal

Airports in the United States function differently from those in Italy. If, for example, from Rome Fiumicino intercontinental flights all depart from Terminal 3, just as at Malpensa they are all operated from Terminal 1, in the U.S. the terminals of all major airports are divided among the various companies. This means that American carriers operate, except in special cases, from only one terminal. The other companies are scattered around the other terminals, with no real sense of logic or alliance.

Here's where the major carriers operate at the various terminals at JFK

Terminal 1

ITA Airways
Air France
Lufthansa
Turkish

Terminal 4

Delta
Emirates
Etihad
Swiss
Virgin Atlantic

Terminal 5

JetBlue

Terminal 7

British Airways
ANA
United
Aerolinas Argentinas
Iberia

Terminal 8

American Airlines
Qatar
Finnair

How to travel to or from JFK airport.

Unfortunately, New York's subway system is not comparable to that of London or other major cities such as Hong Kong or Dubai. The subway is not connected to the airport, so you will not be able to take a train that from JFK to Manhattan or another part of the city without having to make at least one change.

If you want to move by this means of public transportation, you should remember that subway stations in NY are also not among the most modern and efficient. This means that many stops do not have escalators or elevators, and if you have to move with one or more suitcases it is a matter of consideration.

From the airport, one must take the AirTrain, a monorail that connects the various terminals together with the airport's parking lots and the Jamaica subway station, terminus of the E, J, Z lines. Here one must take a train that in about 60 minutes, delays permitting, will arrive in Downtown Manhattan and then go all the way up the peninsula to the Bronx. The cost is 11.5$ per passenger.

Then there are various modes of transportation by road, such as the buses that run from the various terminals into downtown Manhattan and cost roughly between 16 and 18$.

There are also minibuses that provide service from the airport to all major hotels in the Big Apple. Here the travel time depends very much on the route and the stops that are made. The cost is similar to that of the bus.

Between these two solutions we need to evaluate the travel time which may be longer with the minibus, however, in the latter case you are dropped off in front of the hotel door and not at Grand Central.

There is, of course, the option of taking a cab, the classic yellow cars. The fare to/from JFK is fixed at 52$ + taxes, so a little less than 60$, the time depends on the traffic, but since it is a fixed rate it will not change if it takes 90 minutes instead of the usual 45.

Then there are private cars, such as Limousine or ridesharing services such as Uber and Lyft. In the first case the tariff is fixed and per person, with a minimum cost of about 120$. In the second case, the cost depends on traffic and demand, during rush hour the trip from Manhattan to the airport can cost as much as 170$, on the contrary if there is not much traffic the cost is slightly higher than that of the traditional cab.

In conclusion

I personally prefer the cab, convenient fast and safe. If you are traveling as a family of 3/4 people the cost is less than any other means of transportation and by far the most comfortable. The limousine is an experience that you can try to take the fun out of it.

The subway is the last of the means of transportation that makes sense to take, it is not the most convenient let alone the fastest, and the cost, compared to the bus/minubus, is only a few dollars less.

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