NY - New York City Chapter

GETTING FROM JFK TO MANHATTAN with your Friday

NOTE: If you can fly into La Guardia or Newark airports it's closer and cheaper to Manhattan than from JFK. Thanks to Katherine Roberts and Dave Holowka for these notes.

Choice A -- Air Train to subway (cheapest option). Take the Air Train to Howard Beach & transfer to the A train, or take the Air Train to Jamaica and transfer to the E. Either of these options costs $7, which is all deducted from your Metro Card. The choice of A or E just depends on where in the city you're going.

Choice B -- Air Train to LIRR (Long Island Railroad - faster, but more expensive option). Take the Air Train to Jamaica and switch to the LIRR. The express trains get to Manhattan in only 2 or 3 stops. You can transfer to the subway in either Brooklyn or Manhattan (Penn Station). I don't think the Metro Card works for the LIRR, though, and it adds about $12 to the total cost of the trip (but takes about 40 minutes less).

Choice C -- The SuperShuttle/Airlink (google them): $17 per person plus tip. Arrive at the airport, call them up on the courtesy phone, wait where they tell you to, they can also be booked online. Can take up to two hours to get to your destination in Manhattan depending on how many people get in the cab and which order they drop people off.

Choice D -- Taxi (two or more travelers): Anyone arriving more than solo to a NYC airport is better off taking a cab. It's one fare for two people, as opposed to two fares on a bus or any other option, and you'll be dropped the door instead of ending up at the subway station with bags to schlep. Cab fare is fixed at $45 and the tip should be about $9.00. If the cab takes the tunnel into Manhattan (the fastest route) there'll also be a $5 toll you must pay. If you don't want to pay the toll, tell the driver, and he'll take a bridge instead.

Flying Southwest into Long Island Airport - notes from Joey Tabaco

SWA flies into Islip MacArthur Airport (ISP) which is an hour and a half away from Penn Sta via the LIRR, which you can get to from the terminal by taxi or bus. If you bike, there are 2 routes that are safer than going directly around the airport perimeter via Smithtown Ave. If you Google Earth KISP you can see the Ronkonkoma train station just to the north of the airport. Depending on the traffic, this can be just a little more time than it takes to get from LGA, JFK or EWR. 

(l-r) Liz Baum (Mrs. Ed Pino), Eliana Hecht, Danny Lieberman, Rhonda Wittorf, John T. Chiarella and Ed Pino