Originally Posted by
RichardInSF
Things I noticed or experienced on my just concluded trip:
1. I bought a 10 trip ticket for $25. The second time I tried to use it, it rejected it and said, "No good, swipe again." I did and it promptly deducted a second trip.
I complained to the staff, who this time were hiding in their glass office. They looked at the ticket and agreed that I had been charged twice. Then they told me that, despite the message, I should have come to them. My only recourse now was to wait until the ticket was completely used up, then mail it with an explanation, and 6-8 weeks later I would presumably get a $2.50 refund.
Now who is going to do THAT? I call that a ripoff.
2. During the late morning on a weekday, the around the airport route wasn't running at all. That meant that if you had to go from a higher number terminal to a lower number one, you'd have to go to stop C, and then go down one floor and wait again for a train back. No one that I saw was telling newbies how to do that, btw.
3. It may be a slow summer for the airlines, but it still the summer peak. Trains running only once every 10 minutes to each of Jamaica and Howard Beach meant always crowded trains when I went -- definitely not the busiest times either. How about at least adding an additional car?
Ouch. Sounds like you did indeed hit a string of bad luck. I can't comment on the swiping procedure because I've never done that.
I do agree that the signage for the Airtrain is among teh worst I've ever seen. If you're not used to it, as I am now, it can be extremely confusing. As a matter of fact, the very first time i used the Airtrain, I got on the wrong one and instead of heading back to parking, I was going in the other direction. Not a big deal, unless I was running late for a flight!
On the other hand, the frequency of the Airtrain depends on the time of day. At off peak hours, yes, it does run every 10 minutes. Again, through experience, I've learned to build in a little extra Airtrain time. But I've also used it when its been running every 5 minutes.
Overall, I like the Airtrain. I still remember taking those old, decrepit, extremely crowded, and lacking enough luggage storage spaces, buses.
