No idea about the security guards, but in terms of the Subway<->Airtrain route, what you're describing seems to be what I've always considered the "normal" route - I almost never take the street/big escalator, unless I'm looking for a snack outside.
There's definitely some new signage, but out the Airtrain "hall," over the LIRR tracks and down the elevator to the Subway mezzanine has always been there. (There's even a kind of hidden moving sidewalk on the East end behind the LIRR track elevators. I never take it, but I always assume it's broken.).
Originally Posted by
M60_to_LGA
On another JFK-related note, I just flew back into JFK this weekend for the first time since mid-November, and it seems like there's a new route to follow to get from the AirTrain station to the subway at Jamaica. Does anyone know when this changed? Instead of sending you through the platforms of the LIRR station to the elevators, now there huge signs sending you over to an elevator (possibly new? At least less piss-encrusted than the other ones) that's past the farecard terminals and the weird, overpriced cafe/shop, then outside briefly and down another escalator to the subway station. The signs seem pretty new, and they're huge, so I feel like I would have remembered them if they were there before. Does anyone know what that's about?
My last trip involving JFK was a Nov. 9 departure, and at that time I had another surprising experience. I got out of the subway and went up in the old gross elevators, then walked across the LIRR station to the AirTrain entrance. Then (it was probably about 3am), I was stunned that there were security guards refusing entry to anyone without a confirmed flight ticket, and I had to show them mine before they would let me in to get the AirTrain. I'd never seen that before ever, and I've been taking the subway to JFK for many, many years.