Originally Posted by
remyontheroad
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.).
The route you're describing is the same route that I've always taken (never stepping outside, just taking the elevator between the subway and the LIRR level, and crossing through the LIRR station). But now they're sending you outside - although I didn't walk out to the LIRR platform to see if the old elevators were still in service.