Originally Posted by f9999
2. JFK - second best choice from manhattan (IMHO) and most resilient of the three in bad weather. Very problematic if you depart late afternoon as rush hour makes it really easy to miss the flight. Airtrain connection is a pain but workable.
3. EWR - Closest airport by car to financial district but very expensive cab ride. Airtrain also a pain but less so than JFK if you come from penn station. My least favorite NYC airport if I have a choice.
I'd recommend LGA for just about any domestic flight. It's sometimes a drag but I still think it's the best bet, and cabs to the city are cheap.
I agree with everything you write, but my only question is why JFK Airtrain is any more of a pain than EWR Airtrain from Penn Station since both Airtrains use railroads originating from Penn Station.
I have used both Airtrains extensively and I find they are the best choice to both airports if flying with light luggage.
Both trains are a pain to use with extensive luggage, especially at rush hour (and that's when the Airtrains provide their greatest advantage over vehicular transportation).
Personally, I would give the JFK airtrain an advantage for the following reasons:
1. LIRR schedule from Penn Station to Jamaica Station much more frequent and consistent than NJ Transit from Penn Station to EWR Station. With LIRR you pretty much have a train leaving every 10-25 minutes throughout the day. The NJ Transit schedule is much more irregular, and often you'll find two trains leaving within 5 minutes of each other going to EWR Station and then nothing for a whole hour.
2. The actual JFK AirTrain is far superior to the EWR Monorail. The JFK Airtrain is large and speedy while the EWR Monorail has those ridiculous, tiny compartments which sometimes arrive at your stop completely full because they are too small and separated from each other. Also, the EWR Monorail continues, in my experience, to be very unreliable. Last summer, it abruptly stopped while we were between the P-4 and Term-C and it was stuck for 45 minutes (as a result I missed my flight).
Also, if you ever use the EWR Monorail late at night or on weekends, they shut down one track for maintenance and the remaining track has limited service that forces you to go one stop, get off, and wait for another train to take you to the next stop. In this mode, the ride from Term-C to the EWR Train Station can take up to an hour and no alternative bus service is provided.
3. If you're a New Yorker, the JFK AirTrain is nice because you can use your MetroCard to pay the $5 fare. By contrast, the NJ Transit ticket (which, in all fairness, is only one integrated ticket) comes out of the slowest ticket machine in the world. I have often had to buy my ticket on board the train when I'm running behind, adding $5 to the fare.
Of course, with the exception of T-4, the JFK Airtrain does not take you directly into any terminal, and that's a slight disadvantage, but the walk from each stop to the departures level is not long.