Getting to JFK T7 in the rush hour
 

I normally take one of the two earliest evening services from JFK to LHR, the 1820 (BA 112) or the 1901 (BA 174), but due to a time-change mismatch, the services are an hour later for a couple of weeks so I find myself on BA174 at 2001 in two weeks' time.

I have a lot of experience taking a car service to JFK from Manhattan (9th and 13th to be precise). Even if I book a car for 1630, the driver seems to have to take a lot of back roads to get to the airport in under an hour (giving me enough time to dine before a 1901 departure). I've been told by drivers it would take them at lot longer at that time of day if they just took the freeway and, since they're on a fixed rate, I have no reason to doubt them. And it seems that leaving Manhattan a bit later, things would be significantly worse.

So does anyone have any top tips for getting to JFK painlessly for a 2001 departure? It looks like sadly the helicopter service from 34th Street has been suspended, otherwise I'd be looking seriously at that (although I think it had a pretty tight baggage limit). I'll be travelling with a minimum of one heavyish (c. 25kg) suitcase plus hand luggage so don't want a lot of struggling on public transport (although I'd have no qualms about the tube from LHR to home as I live two minutes walk from a Piccadilly Line stop, so something really easy like that is fine).

AirTrain
 

The metro/AirTrain combination is no more painful than the piccadilly line. I have done it with a medium sized Travelpro and a small piece of hand luggage and survived.

The change at Howard Beach or Sutphin Boulevard to the AirTrain is pretty simple given that it was recently built with travelers in mind. As someone who frequents NY, you will know that normal interchanges on the Metro are a little more hassle with luggage.

If you are starting your journey near an A train stop for Howard Beach or a an E/J for Sutphin Boulevard then it's easy enough. If you need to make additional changes, it may be more of an issue.

E Train is a good bet - its express once it leaves Manhattan and you can then pick up the Air Train from the stop in Jamaica.

Alternatively, jump in the car / cab and enjoy the slow trip to the airport.... You might want to suggest to the driver to head to the BQE via the Williamsburg Bridge and then onto the LIE as this will cut out the Queens Midtown Tunnel jams

One cab I took recently took the back roads through brooklyn and it really wasnt that bad - you just need a driver who knows where he is going

Why not take the Long Island Rail Road from Penn Station to Jamaica and then the Air Train to T7? That journey typically take me about 50 minutes. The LIRR is much quicker than the subway.

9th and 13th is on the E train IIRC (14th Street station) and you change to the AirTrain at Jamaica. About $8 one way, airconditioned all the way and the E have brand new trains. Will take about 1h15 and is very reliable.

Get the A train from 14th st station (14thst/8th ave), which takes you (express) all the way to howard beach where you switch to the (rip off) airtrain.

Dont take an E or C train- thats local. The A is faster.

Or as above, get the LIRR from Penn and switch to the airtrain at jamaica...

Id subway it personally- all depends if you can deal with your luggage or not.

+1

The 14th St. station has some newly installed elevators. It probably be would be worth checking ahead of time whether there are any that would assist you in getting down to the uptown E train track (to avoid lugging suitcases down stairs).

The subway + AirTrain are far more reliable than surface travel during rush hour.

A/E train is slow (A is the worse one; E marginally better)

Take the LIRR from Penn station (1-2-3 / A-C-E) to Jamaica, then the AirTrain. $5.75 on the LIRR and c.$5 from your MetroCard for the AirTrain (and even though cost is not important on expenses, it is good value). Loads of trains to Jamaica, and very easy if not carrying much. Only downside is connection to Penn, which is difficult from Upper East areas. Jamaica is usually the second stop after Woodside.

I never bother with the car service or cabs to JFK any more - I can't be bothered to wait in traffic or wasting my life dicing with death with insane cabbies. And I always beat my colleagues to the airport coming by car from elsewhere in Manhattan.

OT: when will an extension to LGA be built...?!

I've always wondered, when aa.com shows "TSS Heliport" as an IATA code option, whether there were any connecting services. Has anyone ever done this? Would seriously consider it as well sometime...Trip Report?

Note there are two ways to get from Manhattan to JFK via Subway and Airtrain.

Route 1: E train to Sutphin Blvd (one stop before Jamaica, my bad...in any case it's signposted). The E starts in lower Manhattan, heads uptown and then turns crosstown after 50 St and runs express through Queens to Sutphin. You then get the AirTrain from Jamaica to JFK.

Route 2: A train (not C). Starts at the top of Manhattan, runs the length of the island and crosses into Brooklyn roughly under the Brooklyn Bridge. Runs express through Brooklyn to Howard Beach where you change to the AirTrain (a different route).

linenbasket, both A and E are express once off Manhattan, they just go different routes.

See http://www.mta.info/nyct/maps/submap.htm

Thanks for all the advice so far. Just one comment and a question.

Will I indeed? :)
I'm afraid I very rarely take the metro at all and can't recall ever interchanging on it, with or without luggage. I tend to frequent Manhattan between the East Village and Chelsea/Meatpacking up as far as around 50th Street and I just take cabs everywhere if I can't walk. If I'm going further uptown on my own I'll sometimes take the metro, but only in a straight line North-South. I am familiar with the Long Island Railroad though as I need to use it to get to Fire Island, and used a train to get back from Hoboken (having got their at night in a friend's car) one morning last September - a very rare trip West.

For some reasons I find taxis much more convenient (and cheaper) than in London, and the underground much less so.


Sounds good. Have changed at Jamaica or Babylon many times (for reasons mentioned above). But 14th/8th much closer to my usual hotel.

Only problem. I know this sounds stupid, but how do I get from 13th and 9th to 14th and 8th with heavy luggage. I must have walked that journey 100 times but it seems too far with a lot of luggage (my walk home from Leicester Square station is much less than the distance between 8th and 9th avenues) but if I took a cab they'd laugh, wouldn't they?

A block east and a block north? Come along, I'm sure you're made of sterner stuff (that's probably the same as transferring from the Piccadilly to the Jubilee at Green Park!)

So how do I get from Sutphin to Jamaica? Is that yet another train?

None of this sounds as easy as: get on the Piccadilly Line, get off the Piccadilly Line, walk two minutes, open front door. :eek:

Thanks again anyway.

The block North is easy. The block East is quite far.

Considering all the threads on here with people swooning over the thought of someone carrying their luggage a few feet from the curbside to the check-in desk when they're in F, it's amazing how prepared the very same people (hope I'm not maligning you, but you know what I mean!) are to recommend lugging heavy luggage, without the aid of a trolley, in a most undignified way around the streets of Manhattan!

Put it another way, people are prepared to shell out thousands for a few minor dignities in the safety of an airport. But when I talk about spending $4 on saving myself a good deal more huffing and puffing, quite possibly in the pouring rain, all I get is scorn and derision. :p :D

Right, and the F train runs along the same route as well from 50 St and 6 Ave.

The E runs from downtown on 8 Ave while the F runs from downtown on 6 Ave. Choose whichever is closer.

(Either is probably faster and more pleasant than the A to Howard Beach.)