Getting from New York JFK airport to Manhattan, without the sneaky airtrain exit fee?

3/30/2019 7:02:59 PM

You need to make sure that you have a metro card as you can not buy one at Hudson’s or any outlet in JFK.
Take the Q10 Bus from T5 going to Kew Gardens union TPK Station.Get off Lefferts Blvd and Cuthbert Rd. From here you can catch the A or C train into Manhattan. If you didn’t have a metro card pay 2.75 on the bus so make sure you have change. This is time consuming but it helps to avoid the Airtrain fee

2/24/2016 1:44:38 AM

The best way to save money is going to Terminal 5, take the Q10 LTD bus (Or Local, it’s just slower), and then transfer to A Train or E,F Train. Since there is a free transfer for travels less than two hour, you will only have to pay $2.75 in total.

12/14/2015 6:54:38 AM

Yes, it’s totally doable, I walked it on Friday night from Howard Beach subway-A to Airtrain Lefferts Boulevard: ~30min. Nice Christmas houses at Howard Beach, but:

It’s much quicker to step down at Aqueduct/Conduit subway-A and walk to Airtrain Lefferts Boulevard. ~20min walking which saves the $5. Depending on the Airtrain/Subway frequency, that might be worth it.

I don’t consider it unsafe, just a sidewalk next to a moderate speed way. A little narrow on the bridge entering the airport, but still good to me.

Here are the walking instructions.

11/30/2015 7:35:30 PM

Just feel like it needs to be stated here that an able and slightly intrepid traveler should also just be able to WALK from the ‘Lefferts Blvd’ station (the one right before ‘Howard Beach’) to to regular subway. It’s about 20 minutes to the ‘Aqueduct/Conduit’ station or closer to 30 to ‘Howard Beach’. Google maps will show the directions. It’s not glamorous, but it’s doable.

11/8/2015 4:13:05 PM

The $5 surcharge of the AirTran is only collected at the terminal stops, so when transferring to the Subway or entering the airport. If you’re looking to avoid that charge, you can take the AirTran to the car rental exit (at no cost) and hop on the free shuttle bus to Jamaica station. There you can take the E, J or Z which serve southwestern Queens, Brooklyn and lower Manhattan, the LIRR is also at this station for those interested. That shuttle bus has two stops: Jamaica station and Federal Circle Rental Cars stop, so you don’t have to worry about missing the right stop or if your bus is going in the right direction, etc.

JFK is horribly designed in that it’s not optimized for pedestrians, this way minimizes you having to navigate through the maze.

10/5/2014 10:06:56 PM

When leaving JFK, get the free Airtrain shuttle to the Lefferts Blvd station stop then get off and get the Q10 bus to Ozone Park Lefferts Blvd subway station where you can get the A train to the city. Transfers are free between bus and subway when you use a metro card. Do the reverse to get to the airport.

6/12/2012 2:28:49 PM

In addition to what Choster has described there may be a way to do it without the transfer from Bus to Subway.

There is a long term parking adjacent to the Lefferts Blvd Airtran station and Howard Beach A train station. This used to be serviced by the free shuttle for all the terminals though it was running not as often as others. So if you take that shuttle to Long Term Parking Lot C you could just walk to the Howard Beach A train. One thing to check is whether or not this shuttle runs to the terminal it’s possible this was changed it’s possible the route is only within the long term lots.

P.S. Personally I try to avoid JFK like a plague

9/27/2014 12:59:53 AM

There is no safe way, as there is a high fence that bars access from the long-term parking lot.

To save money, I would take the Q10 bus from terminal 5 and transfer to the A train at Lefferts Blvd or the F train at Kew Gardens.

There are other buses (B15 to the 3 Train at New Lots, Q3 to Locust Manor LIRR or F Train at Jamaica), but I am not familiar with them.

Credit:stackoverflow.com

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Hello,My name is Aparna Patel,I’m a Travel Blogger and Photographer who travel the world full-time with my hubby.I like to share my travel experience.

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