This will be a short post, but I wanted to highlight how we got from midtown Manhattan to JFK without an Uber/Lyft. Subway service to many parts of the city or Long Island Rail Road service to Penn Station have long been available from Jamaica station which is connected to the JFK Airtrain. There’s a new express service to Grand Central Terminal which cuts the time significantly to get to East Midtown from the airport. It’s first official day running a full schedule was the day we were headed to JFK Airport, so we gave it a try.

An Uber/Lyft would have been at least $60 plus tip. For two of us, including the Airtrain, it was about $30 to take the train. We also had just backpacks which made it easier.

The actual station is accessed via the lower level of Grand Central, but it’s quite a hike from the main Grand Central Terminal. If you are closer to 46-48th street, access it there rather than going all the way to 42nd Street at the main entrance to GCT. We were coming from the Andaz at 41st Street and 5th Avenue so we had a long walk. The new station area is (as you would expect) very bright and clean. There were plenty of employees on hand to answer questions.

We just missed the off-peak hours as we took the 4pm train to Jamaica. It was an express so it took about 20 minutes.

The train was on time. Our tickets were checked by two LIRR employees. When we got to Jamaica, it was petty easy to find the Airtrain station. We took the Airtrain to JFK Terminal 4 for our Delta flight home.

This is a great new way to get to and from Grand Central, especially at busy times of day. I definitely recommend trying out this train next time you’re headed to JFK.

Up Next: JFK Lounge Reviews – Centurion and SkyClub

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