Flyers landing at JFK’s Terminal 5 like Alex Castro, who flew in from Puerto Rico on a recent trip, are adding another leg to their journeys — a ride on the AirTrain to e-hail their cab at another terminal.
“It’s something that you have to do extra, after flying for a couple of hours. It gets tedious,” Castro said.
The Port Authority’s $19 billion dollar renovation of John F. Kennedy International Airport forced it this month to boot Uber, limo and other for-hire drivers from a convenient pick up spot outside of Terminal 5 to an AirTrain ride to Terminal 7’s orange garage.
The walking and the train ride takes passengers about 15 minutes.
It’s a change Castro learned about, on the fly, from his Uber app.
A Port Authority spokeswoman said officials recognize it’s inconvenient. But it’s a tool to prevent traffic chaos and gridlock during the renovation — one that Port Authority officials used when LaGuardia Airport underwent construction.
“Removing for-hire vehicle traffic from the frontage at key construction chokepoints significantly reduced traffic at LaGuardia and has already yielded similar results at JFK,” she said.
The spokeswoman said there were dozens of signs posted and sent these photos. There are staff members wearing red directing travelers, as well.
Some complained about the hike to the new location, lack of clear signage and how they were unaware that their usual pick up spot had changed.
“Plane, trains and automobiles just to get to the Uber spot,” Mary Guglielmi said.
“We were in shock of this. We weren’t notified of this,” her husband Michael Guglielmi said.
These changes are taking place at the start of the busy summer travel season and a year when passenger volumes are rebounding from the pandemic.
New York area airports this past April broke a record set back in April 2019.
Matt Daus, a former city taxi chief and author of a recent report on airports and ground transportation, said if anyone should move away from the Terminal 5 curb, it’s the private motorist, not the professional driver.
“They’re in, they’re out, they don’t waste time, they don’t park on a diagonal, they don’t obstruct traffic kissing their loved one’s goodbye for 10 minutes,” Daus said.
The first new gates at the redeveloped JFK will open in 2026.
For-hire drivers will move into a permanent spot between Terminal 5 and 6, sooner, in the middle of 2025.
In the meantime, getting to a for-hire car to make the last leg of a trip will take a little longer.
“It’s four minutes to get the ride here, but we’ve walked for 10 minutes since we got to the gate,” Castro said.