NYC Airporter

Tried out coming from PABT (via New Jersey). I purchased my ticket online the day before for $15 to LGA.

Buses were timely and staff was friendly. WIFI onboard did not work as advertised.

It's a smaller "bus" so can maneuver throught traffic easily.

Would use again but may book via the app next time.

10-24-19. Note: I started out incredibly early for my JFK flight because traffic snafus have caused me to be late and miss a flight before.

New York Express Bus, also known as: NYC Airporter. Made my way from UWS to Port Authority for 12:40pm bus to JFK. Bus arrived early. We boarded, bought ticket or presented a receipt for online purchase and left the station on time. Made 2nd stop at Grand Central station pickup point and took on quite a few passengers.

Normal busy weekday afternoon traffic to JFK. Arrived 1:45pm. I was near the end, Terminal 5, JetBlue, so reached there maybe 15-20 minutes later.

I love to save a buck, or $50-80 (taxi fare), so the express bus worked for me. In exchange for the economical price, I added several hours of additional time to my travel day. I made sure to have reading material and a knitting project with me. And, people watching is a fun pastime, at least once in a while. So, time=$ saved. Happy traveler.

Reliable entirely professional commercial bus service provides an affordable way to travel between the three airports nearest the NYC area, JFK (President John F. Kennedy), LGA (99th Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia), NWR (NeWaRk; in NJ), and mid-Manhattan.

I hired this convenient and affordable bus twice over the last year (JFK to LGA; JFK to my Times Square hotel in mid-Manhattan), and not only was it easy to buy a ticket and check in, but the drive was quick as NYC traffic can be. I didn't see or anticipate problems going to or thru either destination. They have different looking buses clearly marked. The drivers and staff are pleasant enough, cordial, very business like. They want to help you (and other customers) get to the correct NYC Airporter bus so there's really no time for small talk. I appreciated the check in staff helping to keep me warm cool and safe during the wait times, and the bus drivers when I needed to load and unload my baggage.

An idea of what to expect -

BUY TICKETS ONLINE/via APP: Input your flight information, NYC destination, credit card payment details, then PRINT your ticket at home (before arriving in NYC). If you really want a sail thru check in, be sure to have your reservations paperwork printed and ready with your photo ID.

NO RESTROOMS: Buses are large enough to have restrooms but do not have restrooms. That said, use the restroom before heading to check in in case there is a wait or if you might be able to board immediately. You will be allowed to go back into the terminal baggage claim area to use the restroom.

CHECK IN at the bus pick up location: They will ask you for your printed reservation paperwork and will immediately confirm your destination & hand you your bus ticket (printed from their handheld device) along with quick instructions where to stand for your bus. Buses can take 20-35 minutes to arrive. If you have some wait for the next bus and it's hot or freezin' cold out in the terminal, they will have you wait inside then call you right before your bus arrives.

LOAD YOUR LUGGAGE: Take your bags and luggage to the back end (literally) of the bus. The bus driver will open the back hatch and stand inside to load your bags with you passing them to him. That all made it a lot easier for me, thank you so much! Once your bag is loaded, board the bus, find a seat, and same driver will walk back to front collecting everyone's bus ticket. When your driver is unloading your bags is the best time to present the driver with your tip (like $2 per bag is good).

THE DRIVE THRU NYC: Once everyone is boarded, it is time to leave. Sit back and watch the drivers navigate safely thru the freeways. If you will drive a rental car, this will be a good way to observe driving in the NYC area. If you're a patient defensive driver observant at all times (vehicles in front, both sides, in back, dare I add above lol; street signs, traffic lights, and pedestrians), drive confidently that you will be fine and no one will beep their horn at you teehee :D

DESTINATION MID-MANHATTAN: Only to hotels between specified mid-Manhattan streets.* Unload your luggage then take a transfer van to your hotel. You must show your reservations paperwork & ID here too before they will give you instructions where to wait for the connecting van.

PRICING: I saw recent yet "old" photos and videos of $13 fares and got really excited but instead, I found a one way trip cost me $19 minus 10% discount from making the purchase on their NYC Airporter app. For my second trip, the app just wouldn't open. Prices vary (check NYCairporter.com) between locations ($16, $17, $19) one-way and for round trip is doubled then given a discount ($28, $30, $35); there are discounts for family-sized groups (B3G1) and 10% for using their app. Sure beats a $50-35 taxi and uber ride!

*IMPORTANT UPDATE (5/22/2018): This past April 2018 I got an email about service changes as of May 7, 2018 but then saw a May 22, 2018 update on Facebook; here is the gist:
(1) Service is now 11am - 7pm daily
(2) No service directly to any Manhattan hotels
- Now only to/from Grand Central Station or Times Square
(3) Bus will only pick up at four JFK terminals (1, 2, 4, 8) so take the JFK (inside-Air)Train (aka monorail) to the nearest terminal :(; good thing is service is every 30 minutes
(4) Service to/from (mid-)Manhattan is every hour on the hour
(5) There is service between JFK & LGA (initially this route was canceled) to all terminals

The second May 2018 update reinstated service R/T from JFK to LGA and looks like they use smaller shuttle-sized buses, but I wish they could have adjusted service to start earlier (like 7am) since my Hawaiian Air flights leave at 10am. In any case, I'm glad it was just a temporary omission bc this really is a great way to get from point A to B if you have luggage/family that aren't easy to load on & unload off NYC trains (aka subway) or take with you up & down flights of stairs!

Don't waste your money and time.

There are better low cost alternatives to getting to Manhattan from JFK such as taking the Airtrain and then transferring to a train that will take you directly into Manhattan. This whole train ride will take approximately 1 hour (tried and true)

My experience with Airporter is as follows.
3:17pm - Arrive at the ride pick up station from JFK airport
4:15pm - Finally got picked up by the Airporter. Please note the advertisement indicates that they pick up every 30 minutes. This did not happen.
4:50pm - Finally begin leaving JFK. The lag was due to pick ups at multiple locations in JFK as well as checking tickets for passengers.
5:41pm - Arrive in Manhattan.
5:50pm - Transferred to Airporter'S shuttle which will drop you off at your Manhattan hotel.
6:20pm - Finally arrived at the hotel.

Total commute time : 3 hours.

Absolutely unacceptable.

Although I bought a round trip ride, I was so unhappy with my experience that I did not return to take Airporter back to JFK at the end of my trip. Instead, I took the train as mentioned above and it was much faster and streamlined. Furthermore, after you purchase your ticket, you are not allowed any refunds whatsoever.

Do yourself a favor and avoid this company at all costs. Take the train or take a taxi if you must.

This was me and my boyfriend's only choice of transportation after arriving in JFK Airport. We got in line to pay, $18.00 per person, came with 2 hour walking tour + 1 hour bike rental in Central Park. Waiting for the bus shuttle didn't take long. The lady working was nice and helpful, she escorted us to where we were supposed to meet the bus, and sent us on our ways.

It took about 50 mins to get to the city. Traffic was bad around 3pm. The shuttle was to stop at 3 different locations into the city's We hopped off on 42nd street right near Bryant street. Very busy area. We saw "tip" signs inside the bus and the bus driver even reminded us before unloading our bags. They rely heavily on tips which is expected. Others got their bags before us and didn't tip (everyone has their opinions), we wanted to tip him for good reasons and not because we were forced to. He was a kind gentleman but also was a crazy driver. LOL

We're probably going to take this shuttle again once it's time to leave NYC.

Got outside the terminal at JFK at 15:45, was told the next bus would be in :15 minutes.
An HOUR later at 16:45 a bis shows up. Needless to say I missed my connection in LGA which was at 17:50.
Even though their sign say the bus departs every 30 minutes!
This company needs to be shut down, they have the worst customer service in the world. Try calling any of their number and no one answers, the people will blatantly lie to you saying the bus is stuck in traffic because of LGA construction, or the bus is in the other terminal on the way to your terminal.
They have excuses for everything but never admit that their business is inadequate!

Save yourself the aggravation and take a cab, an uber or any of the car service comapies that goes between the two airports!

Hot bus without AC

This is plain pathetic!

Unfortunately, my flight was out of LGA. I could have easily taken the train but figured it'd be painless if I had a shuttle with wifi. I was picked up in a mini shuttle at 33rd and 7th and then we boarded a bigger bus on the east side. It would have been easier to just meet in the second location since we did waste 30 minutes in traffic. I am very upset because the driver and crew did not understand that I needed a wifi connection. First world problems... The bus has wifi capable signs posted all over it yet the crew had no idea how to enable it.
We departed 33rd st at 10:15 and arrived at around 11:10 - not terrible.

I don't understand what the fuss is all about! We booked a trip from Penn Station to JFK on Saturday afternoon and though the bus had to stop at two other places to pick up more passengers, we got to the airport within 1 hour!!

The driver was courteous and polite and he worked really really hard moving luggages around to dig for ours (it was a full bus and since we got in at the 1st pick up place, ours were buried at the bottom). Note to all future passengers: TIP YOUR DRIVER!

We bought our ticket online and later they issued a receipt when we checked in at the pick-up meeting spot at Penn Station. KEEP your receipt! They check it again later! You can also buy the ticket on the spot, they have a credit machine handy.

Will certainly use them again if we visit NYC!

3.5 stars. I use this service all the time to get to both LaGuardia and JFK. Overall, I'd say it's a pretty cheap way to get from Manhattan to either airport ($14 and $16 one-way, respectively). This service runs about every 20 minutes from the Grand Central area and it is usually pretty timely. You get to bring two large bags for free (as well as any smaller personal items) and they help you load it onto the bus. The bus itself is fairly nice: spacious, air-conditioned/heated, and has wifi as well as outlets (though I have to warn you the latter two may or may not work depending on your luck).

Going to the airport is a little bit more efficient than heading out, since they pick up all of the passengers from each terminal before leaving the airport.

One word about the tickets: Booking online doesn't save you any extra money, so if you're making last minute plans, you can always buy directly when you need. Booking round trip does save you $1 each way. For some reason they insist on printing you out a ticket even though you may have already printed out a voucher from online. For round trips, they take a portion of your ticket but then give you your return trip ticket-DO NOT LOSE THIS. They are usually pretty insistent on collecting everyone's ticket when you're on the bus, so it's best to have this handy.

Finally, it is pretty easy to spot the Airporter, as the people working area always wearing bright green jackets that say "NYC Airporter" (definitely a good thing when you're looking around at Ground Transportation at either airport).

Overall, a functional, reasonably priced service that can take you to the airport in a reasonable amount of time. No complaints really. Just wish that the outlets and wifi would work more consistently and that pickup from the service could be more efficient.

There are a lot of different ways to get to JFK. Some are good, some are okay, some are terrible. But no matter how you choose to get there, you can always rest easy knowing that JFK is not LGA.

The bus was moderately on time-ish, and picked us up in a generally convenient location. We hung out on 41st and waved at people in my office (I work in the Wells Fargo building), got drinks from Cafe O, and stared at traffic.

20 minutes later, bus. 80 minutes later, airport. Yeah, it takes as long as they say online, so plan ahead. We left with plenty of time to spare, so I spent the time playing on my phone and nodding off instead of sweating through the traffic wondering if we would miss our flight.

There is wifi, but I think my 56k modem was faster, so it might be more accurate to say there is "wifi in spirit". The seats are comfortable and the a/c was blasting nicely.

The order of terminals for our trip was 7-8-1-2-3-4-5. If you are 7, congrats. If you are 5, add 20 minutes to your trip, We were 5, which is why it took the full 80 minutes.

Overall, this was way better than driving, way better than awful car service, and easier and more relaxing than the E train. There are other ways to go, but for $30/pp roundtrip...it's a pretty good deal if you aren't pressed for time.