How to get from JFK Airport to Manhattan by subway

Indice:

From JFK Airport to Manhattan by subway.

Let’s say we’ve just arrived in New York, we’re at JFK, and now we’re going to go to Manhattan on the subway, and we want to pay for the trip and the rest of the trips we’ll make during our stay with the same metrocard. How do we do it? Let’s explain it in simple steps.

Step 1– Take the Airtrain inside the airport

We’re going to take the Airtrain and then connect to the subway.

We arrived at JFK, and among all the options we chose to take the subway to Manhattan since it is the cheapest way. Following the signs there is no way to get lost, it is clearly marked: AirTrain. So follow the signs from whichever terminal you are in.

When taking the Airtrain you have two options: to Howard Station (if we are going towards Brooklyn or downtown) or to Jamaica Station (if we are going towards Manhattan from the middle up). In our case we were going towards Time Square so we took the airtrain towards Jamaica Station.

Here is the airport’s page to complement terminal information.

You do not pay anything when you get on it, the payment will be made once you are down.

Step 2: Arrival at Jamaica Station and obtaining the metrocard

Once at Jamaica Station, before the turnstiles you will find the Airtrain ticket machines. At the Airtrain machine, you have two options: AirTrain Ride for $8 plus $1, or MetroCard + load money, choose the MetroCard option and load the money.

In that metrocard obtained we will charge the money to pay for the airtrain trip we have made (u$s 8).

Why? Because this way, you can then load an unlimited week of travel onto that same metrocard and travel by metro during your stay in New York. It is not necessary to get a card for the airtrain and another for the metro, so when it comes to choosing the metrocard, pay attention and load money.

You cannot buy a one-week unlimited metro pass from these machines.

Step 3: Once inside the station, load the metrocard with unlimited trips

Now we passed through the turnstile with our metrocard, and the airtrain trip was deducted from it. We headed to the subway area to take the line that would take us to our accommodation.

Once we are in the Jamaica Station metro area, there we will find the machine where we can load, to the metrocard we have already obtained, the unlimited week of metro trips.

It is worth clarifying that you can also load only money onto the metrocard and the trips will be deducted from there. In our case, since we were going for several days, we loaded a week of unlimited trips at US$33. ►More Information

►The metrocard for the subway cannot be shared, it is one per passenger.

And now that we saw how to get from JFK Manhattan airport by subway, use the New York subway app, and choose the line and station where to get off and start enjoying New York!

►Have you thought about visiting the Statue of Liberty?, visit our post How to climb the Statue of Liberty.

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