Flying is very rarely a fun experience anymore. While the TSA has relaxed the rule about keeping your shoes on, you still have myriad rules on things like liquid sizes to deal with.
Airlines keep adding new fees and taking away services, and passengers seem to find new reasons to get into arguments with each other every day.
Plus, the seats are tiny, food service is basically nonexistent on most flights, and you may face cancellations and delays.
As if all that isn’t enough, a major airline is now taking steps to make life even harder for travelers. Here’s why.
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This airport is making flying even more miserable
According to recent reports, life is going to get harder for people traveling to JFK Airport in New York. That’s because the airport has now made it incredibly difficult to get a rideshare pickup when you land.
Here’s why: The airport has moved ride app pickups completely off-site the airport for multiple terminals, including:
- Terminal 5, which services JetBlue flights
- Terminal 7, which is the destination for a lot of international travelers
Terminal 4 passengers have already been dealing with this issue, as rideshare pickups during certain times of the day have been off-site for a while at that airport.
Here are the rules for rideshare pickups at JFK
According to JFK Airport, here are the rules for getting a rideshare pickup:
- Terminal 4: Between noon and 2 a.m., travelers are required to take a free shuttle bus to get to rideshare vehicles. The bus takes travelers to Lot 66, and the cars are lined up in numbered stalls. This has been the process since May, and it affects travelers flying on Delta Air Lines, Virgin Atlantic Airways, Emirates, Singapore Airlines, and several other airlines.
- Terminal 5 and 7: Passengers landing here will need to ride the green line of the AirTrain to Howard Beach Station and exit to a pickup lot that is shared with both long-term parking and car service. This process could take as long as 15 minutes.
Why are passengers landing at JFK forced to take these extra steps?
The extra steps are necessary to deal with the construction that is going on at the airport. Here’s what JFKAirport.com says about the situation:
“As our $19 billion transformation into a world-class gateway is underway, you may experience some changes in where arriving passengers should meet their pickup rides – depending on the type of pickup being used.”
Passengers are not happy about the JFK rideshare pickup situation
While the airport may have its reasons, passengers are not pleased about the situation. One Reddit poster started a thread entitled “WARNING: Do not fly into JFK if you use ride share apps.” The poster said:
“We just flew into JFK (not terminal 4) and it took us literally 45 mins to get to where we could get a car. If you can fly anywhere else.”
More on travel:
- U.S. government issues serious warning for cruise passengers
- Delta Air Lines makes a baggage change that travelers will like
- United Airlines passenger incident triggers quick response
- Popular airline has disturbing animal problem
Others chimed in to complain about the process as well, although one user did have a helpful suggestion, advising travelers not to follow JFK’s suggested process but instead to take the AirTrain to Terminal 8, where rideshare pickups are still allowed to occur directly at the airport, possibly speeding up the process.
Still, even if passengers can try this workaround, there is no doubt that the rules are a significant inconvenience to many of the 63 million passengers that Road Genius reports fly into JFK Airport annually.
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Make a free appointment with TheStreet’s Travel Agent Partner, Postcard Travel, or email Amy Post at amypost@postcardtravelplanning.com or call or text her at 386-383-2472.
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