New York JFK Airport

Not Verified | The US Customs failed to have enough staff to move people through causing my wife and our one year old son to miss their connecting flight to CLT airport. Then had to wait longer do to Delta airlines aircraft problem.

Not Verified | Terminal 4 is appalling. We arrived from Manchester and queued 1 and a half hours to get through immigration. After a 7 hour flight this really is not ideal. I witnessed one lady member of staff whilst directing people as to which queue they should go in, talking to and pulling facial expressions which were totally unacceptable. When we departed to go back to the UK I was absolutely appalled at the rudeness of one member of staff. We were taken 2 floors down to an alternative security area (due to the security area in departures being too busy). The organisation was ridiculous. One lady spoke to my 2 teenage sons in a totally disrespectful and rude manner. Totally uncalled for. She spoke to them like they were stupid - they are far from stupid. I am annoyed with myself for not saying anything at the time, however, I was stunned and also in the position of possibly affecting our ability to board the flight had I confronted her. The staff in this airport are rude.

Not Verified | One of the worst airports ever. Staff are extremely unfriendly and the queues last forever. They are so inefficiënt. Airport taxes are high, and for what? Food courts are far too expensive. I hated the experience.

Not Verified | Food prices are a complete and utter disgrace. Water over $4. One banana costs $1.99. Terminal size is poky. No decent shopping. Will never return via this airport - amazed at such poor facilities servicing one of the busiest cities in the world. Once again food prices are a disgrace.

✅ Trip Verified | I arrived at JFK from Manila on a Philippine Airlines flight in May 2019, used it for both arrival and departure on JetBlue in June 2019, and then used it for transit from a JetBlue flight to a Philippine Airlines flight in July 2019. Sure, you can get to this airport from seemingly anywhere around the world, and it services the exciting city of New York. The TSA agents typically are surprisingly decent too. And check-in staff are usually pretty nice. Unfortunately, that's pretty much the extent of the positives about this airport. Upon arrival in Terminal 1, I was greeted by a customs and immigration facility that appeared to be under construction. It looked awful - all torn up! A passport control officer was basically just waving all of us in the U.S. Citizens line through while wishing us a good one. It seemed to take a really long time for luggage to arrive on the carousel. I don't mean my luggage personally. I mean anyone's luggage! Meanwhile, staff informed my parents (who were picking me up there) that everyone from our flight had already exited customs - when none of us had yet! My first flight into JFK on JetBlue was delayed. My flight out of JFK on JetBlue was delayed. My flight back to JFK on JetBlue was delayed. I think the only reason my flight back to Manila on Philippine Airlines was NOT delayed was that it took off at 3:45 A.M., when no one else was flying out of the airport! Transiting from terminal to terminal is a hassle, too. It requires exiting your first terminal, walking down a seemingly endless hallway to the AirTrain, taking the AirTrain to your second terminal's stop, and then walking down another seemingly endless hallway to that terminal proper. Then, of course, because you're coming in from outside the secure area, you have to go through security all over again! As for food and beverage outlets, most appear to range from relatively expensive to borderline price gouging. One very notable exception was the Dunkin' Donuts landside in Terminal 1. It appears to be the only dining option available 24 hours, and so it was the only place I could use my $20 meal voucher landside, since my flight departed in the middle of the night. At Dunkin' Donuts, I was informed that if I was going to use my meal voucher, then I had to spend at least $20. I was astonished! I struggled to manage to buy $20 worth of food and drink there. I made myself sick. I still do not understand why they would not accept the voucher for a smaller amount. It's not like they would be losing money on the deal! Add to all of this restrooms which are often not very clean and with sensors which automatically turn on sink faucets when you're nowhere near them (but don't turn on when you are near them). Finally, there's the issue of the airport's being quite far from Manhattan. I've heard LaGuardia and Newark are even worse. If so, then heaven help the people who fly out of there!

✅ Trip Verified | God help you clearing security here. 30mins wait for a bag that gets checked. One member of staff checking each. One supervisor watching for a while. Several staff members floating around.

Not Verified | Have never met staff as rude as they are at this airport! Arrived from London and was told by airline staff to go in the quick connect queue for our connecting flight to Orlando. A member of staff came over screaming at us that we were in the wrong queue, when I asked where we were supposed to go she just shouted “read the signs”. We ended up in a queue behind at least 50 people with one desk open. When it got to 15 minutes before our gate was due to close I asked several members of staff for assistance only to be ignored and told to wait. I managed to persuade fellow passengers to let me and my group go to the front of the queue. We then had to collect our luggage and go back through departures and security to get our connecting flight. When we got to the gate it had been changed last minute and was in a different terminal. Running around the terminal trying to find a screen with the correct information was like a scene from Hone Alone!!! We then had to get a bus over to the new gate. I fully expected to have missed the flight however we were lucky in that the flight had arrived late. We got to the gate just as it was closing. Thankfully just in time. This airport is totally disorganised and probably the worst airport experience I’ve had. I wouldn’t fly here again.

Not Verified | In November of 2018 I went to Iceland, Norway and Alaska, with an overnight layover at JFK before boarding a connection to Seattle. This airport is absolutely disgusting, however, I must admit that customs and TSA were good, and I actually found them polite. However, as for the rest of the airport, Delta is horribly rude, the restaurants are disgusting and the baggage carts are a total rip off, a scam, charging $6.00 for the use of them, and on top of that they scream at you, in Toronto there is no charge. Then I get to Seattle and Alaska and people are polite and helpful. Going through JFK you feel as if you're going through another dimension.

Not Verified | As others have said, this is a third world airport. Avoid at all costs. The reason for this is the rudeness and total ineptness of staff you come across. It seems that to wear a uniform at JFK airport turns that person in to someone who thinks they are head of the Military or Police. Let me tell you something, you can still be nice to people. YOU have to travel sometimes, does the experience of coming across someone with your attitude make you happy? Of course it doesn't. On Monday evening, all us travellers waiting to have our bags scanned were herded in to an area and made to wait. Huge unnecessary queues. How many x-ray scanners were available? Two. And they would let 4 or 5 people through at a time to the underworked customs staff. And not a smile anywhere. Thankfully I had Priority boarding which meant I could get through relatively quickly (about half an hour). I didn't bother with the priority boarding at the actual gate as the staff were clearly uninterested in this. If I ever have the misfortune of going through JFK again, I will make sure to be there at least 4 hours before the plane leaves. Coming through was relatively easy thanks to the ESTA process but getting shouted at by certain staff was amusing. Again, something to tell you: we love coming to visit but have no intention of wanting to stay in your lovely country illegally. Really, I like where I live. So, Florida next year. I am assuming they are still happy staff down there because, well, it's Florida. JFK staff could learn a lot from other countries where people love their jobs.The UK, Spain, France, Netherlands, Czech, Germany, South America, Australia, the list is endless.

Not Verified | I am appalled. I live here. We spent 40 minutes waiting for the airplane door to open and then an hour going through security (still waiting). It is very hot. I travel a lot and I’m always sad coming back through us airports compared to other airports I have been.