New York JFK Airport

Arrived at Terminal 8 and easy connection by Air tram for departure from Terminal 7. Escalators not working and not a lot to do landside. TSA not very nice and should treat passengers with more respect. Once airside plenty of places to eat or have a drink. Duty Free shop have some good offers and staff there were very nice. Went to the bar and unfriendly barman asked if I had ID (I am 50!). Prices extortionate with a small beer costing $9.50!! Not the best airport but nor the worst either.

I have flown through JFK many times to make both domestic and international connections. There are a great many airport that I would rate higher than JFK but very few that I would rate below it. I have commented to my international friends that as an American I am embarrassed when their first experience in the United States is landing at and passing through JFK Airport.

Going from plane to baggage claim is the equivalent of going through a Pavlovian maze. However that was just the beginning of my frustrations. Baggage claim itself was a closed-off room and you had to wait more than 30-45 minutes for luggage. After picking up your luggage and going through the second maze you are tired and beyond irritated. To add more fuel to the fire the information desk was less than helpful on where I can catch the hotel shuttle. She was more interested in stuffing her face and reading a book than helping me. Even worse getting to hotel shuttles was another nightmare. I had to go from baggage claim to air train to section c then go down an escalator turn left turn right and then see the shuttles. The only redeeming quality for this airport was Altitudes (Restaurant). The steak dinner I had was on par with some of the better steak houses I have dined at.

Depending on the terminal one uses JFK can either be acceptable or awful. There is easy access from Manhattan or car parks thanks to efficient airtrain. This also helps get around terminals. We usually use terminal 8 the American Airlines terminal. All our experiences there have been positive with short lines for check-in security hassle-free and short immigration lines upon arrival with bags already on the conveyor belt. This terminal is new airy and spacious and has many shopping and food offerings. AA staff are generally friendlier than the trashy TSA and Port Authority staff who seem like the laziest and most incompetent people on the planet. By sharp contrast terminal 123 and 7 are old and terrible. The oldest and most run down avoid these. Terminal 5 is the Jetblue terminal and is pretty good. So it all depends on what terminal one uses.

We arrive at JFK late from Heathrow 23rd December after being delayed by bad weather. When we arrived at immigration we couldn't believe the queue. We queued for 3 hours because there were only 5 or 6 kiosks manned out of 20. When we got through the queue was the same length behind us and I think it was one in the morning by then. Two out of our party of three suffer from back pain which was made much worse by standing for this length of time. When we complained to the ushers in the hall they were completely indifferent to our plight "I don't want to be here either" "what do you expect its the holidays" were the sort of replies we got. In fairness to the immigration officer who dealt with us he was sympathetic and polite. If I can avoid flying into this airport in future I certainly will.

We had the most frustrating experience arriving at JFK after a long flight from Sydney Australia. We stood in a horrendously long line for over 1.5 hrs only to get to the front of the line and be shuffled along by airport officials to another long queue where we waited a further 25 minutes. We were tired hot hungry and plain astonished to be subjected to ridiculously long waits at immigration. The booths were only half full and immigration staff painfully slow and disinterested. Customs and immigration dept is a disgrace. The whole experience made for a very negative start to our holiday.

I have been to every continent in the world in the past 3 years and JFK stands out like a nightmare on the four occasions I have visited. This is not to do with the airport itself but the dehumanising and humiliating attitude of the immigration and security staff. We waited 1.5 hrs on arrival last week - totally unacceptable. On our return experience yesterday we were yelled at by a security guard in English which was probably only intelligible to New Yorkers. There were no notices informing passengers of what was expected - only this intimidating bully. We are passengers customers and human beings - try to treat us as such.

Having just travelled from Manchester to JFK on an 8 hr flight we were not happy at being met with the huge queues at immigration. It took 2 hrs of queuing to eventually get to the front only to be sent to queue at individual kiosks. There were only 3 kiosks open to deal with the huge amount of travellers. The room was very hot and the staff were miserable.

Very surprised to find out JFK is in such a run-down condition. Arrived on a Delta flight from Moscow and had to enter through a dark and gloomy passageway with low ceilings and paint peeling off. Immigration lines were excessively long airport and immigration staff were very rude to the point of just barking orders at passengers. The TSA staff inside the terminal were fast and friendly.

The main problem with JFK is the people. There is a complete lack of courtesy friendliness training and in most cases language skills. The signage is lacking. There are simply no signs in other major languages. The friendliest people are the Customs and Border Protection agents. I have always been treated courteously and often in a friendly manner. Most of the terminals are out-of-date or poorly designed. Restaurants are fair-poor and over-priced. I cringe when I need to change terminals. I am forced to use JFK because of the good flight schedules.