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Getting from JFK to Newark

This is the longest of the New York airport transfers: two airports on opposite sides of the city, in different states, with the whole of New York in between. Almost everyone doing it is catching a flight, so the honest framing is which option you can trust rather than which is cheapest.

How much is a taxi from JFK to Newark?

A yellow cab from JFK to Newark runs on the standard meter plus a $20.00 Newark Surcharge, plus tip and tolls. That is the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission's own tariff. Two things follow that catch people out:

• The $70 flat fare does not apply. That rate covers JFK to Manhattan only. This trip is metered, so traffic costs you money as well as time.
• The $20 surcharge sits on top of the meter, not instead of it, and this is a long metered ride across the city.

Which is why the rail route deserves a serious look on this transfer more than on any other.

Can you get from JFK to Newark by train?

You can, in four legs across two states:

1. AirTrain JFK from your terminal to Jamaica, $8.75.
2. LIRR from Jamaica to New York Penn Station.
3. NJ TRANSIT from Penn Station on the Northeast Corridor or North Jersey Coast Line to Newark Liberty International Airport Rail Station.
4. AirTrain Newark to Terminal A, B or C. Your NJ TRANSIT ticket already covers this leg, so there is nothing extra to buy.

Three changes sounds worse than it is, because every leg is a scheduled rail service rather than a queue. In rush hour it beats the road comfortably. The catch is that a missed connection compounds through four legs, which brings us to timing.

How long should you allow?

Allow considerably more than you think, and we are not inventing a number. Four legs, three changes, two states and a road alternative that crosses the whole of New York City. Any single figure would be false precision on a decision where being wrong means missing a flight.

What is checkable: whether your onward flight is still running, on all JFK departures right now, and whether conditions are bad enough to change the plan, on live JFK delay and weather status.

Is LaGuardia the transfer you actually want?

Worth checking, because LaGuardia is much closer and a different fare structure applies. If your connection is at LGA rather than EWR, JFK to LaGuardia covers it, including the free Q70 bus most people never hear about. And for the city itself, JFK to Manhattan is where the $70 flat fare does apply.

Comparing this against every other way in and out of JFK: JFK airport transportation.