How to Get to JFK Airport Without the AirTrain (The $3 Route)
This is the cheapest way to get to JFK Airport using public transportation. You skip the AirTrain.
I’m not the first to tell you that the cost of the JFK AirTrain has gotten out of hand. It’s now $8.50, one-way. Including the subway, it’s now $11.50 to get to JFK on public transit in 2026.
Well, I’d had enough. So I took the local Q80 bus from the Kew Gardens E/F train and avoided the AirTrain toll.
Was it slower? Yeah, about 25 minutes slower. It required one extra transfer, too.
In this article, I’ll tell you exactly how to avoid the AirTrain fare.
Is this for everyone? Definitely not. Would I do it again? It depends if I have time to kill.
But for the budget travelers, locals, big groups (where the savings add up), and those who don’t mind a slow trip to the airport, here’s the info you need.
Oh, I also don’t recommend it if you have a lot of luggage.
Let’s get into it.
The Secret: Free AirTrain Entry at Lefferts Boulevard Air Train Station
I don’t know if this is a “secret.” I don’t think anybody is hiding this information from you. But most people don’t know that you only pay for the AirTrain when entering or exiting at Howard Beach and Jamaica Station. Of course, these are the ones that connect to the subway, so they’re the ones 99.9% of passengers use.
The 0.1% of us can avoid it by taking the bus, likely the Q10 or the Q80 to the Lefferts Boulevard AirTrain station. This is the long-term parking station. From there, you get on the AirTrain, free of charge.
From Manhattan
Step 1: Take the E or F train from Manhattan to Kew Gardens – Union Tpke
Step 2: Transfer to the Q10 or Q80 Bus (whichever comes first) to the Lefferts Blvd AirTrain Station
Step 3: Take the AirTrain, free of charge, from Lefferts Blvd to your terminal.
This total cost is $3 because subway and bus connections are free. Just make sure you pay with the same device.
From JFK
You do it in reverse
Step 1: Take the AirTrain and get off at Lefferts Blvd.
Step 2: Wait right outside the station for a Q80 or Q10 bus
Step 3: Take that bus to the end and then transfer to an E or F train at Kew Gardens/Union Tpke
There. I’ve exposed the secret to the world. Now we can get into more of the details
How Long Does This Take?
Of course, it depends on where you’re leaving and going to exactly.
From the Lexington Ave/53rd St Station, it’ll take between an hour twenty and an hour and a half to get to a terminal, including all transfers. You might get luckier with transfers. If it’s an off-hour, you’ll have to wait longer.
If you take the AirTrain, you’ll be there in under an hour. I’d say you’re adding about 30 minutes.
It’s also less reliable. These buses don’t have bus-only lanes, so they can get stuck in traffic.
But, you can do it and save the $8.50.
Step 1: Take the E or F Train to Kew Gardens/Union Tpke
I had to take a 6 train first and then transfer at Lexington Ave/53rd Street. From there, the AirTrain-free route has the advantage of being served by an E and an F. It doesn’t matter which one you get on, as long as its going to Queens.
They are both express trains in Queens and they both stop at the Kew Gardens/Union Tpke station.
An F came first, so I got on. One point for the bus route. I would lose the time later, but I made up a couple of minutes here.
(Note, this was my first time riding an F at 53rd Street since it switched tunnels with the M train, known as the F/M Swap.)
Step 2: Walk a Block to the Q80 or Q10 Bus Stop
You get off the subway before it continues on to Jamaica. If you’re on an F, don’t miss the Kew Gardens/Union Tpke stop. If you’re on an E, this is your last chance to ask yourself, “Am I really going to take this bus to save $8.50?”
When you emerge from the train station, you walk about a block over to 80th Rd. There you’ll see a sign for the Q10 and Q80 buses. They both go to the Lefferts Blvd AirTrain.
This was pretty easy. This is where both bus routes start and end, and they do a little loop, so it’s impossible to get on one of the buses going the wrong direction.
Step 3: Take The Q80 or Q10 Bus, Whichever Comes First
If you see a Q10 or Q80, it’s going where you want it to.
I wasn’t in a rush, so I did another one of my cost-saving flying traditions, which is buying a bodega sandwich to-go. An egg and cheese was $4. You still can’t beat those outer borough prices. In the airport, an inferior sandwich would cost three times that. There is a bodega right in front of the stop.
The Bus Ride Was Like Any Other NYC Bus
If you’ve ridden an NYC bus, nothing will surprise you. Remember, you get a free transfer from the train, so be sure to tap the same card.
A few little notes, though, since this is about airport travel.
- There are no racks for luggage. Nobody uses this to get to the airport. Just weirdos like me and you.
- There’s no dedicated bus lane or bus bulbs, so it’s slow. The traffic wasn’t even bad, but because there’s no bus lane, it was stuck behind cars. There were no bus bulbs either, so it had to pull over to drop-off and pick-up passengers. I write about the importance of this more in this piece on how to speed up buses.
Because the bus timing is hard to predict, I left with plenty of time. If you want to do this, I recommend you do the same.
Most people got on or off at different points. My guess is that airport employees who live in Queens come to and from this station. If I worked at the airport, living along it would make for an easier and cheaper commute.
In total, it was a 31-minute bus ride. That was with mild but sizable traffic, lots of passengers, and snow.
Step 4: Easy (and Free!) Transfer at the Lefferts Blvd AirTrain
The Lefferts Blvd AirTrain station has long-term parking as well as a pick-up and drop-off spot. I guess it’s also a little pro tip if you want to get picked up and dropped off somewhere, they would avoid the mess that is a JFK terminal drop-off.
The bus drops you off right in front of the station. You go up one escalator, and the train is right there. There’s no turnstile or gate.
Within 15 minutes, I was at the terminal.
Total Time
Not counting the initial 6-train to F transfer, it took me an hour and 23 minutes to get from Lexington and 53rd St to my terminal. In total, it took me an hour and 45 minutes.
It’s ~25 Minutes Slower, But Factor in 30
Unlike the AirTrain, which runs on its own dedicated guideway, the Q10 and Q80 buses run in regular street traffic.
That means your travel time is exposed to whatever’s happening on the road: congestion, double-parked cars, delivery trucks, snow, or just a bad traffic cycle.
On my trip, the bus ride took 31 minutes. Never gamble on an NYC bus if you’re cutting it close.
The Hidden Time Cost of an Extra Transfer
Transit planners talk a lot about frequency, because waiting time compounds with every transfer. A 4-minute wait on a train that runs every 3 minutes is nothing, but a 15-minute bus headway can blow up a trip fast.
The AirTrain route is fast partly because it’s simple: subway → AirTrain → terminal. This bus route adds another decision point and another wait. Even if the bus itself only adds ~25 minutes at peak times, that can balloon fast at other times, or if there’s some kind of delay.
That’s why I’d say: assume this route costs you about 30 minutes, and plan accordingly.
Frequency of the Buses
In theory, you can do this at any time of day, but personally, I’d only do it between 8am-7pm, when the frequencies are less than ten minutes for the buses and AirTrain.
Luckily, you can take a Q10 or a Q80, which doubles your chances of a transfer. You can look at the Q10/Q80 bus map yourself. At peak hours, one of them will leave less than every 5 minutes.
But in the early morning or later at night, you could be waiting a lot longer. Don’t do this for your 5am flight.
Other Buses That Take You to the Lefferts Blvd AirTrain
Okay, I can’t vouch for these because I haven’t taken them (yet).
Queens recently redesigned its bus network. There are 4 bus routes that go to the Lefferts Blvd AirTrain station, and therefore allow you to get to JFK by only spending $3.
You can see the full Queens local bus map here.
Difference Between the Q80 and Q10
We’ve talked about the Q80 and the Q10. I was on a Q80. They both start and end at the same spot, so for our purposes, the less-direct path of the Q10 makes no difference.
The Q3 Bus: Further Out in Queens
If you’re on F train, you’ll see that from Jamaica-179th St (not Jamaica Center), there’s a transfer to the Q3 bus that goes to JFK. The Q3 bus even stops at Terminal 8.
So if your flight is out of Terminal 8, you can do some calculations if it’s worth it to skip the transfer at Lefferts Blvd altogether.
But for most of us, it doesn’t make sense. You have to take the train further out into Queens, and then take a longer bus ride back down towards JFK. Unless you live near the route, I can’t think of a reason to use it.
The B15 Bus: Get From Central Brooklyn to JFK
This Brooklyn bus starts at the Flushing Ave J/M subway. That’s kinda at the border of Williamsburg, Bed-Stuy, and Bushwick, so it’s the option if you live near a J/M or if you live in Central Brooklyn.
It then goes down to Crown Heights and through Brownsville and East New York. Its final stop is the Lefferts Blvd AirTrain
This can make sense if you live in one of the neighborhoods listed. That’s the only time I think it would. If you were in Manhattan, it’d be faster to an F or E to Kew Gardens, than take, say, a J or M to Flushing Ave and transfer to this bus that goes on an ever longer route than the Q80/Q10.
I don’t live in Brooklyn, so I can’t vouch for it, but if you give it shot please let me know how it goes.
Final Tips
There’s no doubt this is slower and less smooth. You have an extra transfer and a local bus instead of a frequent train.
And I know somebody is going to say, seriously, you don’t value your time as worth more than $8.50 blah blah blah.
Listen, if I were busy or needed the extra 30 minutes, sure, I’ll take the AirTrain. But if I’m traveling anyway, sometimes I think it’s fun to extend the adventure. I’d actually never even been to Kew Gardens before this. It’s one of those Queens neighborhoods that I think of and just think, “basically the suburbs.”
Now I at least know I have the option.
At least you know you can get one-up on the Port Authority and ride their train for free, playing by their rules.
FAQ
Is this actually legal? Will I get in trouble?
Yes, completely. There are no turnstiles to bypass at Lefferts. The transit and the stations are designed this way.
Why doesn’t this show up on Google Maps or Apple Maps?
It will show up if you put the Lefferts Blvd Air Train station into your maps, but most mapping apps avoid extra transfers, especially when it’s slower, so it won’t show up as a route to JFK.
Does this work for all terminals?
Yes, the AirTrain from Lefferts serves all terminals.
Can I do this when arriving at JFK?
Yes, in reverse. You’d take the AirTrain to Lefferts, then Q80/Q10 toward Kew Gardens, then get on the subway.
What if I have a lot of luggage?
I wouldn’t do it. Take the AirTrain.
How did people get to JFK before AirTrain?
In researching this article, I learned that the AirTrain did not open until 2003. I’m too young to remember that, but damn. It sounds like people either had to suffer expensive cabs and traffic, or they had to suffer shuttle buses in traffic.
According to a cute post by the New York Transit Museum, the A train sometimes ran a “JFK Express,” but that ended at Howard Beach. From there, they write that people “still had to board shuttle buses to the airport’s terminals.”
So there you go. Your options were to:
- Take a cab
- Get a JFK Express “train to the plane” and then transfer to a terminal shuttle bus at Howard Beach. This was a pretty good option as all you had to do was get to Midtown. But it was expensive, the LIRR + AirTrain of its time. The initial fare was $3.50 and the bus was $1. That’s over 20 bucks today.
- Private Express Bus Service. This is kind of how Newark works today. There are private buses that operate Newark express buses. Back then, Carey Bus Lines was the most popular.
- Take an A train (not express) all the way to Howard Beach, then transfer to a shuttle bus. If you lived anywhere that’s not Brooklyn or Lower Manhattan, this is a long ride.
Anyway, I’m so off topic, but there’s your history.
Flying Out of Newark? I’ve Got You
Here are all the options laid out.
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