Arrivals
JFK has five working passenger terminals and your driver waits in the one your flight lands at. After immigration and baggage reclaim, stay inside the arrivals hall of that terminal. Do not ride the AirTrain to another terminal looking for your driver, and do not follow the touts working the exit doors. Your e-ticket names your exact meeting point and carries a phone number to call if you cannot see your driver.
Private transfers
Your driver meets you inside the arrivals hall, past the exit from customs, holding a board with your name on it. Terminal 4 and Terminal 8 both have more than one arrivals exit, so check the door letter printed on your e-ticket before you walk out.
Shared shuttles
Follow the signs to the marked shared-ride and shuttle pickup zone outside your terminal, not the yellow-cab rank. The two are next to each other at most JFK terminals and the queue you can see is almost always the taxi one.
Delays & Driver Info
1
Free waiting time
Your driver waits up to 60 minutes after your scheduled landing, with an additional 30-minute buffer on international arrivals. That is built to absorb the Terminal 4 immigration queue and a slow belt, which is where JFK arrivals actually lose their time.
Delayed, diverted or moved terminal?
Your driver tracks your flight from the moment you board. JFK reassigns gates and terminals more than most airports while Terminal 6 opens and Terminal 7 winds down, so hoppa holds your flight number and redirects the driver without you doing anything. A delayed flight simply moves your pickup.
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Can't find your driver?
Stay in the arrivals hall rather than wandering, because moving between JFK terminals makes you harder to find, not easier. Call the number on your e-ticket. hoppa's team picks up in an average of 11 seconds, a 99.7% call answer rate (CE indicators): a real person, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
What to do around JFK Airport?
If you have a long layover or a late flight home, you do not have to spend it in the terminal.
- Rockaway Beach is the closest thing to a day out near the airport, about 20 minutes away, with a boardwalk, surf and the A train back into the city.
- Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge sits between JFK and the beach and is one of the best birdwatching sites on the eastern seaboard, which almost nobody expects of Queens.
- In the city itself, Times Square and a Broadway matinee, the Brooklyn Bridge walk into DUMBO, and the Met on Museum Mile all fit comfortably into a spare afternoon.