12 hours at JFK
 

Maybe a big mistake but i'm in it now. Arriving from Taipei, Taiwan at 10 pm at JFK. Figure at least one hour to process Immig. Then wait till next day, noon, for flight out. Sleep on airport floor (ala Asia), cheapo airport rooms, nearby cheap hotel? ,...yes, need cheap and near. Any ideas will be welcome. I do not know what JFK is near, or could i take a walk for an hour. Many unknowns for me.

The authorities will not want you to sleep n the floor - unless the airport is snowed in or similar. When they find you they will likely force you to leave.

You can't walk anywhere from the airport. It;s a huge complex with dozens of buildings and surrounded by major highways. there are no sidewalks and nowhere nearby to go.

You can use kayak.com to search for nearby hotels that have free shuttles to and from the airport.

Not sure what you mean by cheap - and some of these hotels are not very pleasant but they re as cheap as you can find. Be sure to book ONLY a hotel with a free shuttle.

Almost every major hotel chain have hotels around JFK Airport "property" and most of them offers free shuttle service. Whether or not they meet your definition of "cheap" is something only you can determine since you didn't mention a dollar value in your post. Do a google search for "JFK Airport Hotels" - you'll find lots of links. Check out a few of the well know lower priced chains like Hampton Inn, Courtyard by Marriott, Fairfield Inn, Howard Johnson's, Best Western, Comfort Inn, etc. to see if they are in your price range.

There are some smaller independent motels a bit further away that probably don't have shuttle service but may be lower priced. Be careful though some are real "flea bag" places that cater to "transients" and/or "working people" and their respective john's or janes's.

Like the old adage says, you get what you pay for, however, around the JFK Airport you may have to pay a little more than you'd like for decent lodgings.

Oh what a bummer!! :(

As the others have said, JFK isn't near anything - it takes up a huge swath of land on the edge of Jamaica Bay, and the surrounding area is a combination of residential and parkland, with the type of small communities that don't have any hotels or motels.

There's an AirTrain that connects JFK to the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, about a 15 min/$5 ride north of the airport. FWIW, at Jamaica station there are connections to the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) and to the E and J subway lines, as well as to some city bus lines. I mention this because you *could* take public transit from JFK to another area of Queens - maybe Main Street, Flushing, NYC's "Little Taiwan"? :) Travel time to Flushing is an hour, plus any wait time.

And I'd agree that you likely get what you pay for with the cheap airport hotels... You could try Priceline or Hotwire to get a lower rate at an airport hotel; use a site like betterbidding.com to see how to figure out which hotel you're bidding on. And I saw you mentioned couchsurfing.com on another thread. Have you looked into that for eastern Queens?

Oh, one other thought is that I've seen posts on these boards about paying for a day pass to an airline-associated executive lounge, where you can rest, shower, etc. I've never used one though, so I have no idea what the price might be...

Yes, probably a mistake.

There aren't really any "cheap" hotels near JFK, and the cheaper ones are pretty grim. Sleeping in the airport is neither advised nor wise. I believe there is at least one hotel within walking distance of the Airtrain in Jamaica, but that's also not the best neighborhood. But a hotel room is probably the best choice since you are arriving so late. If you weren't going to be dog tired, I'd recommend using Priceline to find a decent room in Manhattan. But given the circumstances, I think you're probably better off at an airport hotel. Use Priceline if you wish, but you may not be happy with the result.

Those airlines that offer day passes to their respective lounges usually charge $50/person for non-members to use the facilities. BUT and it's a big BUT many are not open during the overnight hours (most close around 10:00PM or 11:00PM and don't reopen until 5:30AM or 6:00AM.

And even if they were open during the overnight hours, they mostly have chairs -- I've never been in one where you could like down and sleep.