Bottom line JFK to midtown and back
 

I know that JFK to Manhattan is $45 plus tip and tolls, but what is the customary total? $55? $60? More? Also, I thought I saw somewhere that Manhattan to JFK is on the meter. What does that usually total? Thanks!

There is now a flat fare of $45 in effect both to and fro JFK/Manhattan. I usually give $60 - assuming a toll bridge is used. (20% would be $54 plus toll - if used.) Some people are more thrifty and will give less.

My parents raised me to give cabbies and waitresses 20% - unless they do something hideously wrong - because of how hard their jobs are - and how many people don;t tip properly.

And after having worked part-time as a waitress to put myself through school I can fully sympathize. (And why is it always the most difficult and demanding customers who give 10% and act as if they're doing you a big favor?)

yes, kirbyks, you're in the right range.
$45 flat fare (the Manhattan to JFK flat fare is fairly recent)plus tip of whatever you're comfortable with ($7-9) plus toll ($0 for the Queensboro bridge or $4 --note that NYC yellow cabs are required to have EZ Pass which makes the toll less than the posted amount.Don't let them tell you that they don't have it, don't want to use it,etc).So anywhere from $52 - 58 or so in total.

I was thinking that the $45 flat fare now also applied to Manhattan TO JFK as well as from, thanks for clearing that up. And isn't it also true that there are no tolls going to JFK from Manhattan only heading in?

Incidentally, not long after they started the flat fare in, we got stuck in a taxi right by Shea Stadium when a big tanker truck had overturned. We sat for about an hour, and only crawled after that. It took well over two hours to get to midtown from JFK. The driver whined on and on about how unfair the flat fare is and how much money he was losing. This went on for the full two hours. I don't know if he was assuming we'd feel sorry for him and give him a bigger tip, but his constant whining made an unpleasant trip even more unpleasant. We tipped him less than we would have normally. He was not happy, but he was a miserable soul anyway.

Aren't they all?
M

Sometimes the best tip is, "Try another business."

No - you're thinking of Jersey - which has tolls only one way - into Manhattan.

From Queens to and fro Manhattan there are tolls in both directions.