I have a flight that arrives mid-evening on a Tuesday at JFK airport. From here, I need to get to the Upper West Side. I was wondering what the cheapest, easiest way to do this would be. I'm going to have a large suitcase as I will be leaving the country for a month after the city...

All suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Which do you want cheapest or easiest?

Cheapest; Airtrain and subway.

Easiest; Cab.

I checked out the cabs, and I saw that they all have a flat rate from the airport, usually $50 plus tolls and tip.

How do you do Airtrain and Subway? It was on the NYC website, but it didn't make much sense to me. Thanks!

To the upper west side, you take the AirTrain to the Howard Beach connection to the A train (a subway line). This should cost $7 and take 1-2 hours to the upper west side.

well, you can see that cheapest and easiest are at the opposite ends of the spectrum. Pricewise, the middle ground is a door to door shuttle like Supershuttle. It's about $18 from JFk to your door on the UWS. There are sometimes online discount coupons for it
Personally, I hate the service as they always seem to take the worst least logical route and a 45 minute drive turns into 2 hours. But, I have friends who do use it and are satisfied.
If you need door to door, and you don't want to drag a big suitcase on the subway, and time isn't an issue, you may wnat to consider it

Thanks for all the advice. The time I'm leaving the airport is about 8pm. Will this decrease travel time for the airtrain or door-to-door service? I can do an hour... but two hours, I'll probably have to go with the cab.

In NYC, the Super Shutle is the WORST. Don't use it. Where on the UWS are you going? That will affect things somewhat. In broad strokes without exact location, your options are:

AirTrain/subway $7 and several changes and you have to be able to negotiate up and down stairs with your suitcase.

AirTrain/Long Island Railroad to Penn station--then either subway or taxi.
$5 + ~$7 + 2-7 OR $14-20.

NY Airport Express bus to Port Authority ($15) then subway or taxi ($2-10)

The flat fare for the taxi is $45 plus toll ($4) plus tip of 15-20%. Max $60 for up to 4 people. If you meet someone on plane, you could share a cab and get door to door service.

I'm going to Amsterdam and 83rd. The cab is starting to look the best and probably the safest for a solo female traveler at night.

You should also check out car services such as www.dial7.com .

Good luck!

A cab or the car service will certainly be easiest. If you want to save some money, you can also take the Express Airport bus to Port Authority and a taxi from there. That would cost $15 + maybe another $8.

http://www.nyairportservice.com/

Hopstop.com is a good website for getting around. They estimate the cab from Port Authority to 83 & Amsterdam at $8.15.
http://www.hopstop.com/?action=route...&taxi=y&ymap=y

Arriving at 8 pm will make the cab fster - but ot any cheaper. It will not make the AirTrain/subway any faster at all.

If you can manage the bag at all your best best is bus direct to Port Authority and then cab to 83rd St ($15 plus about $10 for $25 total). This is perfectly sae at that hour.

Easiest is the cab or car service - about $60 total (flat fare of $45 plus bridge or tunnel toll and tip).