LGA to JFK transfer?
 

LGA to JFK transfer via shuttle with a 4 hour time frame? or is there a better way?

what company does this route in April?

I know of two companies that offer this transfer. You need to allow at least an hour for the trip since the shuttles may stop at multiple terminals and can still get stuck in traffic. In any event, the two companies I"m aware of are ETS Air Shuttle and NYC Airporter. I don't have any experience doing this transfer myself (though I've done it by Super Shuttle). These shuttles only run about every 20 or 30 minutes at the most, so the entire trip can easily take 90 minutes. That should still give you enough time (barely), but I'd have some doubts if you were needing to pick up luggage at LGA since it can be very slow.

So the best choice may be a taxi for about $30 or $35.

How many are you and how much luggage do you have? For more than 1 or 2 people a cab might not cost any more and would certainly be faster.

would a car service be our best bet? there will be two of us with two pieces of luggage.

I'd do a taxi. nyccabfare.com will estimate the cost.

PS I assume you know for an international flight, most airlines at JFK request you check in 3 hrs. in advance. I hope you can print a boarding pass before you start out on the trip, regardless.

In April, a regular taxi would be best. Depending on the terminal at LGA, you may find a lot of congestion at the curbside, making a regular taxi better under normal circumstances. If you check the weather report and find that thunderstorms are forecast for that day or if there is some other kind of freak event, then (and only then) would I line up a car service. It will also be more expensive in most cases than a regular taxi.

Are either of your flights international? That could present a problem because of the extra time required for passport control/customs/'stuff'

The OP is landing at LGA - which can;t be an international flight. And there is no immigration or customs getting onto a plane so that shouldn't apply here.

If this is an international trip and they have a similar itinerary on the way back immigration and customs would make a 4 hour window from JFK to LGA scary IMHO

we are have ff tickets from the south to jfk and then to europe. they now have changed the flight schedules and we only have 50 minutes from our domestic arrival time to catch the international flight. Both are on American Airlines.
I was thinking that we could take an earlier flight but the only one available arrives into LGA. So our connecting flight is International and then we would have to go through security all over again. Thanks American for changing flights and schedules.

50min is not enough time to arrive, collect baggage, cab to JFK, check bags, etc.

Call AA and have them reschedule you to an earlier arrival into LGA.

50 minutes is if they come into and depart from JFK. Thinking that wouldn't give them enough time, they're thinking of taking a different initial flight which comes into LGA, not JFK, 4 hours before their second flight. The question is whether THAT is enough time.

50 minutes is totally impossible. Four hours is possible - IF the plane comes in on time. Before booking the ticket check the on-time record of the the flight. If it's typically more than a few minutes late - that too - could be a real rush to make the next flight (checking luggage, getting through security (sometimes lines at AA are an hour or longer).

If you booked both orginal flights together, ffmiles or not, I'd PHONE AA and ask them to sort out the problem.

AA suggests arrival at the airport 2hrs before departure, but more importantly AA's cut off time for checked bags for international departures from JFK is 60min.

I would have no concern with 4hrs.

I completely disagree with those who say this is impossible. Not so.

If both flights are on American, 50 minutes is quite possible for a same-terminal transfer at JFK as long as the initial flight is more or less ontime. Bags will be checked at the initial airport (passport checks will be done there too, and the OP will have a single-ticket boarding pass for both flights), not at JFK, so the 60-minute cut-off for international baggage doesn't apply. And there is no subsequent security check as long as you are arriving and leaving from Terminal 8. It's big but a pretty easy terminal to navigate.

Is this a connection I'd prefer? No, since 50 minutes gives you no time for errors. But if the flight is to London or Paris, where AA has multiple flights per day, a missed flight less of a concern. They might be able to put you on a later flight to the same European destination on the same day. But I'd prefer to have 90 minutes between flights if at all possible.

Even within one terminal at JFK I find 50 minutes scary. If your flight is evern 10 minutes late you are down to 40 minutes. If you are not at the front of the plane it can easily take 15 minutes to get off - now down to 25. And they want to close the doors 20 minutes in advance - so you have 5 minutes to gallop through the terminal to the next plane. Not something I would plan for.

There is no way I'd do this --- I don't care where the final destination is. You are almost bound to miss the second flight, or die trying.