NY: Parking at JFK
 

It's been a LONG time since I've flown out of JFK. I'm not sure whether to park in the long-term lot at the airport or offsite somewhere like Avistar. Airport parking is $15 per day, while Avistar is $14 per day. Since costs are approximately the same, which would you recommend? We always use the offsite parking at the Philadelphia airport since it works so much more smoothly than onsite: pickup directly at your car, luggage loaded/unloaded for you, immediate pickup/dropoff. With the offsite service, there's no waiting at a bus stop for transport to the terminal, no walking to that bus stop with luggage, etc. I'm assuming that it will be the same at JFK. Thoughts? What do other travelers do when driving themselves to the airport?

I use the long term parking lot and take the AirTrain right to the terminal. It works well and I always park in the same few rows so I won't forget where my car is. I have no comlaints.

There is a shuttle bus that runs in the parking lot if you are parked far away from the AirTrain terminal. Since I travel with a rolling carryon it's never been a problem for me just to walk the short distance & hop on the next shuttle train. When travelling with family, I drop them off either at curbside checkin or at the AirTrain with the bags, park the car, and meet up with them to catch the train.

Never used Avistar. If I were to fly out of JFK and retn to LGA, I've heard that Avistar will shuttle your car between their lots, which would be convenient.

I have used Avistar and it was very convenient. No extra walking at the Avistar lot and the shuttle drops you right at the terminal.

I just flew out of JFK for a 12 day trip and found it more economical to rent a car and drop off at JFK. It was about $50 from Central Jersey to JFK, and about $100 for the return.

It saved the hassle of parking, leaving your car for a long period of time, and it was cheaper than the long-term parking. ((b))

Glad to hear that worked out for you Budman!

fluffnfold, can't give you first hand experience but I do recall Avistar had some problems a while back and people were waiting hours to get their cars at JFK.
http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34707256

The airport lots use the AirTrain to get you to/from the terminals while the off site lots have shuttle buses.

If you're coming from Phil., maybe Budman's idea of renting cars would be a good idea. ;)

We use Pacifico Valet at Philly, so when we had to go to JFK, I looked into Avistar. But with the distance from the airport, and the somewhat negative reviews here, we decided to park in the long-term. We parked near the Air Train, and the trains were very convenient. That is what we will do from now on. It is easier than calling and waiting for a pick-up.

However, in the winter, with the prospect of having to dig your car out of snow, I would consider a valet at JFK.

Renting sounds interesting, but then you have 2 rounds of picking up and leaving, with the paperwork. ((*))

We also found the one way rental to be more economical than long term parking for a 2 week trip. We rented from Hertz (Baltimore to JFK) and from Avis (JFK to Baltimore). We even had a convenient return location in Baltimore where we did not need to go to the airport.

We ended up at Avistar, without any problems. Drop off the car under a canopy, and they unload your luggage right from the trunk into the shuttle bus. On the return, we ended up waiting about 30 minutes for them (instead of the 15 minutes quoted), and then had to pick up passengers at all the terminals (we were in terminal 1 for international arrivals). Not a problem, though--the car was waiting for us under a canopy with the windows open (so it wasn't stiflingly hot). You do have to leave your keys with them, however, since it is valet parking. I will use them again.