the Price of a Taxi Ride to the Airport

The price of a yellow-cab taxi from JFK Airport to anywhere in Manhattan is $45, and you have to add in bridge fees, which are usually $4.50. You are generally expected to give a tip, anywhere from $5-$10 depending on how good the service was. For the 20 miles back to Manhattan it generally takes about 25 minutes depending on time of day.

The service totally depends on the driver you get. I've had good experiences - where the driver understands what I'm saying and takes a good route to get there, and I've had really bad ones, where I tell him one direction and he wants to go another and the cab smells and I have to repeat myself several times since the driver doesn't speak English. I really like the cabs that have followed the new rules to have a GPS system and credit card machine inside. This makes the ride a bit more enjoyable - I don't have to worry about having enough cash on hand.

You can take a shuttle home from the airport, but that takes forever since it drops off multiple passengers all over the island. You can also take the subway back to Manhattan, which includes a $2.50 air-train ride to the tracks. This route generally takes about an hour and a half depending on what time of day it is. Car services are the most expensive. I used to arrange car services for professionals and it is usually $100+.