United moves New York p.s. flights to Newark Airport

Correct re: your first paragraph, as above United's p.s. flights have (all) moved from JFK to Newark. United continues to offer a number of regional services from LaGuardia and the bulk of its other flights from Newark. As the p.s. services were United's only flights from JFK, United now no longer serves JFK.

It really depends on where you're trying to go, how you're trying to get there, and even the time of day. For leisure travellers opting for the train, despite what UA boasts as 'three stops to Manhattan' the NJ Transit comes only every 20-30min or so off-peak, and the Amtrak service that does stop there costs double. In Comparison, JFK has two Subway stops and the Long Island Railroad, with options to get direct to Midtown and Lower Manhattan, too. If you happen to catch the train right when it's arriving it's longer from JFK, but it can be a toss up. (And the AirTrain at JFK is a lot faster than Newark's which operates like a Disneyland monorail from the 70s!)

By car though, and especially if your final destination is Jersey City or Hoboken, Newark is definitely the way to go. Roads around JFK are a mess any time of the day, and navigating through Brooklyn or Queens into the city can be hellish. I've had cab rides easily going over $100 from JFK, which is probably why the new "Uber Helicopter" that is launching for trial one-way trips from Manhattan offices to JFK for $150 sounds completely justifiable - and in only 5 minutes!

In general, I agree with most of your comments re. travel *time*, however, my multiple experiences on road *costs* vary significantly from yours.

I've stayed - quite regularly, for years - across the Hudson River, at the excellent Westin Newport Hotel in Newport / Jersey City .. and the cab ride to EWR is uniformly USD $90.00 both ways. Add the additional toll fees into Manhattan (if you dare) and EWR becomes a very expensive airport to travel to / from, by car.

OTOH, the regulated taxi fare from JFK to anywhere in Manhattan is a set USD $55.00. Yes, traffic can be a 'pain' depending on timing but the differential on pricing is still significant. Add to that, EWR certainly isn't the world's most attractive gateway, even including the constant re-modeling efforts going on there.

On your comment about the NJ PATH system, while it is functional - it still requires 'changes' of PATH trains and is not a true 'through' service, despite being hailed by UA as a '3 stop' experience.

Kimshep, thanks for the insight on the cabs to EWR, had no idea the prices were that high! I have to admit, I've only accessed EWR by train or private car, and half those times was getting from Jersey City too so car was a lot quicker. Is that flat taxi fare from JFK something new? I actually prefer to take the trains even for work so I haven't used a cab from JFK in over a year but I definitely paid more than that last time once you include the tolls, random surcharges (I think I had a late night charge at 8pm!) and tips.

With the trains into Manhattan from EWR, actually the NJ Transit IS a direct line without any transfers - it's a separate system from the PATH, which is more like the Subway. Ironically, if you're trying to get to Jersey City or Hoboken by rail though, you do have to tranfer to PATH and it becomes a joke - it's almost twice as fast to get into Manhattan in fact! So I completely agree, train to JFK is actually my preference, again unless that Uber Helicopter becomes fully operational!

Thanks for your kind comment. Cab fares from both JFK and LGA have been regulated for years by the PANY (Port Authourity of NY), but unfortunately a lot of arriving foreign travellers headed to Manhattan are not aware of this and thus become a jackpot for certain taxi drivers. The set fare excludes toll and tips.

Don't forget the other options from JFK/LGA - being the shuttle services operated by SuperShuttle and NY Airporter services, which generally cost sub USD $25 per traveller to your hotel. Good for single travellers, but where 2-3 ar travelling together, a cab is the winner here.