Airport Car Service in NY

[aussietravellers]

Hi Ms.Shuttergirl, I was sure that you mentioned a car service that you used from the airport to your hotel return in New York. I have been hunting high and low and I can not find it anywhere. Did you use one? Was it a meet and greet (they met you at the baggage claim or gate)? Were they ok?

Does anybody else have any recommendations for a car service pickup from JFK to Times Square (and return). With my torn artery I will not be able to lift anything (not even the hand luggage, I'm not allowed to lift over 2 pounds), so I thought if we got a meet and greet, the driver can help with the luggage (we don't travel light ) Because of my neck I'm not interested in the train. A taxi is a possibility but I would really prefer to have the pick up organised before we leave Australia as when we arrive in NY we will be straight from Brisbane (except the couple of hours stopover/plane change in LAX) so we will be tired and it will be nice to have somebody greet us rather than trying to struggle with luggage and find where to go and get a cab or find the right sign for a limo pickup.

Would love recommendations.

Thanks

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

I used Wiro Limo last time. They were great. They met us at baggage claim. We will contact them again for this trip.

How long have you got between arriving in LA and getting on your NY flight? We've only got 1 hr 20 mins. I just am worried it's not doable?

 

[aussietravellers]

Did you book with them online? (Wiro Limo that is)

We have 2hrs 45 mins at LAX.

One hour 20 is cutting it fine, but it should be enough time. When you get off the plane, become powerwalkers and fly past everybody else to join the shortest customs queue. Are you on partner airlines? or is it a continuing flight or changing terminals? If it's a continuing flight then that's plenty of time. If you are changing terminals, then you will have your bags tagged right the way through, so pick them up and take them through customs and there is a drop outside customs with bags already tagged to their next destination. Try to find out which terminal your next flight is going from and you can just run to the next terminal if it's close and hopefully you will be checked in for the ongoing flight and have your boarding passes.

Also it's possible the flight may arrive early. We often seem to have flights arrive early at LAX. In December we were over half an hour early with VAustralia

 

[aussietravellers]

I used Wiro Limo last time. They were great. They met us at baggage claim. We will contact them again for this trip.

I've just read reviews about them on Yelp, not one bad review! I was looking at Carmel and Dial 7 before today and whilst they have some good reviews they have lots of horrendous reviews. Thanks so much for mentioning them

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

I've just read reviews about them on Yelp, not one bad review! I was looking at Carmel and Dial 7 before today and whilst they have some good reviews they have lots of horrendous reviews. Thanks so much for mentioning them

Actually it was on Yelp that I found them . We had them do our airport transfers but we also hired them to take us to the Bruce Springsteen concert, wait for us, then bring us home. We had William who owns the company for the concert, a nice older man from the airport and a lovely lady back to the airport. All very courteous and friendly and professional. What more can you want.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Did you book with them online? (Wiro Limo that is)

We have 2hrs 45 mins at LAX.

One hour 20 is cutting it fine, but it should be enough time. When you get off the plane, become powerwalkers and fly past everybody else to join the shortest customs queue. Are you on partner airlines? or is it a continuing flight or changing terminals? If it's a continuing flight then that's plenty of time. If you are changing terminals, then you will have your bags tagged right the way through, so pick them up and take them through customs and there is a drop outside customs with bags already tagged to their next destination. Try to find out which terminal your next flight is going from and you can just run to the next terminal if it's close and hopefully you will be checked in for the ongoing flight and have your boarding passes.

Also it's possible the flight may arrive early. We often seem to have flights arrive early at LAX. In December we were over half an hour early with VAustralia

We're flying with Delta and I believe it's a continuing flight. Not sure about changing terminals. I will have to get more information. ONe good thing, we won't have any sitting around time .

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

I just emailed Wiro Limo for a quote first, email address is wirolimo@yahoo.com.

Aussietravellers, I have looked at my flight itinerary and it says that I arrive into LA at Terminal 5 and fly out from LA at Terminal 5, so that should be a help with time right? Or is Terminal 5 the size of a capital city ?

 

[aussietravellers]

We're flying with Delta and I believe it's a continuing flight. Not sure about changing terminals. I will have to get more information. ONe good thing, we won't have any sitting around time .

Oh that will be easy and plenty of time. You will have your bags tagged right the way through and you will have your onward boarding passes and be checked in and with a bit of luck you will arrive and depart from the same terminal (I think Delta is terminal 5 from memory, I know AA is terminal 4, so Delta is 5, could be wrong, my memory is failing slightly with age, turning 40 does that ) Then you just need to get off the plane, clear customs, get your bags and then just drop them (there should be some sort of baggage drop for international bags that are tagged right the way through, I know there is at Tom Bradley terminal), then you will go through security and get on the next plane.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

I sure hope it is as easy as that

 

[Kangarucci]

Ms. Shuttergirl,

Did you get a reply for a quote from Wiro? I am thinking of booking them also after reading all the positive comments.

Cheers

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

This is the reply from them:-

From JFK to NYC the sedan price will be $65 flatrate, tolls included, Cash price, each way.

This means you need to get your luggage yourself. They don't come into the terminal. I believe we paid extra last time to have them come inside but it's probably not worth it.

 

[Kangarucci]

Thanks for the info. I think that we will ge our own luggage. Do I need to give them my credit card details to book? I will pay in cash as there maybe a surcharge.

Cheers

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Okay so I've been thinking some more about this airport service. Because we are flying straight into New York from Aust this time, we won't have mobile phones yet, we will purchase them in NYC.

How will the car service do a curbside pick up if we can't call them to say we have arrived?

Last time we had phones but had also arranged to be picked up in the terminal which I believe cost approx. $15 more.

Part of me is thinking it might be just as easy to catch a cab but my husband hates New York Cabs

 

[ehsmum]

We used dial7 and they were fine. I believe it was the same price as quoted by wiro - $65 not including tolls and tip. It ended up costing us $80 when we added those in if I recall correctly. We arrived during peak hour and it took us a long time to get into the city due to heavy traffic, so a taxi would have probably been around the same if not a little more. Our friends who arrived the same day (but later, not peak hour) caught a taxi and it cost them around $50.

They were not waiting for us at the airport. We called after we had our luggage and were given a driver number. We then headed outside and a couple of minutes later, our car arrived with the driver holding a number out the window. If you need help with the luggage, I think you will have to pay a surcharge to have a driver waiting. Ms Shuttergirl, I'm sure there would be payphones in the terminal. I didn't notice them as we never needed one, but they can't be totally obsolete, can they?

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

We used dial7 and they were fine. I believe it was the same price as quoted by wiro - $65 not including tolls and tip. It ended up costing us $80 when we added those in if I recall correctly. We arrived during peak hour and it took us a long time to get into the city due to heavy traffic, so a taxi would have probably been around the same if not a little more. Our friends who arrived the same day (but later, not peak hour) caught a taxi and it cost them around $50.

They were not waiting for us at the airport. We called after we had our luggage and were given a driver number. We then headed outside and a couple of minutes later, our car arrived with the driver holding a number out the window. If you need help with the luggage, I think you will have to pay a surcharge to have a driver waiting. Ms Shuttergirl, I'm sure there would be payphones in the terminal. I didn't notice them as we never needed one, but they can't be totally obsolete, can they?

Wiro's price includes the toll's so it sounds like they may be the better option. I will contact them and ask them what they normally do in circumstances where people don't have mobiles.

 

[Oz-kateer]

Hi Ms Shuttergirl - have done the Delta Terminal 5 thing and there's potentially 3 bottlenecks when you're coming in and then proceeding on a flight (Is this Delta 16?)

The First is Immigration - when you get off the plane and have to show your passport etc. This could take awhile, depending on the lines and how organised the officers on duty are.

The second is the customs/bag drop. After you have had your passport cleared you have to go through and collect your bags from the carousel (or they may alreday have them off and have them all lined up against the wall, which is actually less fun as the bags are harder to tell apart). You then have to pass through customs - nothing to declare may make this faster. You then come out of there and drop your bags off in the holding area on your right (there are people telling you what to do).

The third is security. After you drop your bags you have to go up the escalators and line up again to get back into the line to back through security to continue your flight - which is now a domestic flight (to ATL? or anywhere else it doesn't really matter). This part we found the most frustrating as you line up in this long line so they can check your boarding pass and ID (have your boarding pass and passport out ready) and then you go up more escalators and have to pass through the xray machines and metal detectors (jackets and shoes off, baggie with your liquids out ready for inspection!).

THEN if you have any time left you can wander through the shops as you go down to your gate to catch your plane.

Last year we had a 2hr 45 min layover between LAX and ATL and made the connecting flight with 10 mins to spare!

 

[Oz-kateer]

So what was the consensus with NYC transport?

Who has booked who for limo rides?

I still haven't made a booking yet, looking for opinions/prices. JFK to Times Square. Thanks team.

 

[aussietravellers]

So what was the consensus with NYC transport?

Who has booked who for limo rides?

I still haven't made a booking yet, looking for opinions/prices. JFK to Times Square. Thanks team.

I have been in contact with Wiro Limo (on Ms.Shuttergirls reviews) for airport pickup and drop off. They certainly replied to my enquiry very quickly, so now I just have to confirm and call with my cc details

They have quoted $65 cash including tolls from JFK to Times Square which doesn't seem to be much more than a taxi, but I like the idea of having the pickup booked after a long flight and being a little sleepy.

 

[Oz-kateer]

Is that $65 inclusive of them coming into the terminal building and collecting you and assisting you with the luggage, or is that just a kerbside pickup?

 

[aussietravellers]

Is that $65 inclusive of them coming into the terminal building and collecting you and assisting you with the luggage, or is that just a kerbside pickup?

That does not include the baggage claim pickup, that is the curbside price. It is $15 extra for baggage claim pickup.