JFK Airport: terminals, transport, parking and live flight boards
JFK Airport has six terminals, numbered 1, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, and the one you want is set by the airline operating your flight, not the one that sold you the ticket. Terminal 4 is the biggest, Terminal 5 is JetBlue's and Terminal 8 is American with British Airways. Into Manhattan, a yellow cab is a $70 flat fare before surcharges and the AirTrain with the subway is $11.75. JFK parking starts at $39 a day at the long-term lot booked ahead, against $94 at the gate in the Terminal 4 garage.
The eight questions people arrive with
Which terminal do you need?
Go by the airline actually operating your flight, not the one on your booking confirmation, because a codeshare lands you at the operator's building. If you are not sure which that is, the airline terminal guide has all 73 carriers with the date each was checked. Two of these six are changing: Terminal 7 is emptying into the new Terminal 6, and Terminal 1 closes when the New Terminal One opens.
Every way out, and what it costs
The train avoids the traffic that decides every road option, and it is the airport's own recommendation. Where you are going and how much luggage you have decides the rest. The full comparison puts real cost against real time for each.
The trip, priced end to end
Four destinations get their own page here because the honest answer changes with each one: the flat cab fare covers Manhattan and nowhere else, and there is no direct train to Newark or LaGuardia.
Every lot, and what it charges
The gap between booking ahead and turning up is the largest single saving on this site. Rates below are the published ones, and two lots are closed.
Once you are through security
What is open, where it is, and the catch on each. The counts come from the airport's own directories, terminal by terminal.
What the rebuild has already changed
JFK is midway through a rebuild of roughly $19 billion, and three of the six terminals are in motion at once. The airport you flew through two years ago is not the airport you are flying through now.
The New Terminal One is not open. The Port Authority describes a $9.5 billion building of 2.4 million square feet and 23 gates, opening in three phases, with the first 14 gates set for 2026. That date has moved four times in a single year, so treat any specific opening date, that one included, as provisional. When it does open, Terminal 1 closes into it.
Terminal 6 is built and empty. A $4.2 billion, 1.2 million square foot building, ten gates when complete and nine of them able to take a widebody. No airline checks in there, and the airport's own website has no Terminal 6 page at all. Every carrier signed up to move in is on the Terminal 6 guide, with the terminal each flies from today.
Terminal 7 is emptying, then coming down. Terminal 6's second phase is being built on its footprint, so Terminal 7's airlines are moving out and the building is being demolished. Anything written about it has a shelf life measured in months.
The two buildings not moving are the two carrying the most traffic. Terminal 4 has more flights than any other terminal here and anchors Delta and its partners; Terminal 8 is American's, shared with British Airways. Terminal 5 is JetBlue's, and gained the BlueHouse lounge in December 2025.
Check your terminal close to the day you fly rather than the day you book. The terminals guide tracks what has actually moved.
JFK, answered briefly
How many terminals does JFK have, and why do the numbers skip?
Six, numbered 1, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. There is no Terminal 2 or Terminal 3, and this is not a numbering quirk: Terminal 3, the old Pan Am Worldport, was demolished in 2013, and Terminal 2 was closed in 2023 and demolished, with the New Terminal One being built on its footprint. Any guide still routing you to either is out of date.
Which terminal is my airline at JFK?
The terminal where your operating carrier checks in, which is not always the airline that sold you the ticket. Terminal 1 has 26 carriers, Terminal 4 has 20, Terminal 8 has 14, Terminal 7 has 10 and Terminal 5 has 3. Terminal 6 has none yet. JFK is mid-rebuild and allocations move, so check the full table before you travel.
What is the fastest way from JFK to Manhattan?
It depends on where in Manhattan and at what hour. A yellow cab is a $70 flat fare plus surcharges and takes as long as the traffic takes. The AirTrain to a subway or the Long Island Rail Road is $8.75 plus the onward fare, is immune to traffic, and needs no ticket bought in advance because you tap a contactless card at the gate.
How early should I get to JFK?
No arrive-by figure is published, which is worth knowing given how confidently that number is quoted elsewhere. What is published is the mechanics: most airlines open check-in 3 to 4 hours ahead and close it 45 to 60 minutes before departure, and gate information posts about 3 hours out. Work back from your own airline’s cut-off, add the live security wait for your terminal, and add the journey.
Does JFK publish live security wait times?
Yes, per terminal and split between the standard lane and TSA PreCheck. Five of the six terminals report; Terminal 6 does not appear at all, because no airline operates there. What is not published is what the number measures, so treat it as a good signal of whether a checkpoint is busy and a poor basis for cutting your arrival fine.
How much is parking at JFK?
The terminal garages run from $4 a half hour at Terminal 8’s Red Lot to $6 at Terminals 4 and 5, with 24-hour maximums between $74 and $94. The Long-Term Parking Lot is $55 for 24 hours at the gate, or from $39 a day booked at least three hours ahead, and it undercuts every terminal garage by at least $19 a day. The trade is a free AirTrain ride in from Lefferts Boulevard rather than a walk to the door.