JFK questions (traffic and security)

opossumqueen

I'm flying out of JFK in the morning and I have some questions you folks might be able to answer.

1. Any idea how long the taxi ride will be from Park Slope to JFK around 7am (trying to get there by 8am)? Never done this trip so I have no idea.

2. I'm in a cast boot (cam walker). I'm pretty sure there are some metal parts. What I'm wondering is, will they make me take it off to go through security? I can take it off (only to bathe were the orders) but just putting it on and off is very painful and hard so I'm wondering how much earlier I might need to get there to deal with this.

3. If they make me take it off, will they at least give me crutches or a chair so I don't have to hop/crawl through security?

Thanks for any advice.

vidro3

1. i would guesstimate about 30-45 mins tops

2. I doubt they will make you take the boot off. more likely they won't let you on at all for fear that your bionic foot disguised as a cast could break down the cockpit door.

check tsa.gov

http://www.tsa.dhs.gov/travelers/airtravel/specialneeds/editorial_1370.shtm#0

opossumqueen

Thanks! The link is exactly what I was looking for, just in the wrong places.

Any advice on preferred roads to tell the driver to take?

vidro3

They usually take 27/Linden blvd the whole way. At least that seems to be the favorite route for the guys at Eastern.

danielle123

I hate to tell you but I just had to take off my hand cast twice during a trip to Maui (once in Newark and once in Honolulu). I did not know about the regulations saying I didn't have to take it off (and, quite frankly, I was okay with doing so).

I'm just letting you know that if you encounter TSA agents who are as ill-informed as the ones I encountered, that you may have to take your cast off. I would print out the regulations and carry them with you, if I were you.

Good luck!

opossumqueen

In case anyone else is wondering about this, here's what went down:

Cab to JFK, not much traffic at 7:15am, but a good 40 minute ride from center slope.

TSA said those regs are old and said the cast HAD to be x-rayed. They were very nice to me, but adamant. My options were take it off and hop through the metal detector and have them put the boot through the bag x-ray or leave it on and get a "full body xray" somewhere far away. I opted for the former for two main reasons. One, they wouldn't let me have my stuff that had to go through the bag xray so it was sitting off alone with laptop and camera. Two, they didn't know how long it would take to do the full x-ray b/c they had to wait for someone to take me there and do it.

I got to skip some lines and board planes with the children and people who need extra time group, which was helpful. That was great on the first flight, but on my return flight there were some real jerks who all jumped up at the slow folks board first call. Once told to wait, one of them huffed off and rolled their bag over my cast which the bag caught on. Without looking back, the person yanked the bag along did horrible things to my ankle which I think is now worse off and more swollen. People can really suck.

idlewild

This is why I drive or take the train if possible.