Skip to content
Go to Home Page
News

Getting Home From JFK Is Terrible, and Lyft Data Confirms It

Melanie Lieberman
Melanie Lieberman
Managing Editor for Global Features
Melanie is currently the managing editor for global features at TPG, where she oversees daily travel and lifestyle news, destination coverage, travel features and reports. Prior to TPG, Melanie was an editor at Travel + Leisure magazine, and her work has appeared in Bloomberg Pursuits, Yahoo Travel, Jetsetter, Boston Common magazine, Luxe City Guides, Thrillist and Saveur magazine, among others. She has been recognized for her journalism, poetry, prose and playwriting in various competitions and festivals, and has been featured as a travel expert by notable outlets across radio, podcasts, in print and on television, including "Good Morning America," MSNBC, Fox Business and The Weather Channel.
Aug. 09, 2018
•
2 min read
tpg-jfk-feature-image
Getting Home From JFK Is Terrible, and Lyft Data Confirms It
The cards we feature here are from partners who compensate us when you are approved through our site, and this may impact how or where these products appear. We don’t cover all available credit cards, but our analysis, reviews, and opinions are entirely from our editorial team. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. Please view our advertising policy and product review methodology for more information.

Anyone who has ever flown into New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) knows this to be true: Getting where you need to go from there — be it home, the office or frankly anywhere else in the Big Apple — can be a truly awful experience.

And according to data Lyft shared with TPG Thursday morning, it doesn't just feel like an eternity. It really does take travelers longer to get from JFK to their ultimate destination than it would from any other airport.

"Lyft Business riders arriving at ... JFK [saw] the longest average ride time," the report confirmed.

Though JFK may be the worst airport in the nation in terms of average time spent getting from the airport to where you want to go, it is not (surprisingly) flanked by other New York City-area airports. According to Lyft, the other offending airports in the bottom three were Denver International Airport (DEN) followed by Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

For business travelers eager to get where they're going without first waiting eons in traffic (read: purgatory), McCarran International Airport (LAS) in Las Vegas saw the shortest average ride times. San Jose International Airport (SJC) had the second-shortest average drive time, followed by Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX).

The Lyft report also determined that Southwest Airlines is the most popular airline with business travelers, based on drop-off data.

Daily Newsletter
Reward your inbox with the TPG Daily newsletter
Join over 700,000 readers for breaking news, in-depth guides and exclusive deals from TPG’s experts

"We've seen incredible growth in the business travel space year over year," a Lyft spokesperson said — and the report indicates that the ride-sharing app has seen a 70% increase in business traveler usage.

As a result, Lyft is now opening its Lyft Business Rewards program to all riders with a business profile. (You can make one with a valid work e-mail; Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail and other similar domains won't be accepted.) And from now until September 30 at midnight, Lyft-users can earn $5 for every qualifying ride costing $10 or more, for up to $100 in Lyft credits. To be eligible, rides must be booked in the Lyft Business profile.