Before we moved to Florida, our hometown airport was Newark International. Although it wasn’t perfect, it was our own. Say what you will about people from New York and New Jersey, but we’re loyal to what we have, even if we know that there are better options available.
That being said, we don’t like to become the punchline of people’s jokes, and when that happened, it lit a fire under the Port Authority of NY/NJ to bring LGA, JFK and EWR into the current century. LaGuardia’s $8 billion renovation is complete, and the new version is often said to be one of the best airports in the country. All the airport needs is a link to the NY mass transit system, but that’s not going to happen anytime soon.
JFK is currently in the midst of a $19 Billion overhaul, which isn’t scheduled to be finished until 2030 since it’s not easy to rebuild an airport while it’s open and when most of it is surrounded by water.
Not to be left out, Newark Liberty International Airport is also undergoing a transformation. The airport recently opened a new Terminal A.
Instead of renovating the previous Terminal A, the airport built an entirely new terminal. We’ve flown into the new Terminal A several times, and it’s decades beyond the one it replaced. There’s only one problem. The new Terminal A is not connected to the airport’s AirTrain system.
The Newark Airport AirTrain connects the terminals to parking garages and, eventually, to the Newark Liberty International Airport RailLink Station. For us, this is important, as this is where you can get a NJ Transit train to take you to NY Penn Station in Manhattan.
Several airlines use Terminal A, including Air Canada, American Airlines, Delta Airlines, JetBlue and United Airlines (which operates out of Terminals A and C).
While it might not be clear in the map above, since there’s a Terminal A stop, Terminal A is not connected to the AirTrain. Passengers who want to get to a different terminal or a NJ Transit train must walk or take a bus to the AirTrain Terminal A Station.
- The nearest AirTrain Station is Terminal A (formerly known as Station P2), located approximately 0.4 miles or a 14-minute walk from Terminal A. There is a complimentary shuttle bus that operates every 5-7 minutes from 4:00 AM to midnight and every 7-10 minutes from midnight to 4:00 AM, connecting the Terminal A AirTrain Station with the new Terminal A. This complimentary Shuttle to AirTrain bus services the Daily Parking Lot P4 (drop off only) between 10:00 PM and 2:00 AM.
On our recent trip, we had to wait 15 minutes for a bus to pick us up and take us to the AirTrain Station from Terminal A. I wasn’t aware that you could walk as there are no signs indicating that you can do this inside the airport.
If you’re departing from Terminal A, here’s how to walk from the AirTrain station:
- Exit the station and walk under an exterior covered walkway to the Parking ‘A’ garage. Take the elevator or escalator to Floor 2 of the garage and make your way across a pedestrian bridge to reach the new Terminal A.
When arriving from Terminal A, here’s how to get to the AirTrain without taking the bus:
- Follow signs leading to the ‘Parking A’ garage. At the garage lobby, make a right and take the escalator/elevator to Floor 1, and walk through a pedestrian corridor and an exterior covered walkway to the Terminal A AirTrain Station. Take the AirTrain to your destination.
While I’d prefer to take a bus rather than walk with luggage, it’s nice to know there’s another option. If the weather’s decent, it might be a better option and quicker than waiting for the bus. The bigger question is if the AirTrain will ever connect directly to Terminal A as it does with Terminals B and C.
This doesn’t keep me from flying to Newark Airport, as it’s not difficult to get to Midtown Manhattan with NJ Transit or even connecting to the PATH train at Newark Station to reach locations further downtown. However, I remember flying into Newark to give extra time to get to the AirTrain when arriving or departing from Terminal A.
Want to comment on this post? Great! Read this first to help ensure it gets approved.
Want to sponsor a post, write something for Your Mileage May Vary, or put ads on our site? Click here for more info.
Like this post? Please share it! We have plenty more just like it and would love it if you decided to hang around and sign up to get emailed notifications of when we post.
Whether you’ve read our articles before or this is the first time you’re stopping by, we’re really glad you’re here and hope you come back to visit again!
Cover photo from The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey from Flickr
This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
2 comments
Such a bad system. It would be much better if they just had a shuttle bus taking people directly to NJT or Newark Penn Station. They are trying hard to give the horrible ancient monorail a reason to exist.
Lately I’ve been bypassing the monorail and NJT and taking the local bus to Newark Penn Station, and then jumping on the PATH to Manhattan. It’s a bit slow because of all the stops, but if they had an express bus it would be great and everybody would take it . . . and that’s precisely why they don’t offer it.
The entire AirTrain is being replaced with a new system that will connect to the new Terminal A and (eventual) new Terminal B. This is just the stopgap for the next few years while that is built. I flew out of A last month and found the walk to be around 10 min. Perhaps they’ve updated the signage because I found it to be pretty clear, at least going from the AirTrain to the terminal.