JFK Airport
Reviews and Complaints

I was travelling through JFK last week on my way home to the UK, and security staff confiscated an empty zippo lighter that I had no problem with on the other 6 flight during my whole trip to Mexico. I double checked online when I got home and read that I am entitled to carry one light in my carry on (which is where they found it). So there really was no need for it to be confiscated. The staff did not listen to me when I asked why it was being taken from me. They were rude and aggressive. Not only did it cost me about £30 but it had sentimental value and I was extremely disappointed to have had it taken from me. I would understand if I had made a mistake bringing it with me but I was fully allowed to be carrying it.

Dear Sir / Madam,
Through no choice of my own I arrive in Terminal 7 early with a 0725 boarding on the twelfth of November. At 0030 a male member of staff security approached me and said that I had to return to arrivals as it was more than 4 hours before my flight. I thought this strange (when a flight gets delayed by more than 4 hours internationally no one informs you that you need to go back to arrivals ). Please note the private security officer was not rude but but refused to provide me with his name or indeed a personnel number. All I wished this for was to substantiate my complaint. He just said, 'I am security and I am just doing my job'. He may be correct but a personnel number would have assisted this clarification.

I spoke to TSA, again professional, but they made the point that I could not complain against someone I couldn't identify. I pointed out that that this was because they would not identify themselves. I did make the point that it was on CCTV, terminal 7, gate 9 at approximately 0030 on the 12th November 2019.

The airport security office made the same point about the 4 hour rule. That's fine, but it is also unusual in my experience (happy to be wrong). However, if staff can't be identified during a complaint, how is accountability addressed?

As it is now 0125 as I type this that means under the 4 hour pre flight rule I can go back to Departures at 0405. Allowing for security I will be going through in approximately 2 hours. So no point going anywhere.

Also as I type this a colleague sits in another Departures area in JFK. Comfortably.

Let's get this sorted.

Kind regards.

KP.

I was harassed while trying to exit the airport by a security agent. A Hispanic man. Who used Intimidation and threats even though I was doing nothing wrong, I was just trying to leave the airport after arriving from Hong Kong. I am a Us citizen and have global entry which I told him. But he told me that global entry was a priveledge and that he could take it away at any time. He asked if I had any food, I showed him what I had that was in a clear package and he still kept asking what is that, even though you could clearly see what it was. He then asked me what I did for work and when I told him that wasn't good enough. He kept pressing. He told me we were being video recorded to intimidate me when I wasn't doing anything wrong but getting frustrated by his treatment and unnecessary questions. He was on a power trip and made me cry.

have just arrived back to Edinburgh from a flight direct from JFK. Whilst waiting on my flight I purchased a bottle of vodka €22. I was told the bottle would be waiting at the gate. When I got to the gate my duty free bottle was not there. The air hostess call and was told the bottle would not come in time . 

The transaction number on the receipt is [protected]

Date sold 21/10/19 at 19:43.

Cashier 8913

This was totally unacceptable I wish a full refund immediately. I can give you my bank details to reimburse. 

Gillian Macdonald &Ross Macdonald 

I have been trying to get informaation regarding my missing luggage from JFK airport to no avail. My claim number is JFKIG11282. The world tracer website states that delivery process initiated but have not heard a word about delivery of my luggage. I would appreciate any assistance in this matter as I have prescriptions in that luggage that I really need.

Flight info: Air Italy flight IG 602 to flight 901 on September 28, 2019.

Jane V Raitano
[protected]@yahoo.com

My sister and I got off a Turkish airline
at JFK on Sep 6 around 11:30pm
after going through the passport check we collected our luggage and wanted to get a cab or shuttle bus through airport take us to NY(EWR) for our next flight to Ottawa. we didn't want to take a cab from the steer at 2am .
at the taxi area a person with suit and walkie talkie said he will help us and he took us outside and told us to go with this person, he will take you to (EWR) . when we got there and its around 2am, the taxi driver asked us for 478 dollars and he wanted cash and had some explanation that why he doesn't take credit card and why it is so expensive, we were extremely tired and the same time we are thinking, we got this cab through the airport so he might be right.
he took us to a convenient store so we take money out from an ATM.
when we got in terminal A and looked at cab ride from JFK to EWR, we were stunt .
at that point we were not thinking about the money, we were so frightened that the an employee from the airport put us in danger . as for we know that driver could have been a killer, a rapist, God know what could have happened to us.
the airport has the responsibility to keep its customers safe, and our experience proves it otherwise. we need answers .
please reply
[protected]@hotmail.com

Good Afternoon,
Yesterday I was at JFK and left on flight VS154 @ 20:30pm. I checked my luggage in with no concerns. On arrival home back in Hampshire, I noticed my padlock was only on one or my zips. On opening my case, it was all a mess and not how I folded and packed it. I was then very shocked again to see that a salt scrub I had brought had been taken out of the two zipped food bags and two carrier bags I had packed it in, which was wrapped in a white t/shirt. I don't have an issue that this item needed to be checked, my issue is, that it was not put back how it was found, which has now gone on to leak all over multiple items of my clothing. As this is oil based scrubbed, these items are only now good enough for the bin, as you cannot get oil out. So I am very very angry, as 3 of the items have not even been worn yet.
The carrier bags I wrapped the jar in we're not even in my case either, so there was no attempt to wrap this back up.
I would like this issue investigated into please and a response ASAP as to how this will be dealt with.

My contact details are -

Michelle Young
17 Sidney Martin Road,
Bordon
GU35 0GF
[protected]
[protected]@pchagency.co.uk

I will look forward to a response.

Kind Regards

Michelle

On Wednesday september 18, 2019, I transited thru JFK Airport. I was coming from Frankfurt with flight DL107 landing at 12:45 in JFK. I was booked on Flight DL1048 to Charlotte leaving at 14:57 from JFK.
As I was flying in Business class, I arrived in the hall of passport control at about 1 PM.
From then on I stayed 3, 5 hours in queue as all the foreigners coming with my flight and many other people without any support, no water, no possibility to go to toilet
That is unacceptable also because in spite of the 60 boxes available for the policemen to control the passport only very few policemen were there. Moreover there isn't any preferred lane for the business flyovers most of the are flying for business with tough time schedule. Naturally I lost my connection and I had to make rebooking.
Alberto Bregante

Well where to start my father and I took a flight from the UK to JFK new York then to Boston ma, it took forever from getting off the plane and baggage claim then into security... we finally got that done and had 2 and a half hrs til next flight so I went out for a bit and realized right away my dad had my boarding pass and passport I went right to the desk trying to figure out how to get my stuff off my dad.. They were rude and would not help I asked to use their phone and they said that's not how it works then I asked if the head of security could go get my passport and boarding pass off my dad they said no and laughed ..I said how do I get help they said they did not know which made no sence I ended up missing flight there was another flight a little over an hr away by the time I got my dad we had 45 min to next flight we needed another boarding pass and we were in line the 3 girls new I needed to get on the plane they kept walking away from desk and crap and then with a smerk they said your gonna miss the flight which made no sence it was done on purpose they were rude now my dad is a disabled vet and I have health issues myself they thought everything was a joke our meds were in Boston now and we had to wait 15 hrs til new flight very wrong in my eyes ...

Flight122 from Moscow . Arrived July 13th, terminal 1. about 11p.m.
While standing in line for the immigration processes I was abused by a very rude employee Rick Green. He was disrespectful and spoke with people with unacceptable manners. His job is to welcome people and help them to get through passport control. Obviously he hates it. When I told him that his tone was unacceptable he called me 'stupid' a few times in front of others and pointed his finger at me so people could see who that stupid person was. Then he called a police officer on me because he 'thought' I was taking picture of him.
I called for a supervisor to find out his name. I was given his name and supervisor apologized for his behavior. I suggested to look at the camera recording because that person already denied everything.
That person with such attitude towards people shouldn't be working at this place.
This is the first impression of America and Americans that our guests will receive once they arrived from the flight.
Shame on you, Rick Green!

My family and I just came back from vacation in Dominican Republic on aug 13, 2019 flight was at 6:10am made it to jfk at 9:35am waiting in line for the imagration processes for 2 hours and 15 min after that we had to take a shuttle to terminal 2 to go threw security there was a huge line there as well they helped us out by cutting the line so we can try to make it for our flight... our flight was at 12:59pm because of imagration we missed our flight my husband made it to the gate c60 at 1249pm before they shut the door but the lady at the gate said she had to shut the doors they couldn't wait for us so she shut the door and said we had to change our flight so we changed it to 3:15pm now they changed it to 4:02 again ... very Unhappy I have 2 little kids that been up since 1:30 this morning this is not right at all I demand some type of refund or something this is unacceptable. I expect to hear back from you guys as soon as possible.

i was seriously humiliated by racial discrimination by terminal 4 employee on my visit around 820am july 27th 2019. since my parent cannot speak english or handle large luggage themselves, i wish to accompany them to the counter of china southern airline. although i politely explained the situation, the lady worked there denied my entrance rudely and even rolled her eyes. however, i saw that lady allowed a family of three enter the same area, and the family were obviously not travelling, since they have no luggage at all when they left the counter area and they exited the airport afterwards without checkin.

To me, the employee was playing the rule purely by her personal discrimination. Besides, she was extremely rude and arrogant whenever i talked to her. This is not acceptable to me, and to any other Asian pregnant women, or any other potential customers.

I made a reservation thru expedia for a car and supposed to charge me aroung $500 and the rental worker charge me $1044 for 4 days. Expending $262 per day for a small suv like eco ford.
He was charging me for everything to earn more money not for helping without easking me if I wanted.
I canceled de reservation

It was today 25/ 7/19 at 12:00
The black worker

Its a disappointing experience!

I was going through the wheel chair priority line due to a broken foot, security would not allow for my companion to be with me and insisted we split up, I had a broken foot and was relying on my boyfriend to help me. I just got back from Europe and all of the airports never split us up. I then saw other people allowed to enter with their partners. I am disgusted how we were treated. I then had to wait for him to go through the line with my luggage and be by myself.

My mother in law checked in for her direct flight direct from JFK departing on Delta airlines to Jacksonville Florida. She received her boarding pass at the ticketing counter. Accompanying her was her grandson, a fifteen-year-old. The wheelchair attendant took my mother in law to the security check area and left her. My bother in law went to the ticketing counter and asked why my mother in law has been left. The Delta ticketing lady said another person will come and that his shift for work ended. My mother in law is over 85 years old, with medical conditions. She was left with a boarding pass at the location for one hour. Delta left without her and the flight left early. Delta is refusing to put her on the next flight as they are overbooked. JFK is responsible for this as much as Delta. I think the incompetence is transparent but the discrimination against a wheelchair-bound elderly lady by both Delta and JFK Airport wheelchair service is becoming quite clear. Please understand this is negligence, incompetence and discrimination and unbelievably callous. We are owed an explanation and compensation.

Who is responsible for this absurd flight plan, the past two weeks... How is it nearly 80 planes have not only flown over my head tonight but that I can clearly see the companies and seams on the planes... this is Baldwin Harbor Nassau County NY and it's terrible when you just wash down your ice cooler and then three (3) hours later the jet fuel turns my cooler black... WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?

My family and I were picked "randomly" for our bags to be searched in terminal 1 coming from Morocco on July 10th, 2018 around 8 o'clock pm. And there were two tsa guards one of which his name was Officer Matin who later helped explained to us kindly what the problem was. However the main officer who I couldn't get his name was also south east asian and he took my bags and opened almost all 6 of them and continued to rifle through them and take out my family and I's personal belongings and private clothing out in front of everyone in search for Food. Even though we let the other tsa officer know that we had roasted nuts and cookies and told this officer the same thing. He continued to yell and slam my bags around "looking" for something that he never found. Officer Matin entered this argument to explain to me that if customs lets you through even when you claim food you must bring it to their section to check the bags just in case. That was all that was needed to be said. There was no reason for his fellow officer to slam my bags threaten me with a fine and a removal of my global entry pass for no reason.

VIRGIN FLIGHT VS127, Arrived 5th July.

We waited in the que at the immigration hall for well over 3 hours, apparently a system failure, no help or communication from staff, when we finally reached the desk no greeting, no apologies, treated like cattle. Total lack of interaction with passengers.

VIRGIN FLIGHT VS128 Departure 9th July.

Again staff at passport control completely void of any interaction with passengers.
At security I failed the first scan, to be told rudely and abruptly to stand aside.
I accidentally leant on the scanner only to then have a FINGER WAIVED around my face by the staff member loudly exclaiming YOU, YOU DON'T LEAN ON THE MACHINE. 15 minutes later I was cleared through a second scan, again no verbal communication just a dismissive gesture of a hand.
At first I laughed the incident off, but to humiliate someone in this way and in front of everyone I think was totally unacceptable. My wife and I had enjoyed our stay in NYC but these incidents have marred our experience somewhat.
Needless to say we won't be travelling back to JFK Airport if we decide to return.

Within the past hour 9 p.m. tonight so now I've heard probably almost or at least between 15 and 20 planes back to back I've been in my apartment for 2 years and I've been annoyed by these planes this whole time but it's getting extremely ridiculous now the planes are flying so lowto my house that my apartment literally shakes and my bathtub water shakes and I've already had two panic attacks from it I live in between 88th and 87th Street in Rockaway Park just over the bridge I understand that planes have to land but please be mindful and respectfulof people's homes I can't handle going through this constantly I already have a panic disorder that I'm dealing with and these planes are triggering it real bad anxiety in me the flying way too close to my house and it's risky behavior on your part not only dangerous to myself but to those who have on board. There are plenty of times your planes fly over my house and I hear them but there is enough space between that I don't have to feel my home tremble as I'm writing this I've already heard two more planes fly over my house to add on top of 15 this is really out of control please figure it out thank you.

Hello, last week, I took my mother to the airport. She had a flight going to Egypt. We had requested a wheelchair beforehand and got it, once we checked her bags. The man pushing the wheelchair kept complaining about her wheelchair. We had put it on the footrest between her legs, so he wasn't responsible for carrying anything but pushing the wheelchair. He kept complaining non-stop. It wasn't big or heavy, yet he kept saying it was. Right before he left her, he asked for money because he said that the bag was big and heavy, which it wasn't. And again, he wasn't pushing, pulling or carrying it. In the end, she looked through her bag and gave him $5. She would have tipped him, however, his behavior was rude and unnecessary. He kept constantly complaining throughout her ride and was trying to make her feel bad. Not a good way to start a trip.