JFK - Smoking area?

[netty boo]

Hi, great site you have here, have already found loads of useful info!!

I'm coming to NY in a couple of weeks and have a couple of questions..........

1st question - is there a smoking area in JFK? I am a really nervous flyer and think I will have a breakdown if I can't smoke .

Also I am getting a bit concerned about the weather, there are thunder storms forecast every day for the next 10 days!! Is this usual?

Thanks for any help you can offer!

[MrSpice]

I believe you cannot smoke in the airport (hardly anywhere in the US you can smoke nowadays except outside). Once you clear customs (if you are from outside the US) and get your luggage - you can exit the doors and smoke outside as long as you like.

Rain here is common, although it's not as common as in, say, Seattle. This time of year, the weather can be very hot. So, the ocassional rain can also help alleviate the heat. Don't listen to long-term weather forecasts. Anything beyond 2-4 days into the future is rarely accurate.

It's rare to have a day in New York when it would rain all day long. Usually, it's ocassional showers at worst.

[ManhattanKnight]

^Smoking is prohibited in all buildings at JFK, and there are no designated smoking areas. People can and do light up on the sidewalks outside the terminals. Hysterical weather forecasts are commonplace; week-long thunderstorms are not.

[netty boo]

Thanks both of you for your quick replies!

I was more concerned about the smoking when we are going home, if we have to be at the airport 2/3 hours before the flight and then a 6/7 hour flight home it will be pretty stressful for me

[MrSpice]

I think it would be a great idea for you to stop smoking in the future.
For now, until you clear the X-ray control, you can always go outside to the sidewalk and smoke (until it's about 1 hour before your flight).

I would think that smoking is not the best way to deal with stress and anxiety.

[netty boo]

I think it would be a great idea for you to stop smoking in the future.
For now, until you clear the X-ray control, you can always go outside to the sidewalk and smoke (until it's about 1 hour before your flight).

I would think that smoking is not the best way to deal with stress and anxiety.

Mmmm Thanks!

[milleniumcab]

Thanks both of you for your quick replies!

I was more concerned about the smoking when we are going home, if we have to be at the airport 2/3 hours before the flight and then a 6/7 hour flight home it will be pretty stressful for me

Nicotine Gum???

[lofter1]

I would think that smoking is not the best way to deal with stress and anxiety.

Works great for me ... especially helpful in those situations when somebody offers un-asked-for advice

[Hof]

The best way for a smoker to kill off 3-4 hours at JFK is walk around the available walkways and go Terminal-hopping.Hell,even non-smokers would enjoy this.I've done this a LOT as I stroll around,smoking away.Some airlines,you don't even have to enter the terminal once you check in.You leave them your bags,then take a walk.It beats going through several layers of security,then being trapped in a smokeless departure lounge for two,three hours.
There are free shuttle buses that traverse the grounds,stopping at each terminal,and you can use them to get back to wherever your terminal is.As you are driven around the airport,you will catch a glimpse of Saarinen's remarkable TWA terminal,I M Pei's Terminal Six (now JetBlue's space),SOM's stunning Terminal One,where all the international flights eminate from,the old Eastern barns.
Everywhere,planes take off or land.
No smoking on the bus,of course,but you can get off at a dozen places,explore,observe,maybe get a pizza,and have another smoke outside the doors.

The cast of characters is amazing.You'll share a smoke with Swedish students and Tiwanese salesmen.Bankers from Zurich smoke,too,and they will be standing under eaves alongside you,puffing away with you,maybe in the rain.People rush by,chattering in dozens of languages.

You can sit outside on planters--or,even benches--and watch taxis queue up;you can marvel at how the limo drivers know how to fit their absurd stretch-mobiles into impossibly small spaces.The roadways run yellow with taxis.Movement never stops.
Grab a coffee from a vendor--they're everywhere--and just people watch.

For many first-time-in-NY people,the crowds and crazy traffic at JFK introduce them to the chaoitc New York to come.They just don't know that,not yet.
With the crush of exotic people,the endless,clotted traffic,the chaotic activity occuring on several levels,the sounds,the smells(even the architecture)--JFK is a perfect microcosm of Manhattan,and the looks on the new arrival's faces as they step outside and taste their first morsel of The Big City is priceless.If you sit around outside the baggage claim doors smoking for awhile you'll see it repeated over and over.And this is just the airport!

I like smoking,so whenever I travel,I look for places to sneak in a cigarette,like in High School.
Once,in San Francisco,I had a 3-hour layover.There is NO smoking on any municipal property in California,not even out in the parking garages,so I caught a taxi that allowed smoking and took a quick tour of San Francisco.Cost me $70,but I could light up anytime I wanted to.