Terminals 2/3
The Terminal 4 AirTrain station is located directly inside this terminal, because the Terminal was built at the same time as the AirTrain. This terminal replaced the original International Arrivals Building which one housed US customs for all airlines (with TWA and PanAm flights arriving here before planes were towed to their respective starchitecture terminals for departing flights) along with separate boarding lounges for International Airlines. Slowly additional international arrival areas were added starting in the 1970s to other terminals. The terminal even originally featured an observation area where passengers could watch people as they cleared US customs (this was closed off after people using hand signals to try and indicate to arriving passengers which was the better customs line where they would receive less scrutiny). Although all 5 of the JFK Terminals today contain US Immigration and Customs agents at all terminals, gates equipped for International Arrivals these aren’t open 24 hours a day. Terminal 4 is the only 24 hour International immigration and customs facility so sometimes late night and delayed international flights from other airlines arrive here instead of at their normal terminal.
The AirTrain station is located on a mezzanine level between the lower arrivals level and the upper-level departures area. It is at the same level as the gates, although there is no way to leave the island platform (this would be physically impossible, the tracks would be in the way) without going through fire doors at the ends of the platform where there are elevators and a set of two escalators one set going down, one going up beyond each end of the platform. These escalators lead to the Departures area upstairs, or the Arrivals area downstairs. The arrivals floor (Terminal 2-bound end of the platform) also contains a second security checkpoint originally designed to re-screen for passengers connecting from an International to a Domestic Flight in Terminal 4, but this checkpoint is open to everyone and often has much shorter lines than the main large security checkpoint upstairs. Delta even recommends using it on their website.
When the terminal originally opened it was originally designed for International Airlines, with just a tiny domestic baggage claim (used by US airlines with very small footprints at the airport like Northwest, Continental, Sun Country and Virgin America). Delta Air Lines renovated and expanded the terminal to replace Terminal 3 (the PanAm WorldPort) in 2013, and Terminal 2 in 2023. Yes, these two entire terminals were replaced simply by much longer Concourses, with the B concourse extended and expanded from 11 gates when it opened to 31 gates on a pier that is now more than a half-mile long (with a Delta Jitney Shuttle bus between the 2 ends). This expansion was completed in 2013 (the replacement to Terminal 3), with Terminal 2 replaced by a longer A pier in 2023. This pier was originally just 7 gates but was expanded to become 21 gates – many of which are ground-level gates that house regional jets to replace Terminal 2.
These renovations also expanded the Terminal 4 headhouse and moved the domestic (and pre-clearance) baggage claim from near the B concourse to the opposite side of the A concourse with many more baggage claim belts. As of 2023 security surrounds all entrances to the domestic baggage claim limiting access to it to arriving passengers only and it is no longer open to the public like domestic baggage claims normally are at US airports. The closure of exits from this baggage claim required me after arriving on a flight in November 2023 to step outside before reentering the building to get on the AirTrain.
The renovations in 2013 created centralized security checkpoints and brought the original shopping mall that was before security (and a fun place to wander around while waiting for someone arriving after an international flight) to be within security. Security was originally located in two separate smaller checkpoints by the entrances to each concourse, a pre-9/11 common airport design feature, with very few amenities beyond security. I remember having to almost push our way against the regular flow of traffic with lots of well-wishers standing around the security checkpoint seeing their loved ones off after getting off a domestic Northwest Airlines Flight (the A320 felt tiny parked between Air Indiana and Singapore Airlines 747s) at the terminal in January 2007 since the terminal was originally barely designed for domestic arrivals. Today well-wishers sending a loved one off on a flight no longer have a place to grab one final meal with just a Hudson News and Dukun Express located outside of the secure area, both tiny kiosks in the International Arrivals area with nothing on the departures level.
Photos 1 & 2: January 9, 2005; 3-8: April 11, 2014; 9-17: September 26, 2023; 18: January 6, 2007; 19-26: November 24, 2023;
