Guest arrivals and departures
Airport Transfers for New York Wedding Guests
Out-of-town guests arrive over several days, at four different airports, on flights you do not control. Each arrival is tracked, met the way that guest needs, and driven to the right hotel door.
The four airports
Most international arrivals. Best for hotel blocks in Brooklyn, Queens and on Long Island.
JFK transfers LGA LaGuardia East Elmhurst, QueensDomestic flights, closest to Midtown. Best for Manhattan, the Bronx and Westchester hotels.
LGA transfers EWR Newark Liberty International Newark, New JerseyDomestic and international. Best for New Jersey venues, Staten Island and Manhattan’s West Side.
EWR transfers TEB Teterboro Bergen County, New JerseyPrivate aviation only. Pickups at the fixed-base operator named on the charter.
TEB transfersAirport transfers · planning reference
Choose the airport by where guests sleep, not where the wedding is
Most wedding websites list the nearest airport to the venue. That is the wrong starting point in New York, because guests spend the first night at a hotel, not at the venue, and the four airports sit on three different sides of the city. A guest flying into the wrong one for their hotel can spend an extra hour in traffic and a second river crossing before the weekend has started.
As a rule of thumb, JFK suits hotel blocks in Brooklyn, southern Queens and on Long Island, and carries most long-haul international flights. LaGuardia suits domestic guests staying in Manhattan, the Bronx, northern Queens and Westchester. Newark suits New Jersey venues, Staten Island and hotels on Manhattan’s West Side or Downtown, with a strong international schedule of its own. Teterboro is for private aviation only.
For weddings north or east of the city, two smaller airports are also worth a line on the wedding website: Westchester County Airport (HPN) for Westchester, Hudson Valley and Connecticut venues, and Long Island MacArthur (ISP) for Suffolk County and the Hamptons. Both have limited schedules, so they work best for guests who can book around them.
How every airport pickup works
- Flight tracking. Each reservation is tied to a flight number, so the pickup moves with an early or late landing.
- Grace period from actual touchdown. Typically forty-five minutes for domestic flights and sixty to ninety for international ones. Waiting beyond that is billed at the vehicle’s prorated hourly rate.
- Meet-and-greet or curbside. Chosen guest by guest. Meet-and-greet inside the terminal is the safer choice for international arrivals, older relatives, children and first-time visitors.
- Luggage-first vehicle sizing. Wedding guests travel with garment bags and gifts, so vehicles are sized by what they carry as well as by how many people there are.
- A named destination. The hotel’s full name, street address and the entrance to use.
Transfers or hourly: which one fits each arrival
A single guest or couple landing on one flight and going to one hotel is a point-to-point transfer, quoted for the exact route and starting from $130 in a sedan and $160 in an SUV. The grace period covers baggage claim, and the price does not change if the traffic is bad.
When a vehicle has to wait for more than one flight, collect guests at two airports, or continue to a rehearsal dinner after the hotel, hourly service is usually better value. Hourly rates are $120 per hour for an executive sedan and $150 per hour for a luxury SUV, all-in, with a three-hour minimum. The S-Class starts from $175 per hour and the Sprinter from $200 per hour, with the final price confirmed in the booking form.
Putting the airport plan on paper
Collect every guest’s flight details in one spreadsheet: name, mobile number, airline, flight number, date, landing time, airport, terminal, hotel and bag count. Sort it by airport and then by landing time. Clusters of guests landing within about forty-five minutes of each other and staying at the same hotel can share a vehicle; everyone else is cheaper and calmer as an individual transfer.
Then do the same for departures. The morning after a wedding usually produces a rush of guests leaving within a few hours of each other, and scheduled hotel-to-airport runs published on the wedding website can serve most of them. The planner tool on this site will help you shape the vehicle list before you request a proposal.
Published hourly rates
These are the hourly floors for wedding work. A 3-hour minimum applies to hourly bookings, and the clock is garage to garage, so a long deadhead to a Hamptons or Connecticut venue affects the total even when the on-site portion is short.
| Vehicle class | Estimated hourly | 3-hour estimate | Typical wedding use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Executive sedan | $120 / hour | 3 hours ($360) | Couple arrivals, parents, officiant, planner control car |
| Luxury SUV | $150 / hour | 3 hours ($440) | Family groups, formalwear and luggage, photo-stop routing |
| Mercedes S-Class | $175 / hour | 3 hours ($525) | Bridal arrival and exit car, VIP guests, private aviation pickups |
| Mercedes Sprinter | $200 / hour | 3 hours ($600) | Wedding-party movement, hotel shuttle waves, airport groups |
Sedan and SUV hourly estimates include gratuity and applicable service/card charges. S-Class and Sprinter are starting rates; the booking form confirms your final price, which can vary with taxes, tolls and availability. Confirm the final total, billable hours and trip-specific extras in your written quote. One-way transfers are quoted for the exact route.
Hourly and block estimates are rounded separately; multiplying a rounded hourly figure can differ from the quoted block total.
Sedan and SUV hourly estimates include gratuity and applicable service/card charges. Single-flight transfers are quoted for the exact route.
Airport questions from couples and planners
Which airports do you serve for wedding guests?
JFK, LaGuardia, Newark Liberty and Teterboro are the four airports we serve for New York weddings. Westchester County (HPN) and Long Island MacArthur (ISP) can also make sense for venues north and east of the city, and are worth confirming when you request a proposal.
Do you track flights for airport pickups?
Yes. The pickup is tied to the flight number, so it moves with early or delayed landings, and the grace period starts from the actual touchdown time rather than the scheduled one.
Can several guests share one vehicle from the airport?
Yes, when they land within about forty-five minutes of each other and are going to the same hotel. Beyond that window, separate transfers are kinder to the guests who land first.
How are airport transfers priced?
A single flight to a single address is quoted for the exact route, starting from $130 in a sedan and $160 in an SUV. A vehicle that waits for several flights or continues to another stop is booked hourly with a three-hour minimum.