I need to pick someone up at an airport, but I don't know where to meet them at?

Ask when you get there, people are always willing to help. When I came through customs coming back from 6 months in Cayman, I still walked out by the normal luggage claim after I got my stuff from customs. But it never hurts to ask.

yeah, there’s an international baggage area, but it leads you into the normal arrivals/pickup area. as long as you have the flight # and airline, you should be ok.

I found this link to a map of terminal 4. I always get confused at airports too, but I would imagine you would just wait by baggage claim. If she goes through customs first, then you’ll just meet her afterwards, pick up her bags, and jet. If she gets her baggage first, then you can walk with her to customs and wait for her there. But, I would just go to that terminal and ask.

Everyone comes out from the same area eventually I think. Failing that, call JFK. Simple dimple

okay so I should tell her to meet me at the international baggage area then? I assume there will be a specific place for her flights baggage to be dropped of at? I guess that makes sense. I have picked people up from airports before, but never when they had to go through customs so I wasn’t sure how that changed it.

Usually you get the bags and THEN go through customs, it’s got it’s whole own area/baggage claim, but it still leads you out to where everyone else is. Just tell her to meet you at the normal baggage claims.

Find out where customs is. You can meet right outside customs. Can she call you on your cell when she is through?

well, she can but she would need to find a payphone to do it, so it would be a hassle.

I know she will have to bring her bags with her through customs and you can’t go into customs. Terminal 4 is probably the international terminal so if you go to the Arrivals area of Terminal 4 I am sure that there will be direction there as to where they come out of Customs. I haven;t flown into JFK but I have been through customs enough to know that once you get to the terminal directions to pick up your party should be pretty clear. Just have her airline and flight number with you.

Thanks that helps a lot. gives me a good idea of how its all setup and what i can tell her to expect too, thanks everyone!

@LKidKyle1985, you’re on the right track looking up the airport map for yourself. And usually, there’s only 1 or 2 customs areas at a given airport.

At a really large airport, just “showing up” and asking the first person you see for help is a sure-fire way to guarantee you will park as far away as possible from where you need to be.

Given the date and flight number, you can determine the arrival terminal and nearest likely customs area. You might also consider visiting the airline’s web site and setting up txtmsg updates to your cellphone in case the flight changes gates at the last minute (like aa.com).

Really large airports also employ a multi-tiered parking rate structure. The closer in you park, the more expensive it likely is. That’s fine if you’re only there an hour or so. But keep that in mind if it turns out your friend is many hours delayed. Familiarize yourself with parking options before arrival.