Are the people who tout the taxi rank at JFK dodgy?

Landed at JFK last week and joined the official queue for the yellow cabs as always. There were quite a few people working the line asking if people wanted to use their cabs / minbus etc.
No-one seemed to be taking them on, even with a 15-20 minute wait, and I'm sure I read something about getting charged far more than the fixed $45 JFK-Manhattan fare.

So, are they really that bad or what?

YES !

Never mind beoing overcharged what about the risk of getting mugged or worse!

Am surprised the marshalls / airport police wern't being more proactive in monitoring the line - they usually pretty good at keeping the scammers away.

Simple question - would to take up such an offer at LHR?

Thought not.

It is a continual amazement to me that JFK / NY Police do not do more to stop this - those folk who tout are extremely dangerous as well as outrageously expensive.

I will not recount any detail here, but I recently worked for a large Indian IT outsourcing company, we sent hundreds if not thousands of Indian nationals to the US per year on projects. The stories I have learned about are shocking, from swindling people for $100s for fares into New York through to physical violence.

Never, ever take a ride that you haven't booked from a reputable source or from the official taxi rank.

[mitchja]

Never, ever take a ride that you haven't booked from a reputable source or from the official taxi rank.

That also applies to any destination/airport as well not just JFK.

This is one of the reasons why I use public transport whenever possible. Airports are a scammers paradise.

I will say though that the official yellow cabs are pretty scary; Manhatton to JFK in about 35 mins! The guy drove like Jenson Button on speed, whilst being chased by a Brazilian gang, with the world championship on the line! I think we went faster than the Airbus we flew back on. One should never know what burning Crown Victoria brakes smell like...

I can certainly associate myself with the comments on this thread. We went to NYC in October last year. On arrival at JFK T4, whilst the other half was in the toilets near the exit doors (close to the official cab-rank) I waited with the bags. I was approached by 2 people asking if I needed a ride. As we left the terminal and crossed the road to the official cab-rank, we were asked at least 3 more times by people if we were after a ride. We declined the kind offers and took an official cab to Manhattan - and yes, the driver had very interesting "roadcraft" skills. Most of the horns we heard sounding were probably aimed at our driver.

A colleague at work went to NYC for a long weekend and made the mistake of accepting the offer of an unofficial cab & got charged $65 to Manhattan (before tip).

For our return journey to JFK, the hotel arranged us a driver in a large 4x4 vehicle. Cost was $60 all-in, including tip. Compared to the official cab, this was a bargain - we got a huge comfy 4x4 with air-con & a driver who had some knowledge of the US driving laws!

NYC is a great City, but the authorities do need to sort out the taxi/cab situation from the airports.