They said it wouldn’t fly — and it hasn’t. But the AirTrain JFK takes you to your flight, and it’s taking more and more people: Nearly 1 in 10 arriving and departing passengers to JFK International Airport make use of the computer-operated rail shuttle.

I’m a fan. I’ve taken the subway-AirTrain connection a couple of times now, most recently for my quickie weekend trip to Tampa Bay last month. It was a relative breeze. It takes a while to get out there from Manhattan, probably a minimum of 45 minutes; but a cab would take nearly as long and cost ten times as much. So it’s well worth it, provided you don’t have a huge load of baggage (which I always strive to avoid).