Got a 6:40 a.m. flight out of JFK next Thursday and I'm doing the math on the least miserable way to get there from Mott Haven. No car, obviously, and I'm not above a shared ride if the trains are going to screw me.

As I see it there are two real options:

• 4/5 down to Fulton, A out to Howard Beach, AirTrain the rest of the way
• Metro-North into Grand Central, LIRR out to Jamaica, AirTrain from there

Leaving the apartment around 3:45 either way. Anyone done this recently? The thing I keep worrying about is the A at that hour deciding to be a shuttle or take the long way around, and me standing on a platform at 4:15 watching the countdown clock lie to me.

Honestly the A is the move just because it's one seat and you don't have a transfer to blow. Howard Beach at that hour is dead quiet, the AirTrain runs constantly, and you're not gambling on making a connection.

The LIRR leg is nicer when it works, but you're waking up early enough that a missed connection turns into a real problem. Also double check the first LIRR departures out of Grand Central — a lot of branches don't start as early as people assume, and you don't want to find that out at 4 a.m. on the platform.

One thing: check the service status the night before, not the morning of. The A gets weekend and overnight work announced in advance and if there's a reroute you want to know while you still have time to call a car.

MottHaven_M, don't sleep on the Atlantic Terminal LIRR instead of Grand Central. You're already on the 4/5 — ride it down to Atlantic Ave-Barclays, hop the LIRR out to Jamaica, AirTrain from there. Skips the whole schlep back into Midtown and back out again, and the transfer at Atlantic is a lot less annoying than Grand Central at 4 a.m. when half the place is closed.

Only catch is the early-morning schedule out of Atlantic is thinner than Jamaica's, so you're picking a specific train and sticking to it. If you miss it you're standing there with your suitcase feeling dumb.

That said, CypressHills_C is right that the A is the low-drama pick. It's slower but there's nothing to miss. Depends if you'd rather be bored or on edge.

Atlantic Terminal is a good call, I hadn't even thought about going south instead of north. Leaning that way now — the 4/5 down to Barclays is easy and I'd rather sit on the LIRR than watch the A crawl through Brooklyn at 4 in the morning.

How bad is the Jamaica transfer though? I've only done it once and I remember a lot of walking and one very long escalator situation with a bag.