joebear

Flying out of Memphis to NYC, hoping for Nov. 22 departure and return Nov. 25. Which airport is the best for NYC arrival/departure?
I have been searching LGA....any tips?

freeman0819

Joe, it's kind of hard to answer that question. Are you staying in NYC or traveling to say, New Jersey or PA?

I would say do with the cheapest! Since it's Thanksgiving time you should go for the cheapest option, as there won't be too many seats left if you wait too much longer.

tenthumbs

It depends on what you want~convenience, JFK or LGA; cost, Islip (you'll have to arrange for transportation into Manhattan, either shuttle/train/taxi or private car).

butnotrmpt

If you are going to Manhattan (NYC), EWR (Newark) is very convenient, since there is a New Jersey transit train to Penn Station from the airport. There is no public transportation from LGA to Manhattan that I know of. For JFK, there is AirTrain, but you have to transfer to a subway to get into NYC.

Tenthumbs - Islip is definitely the furthest from the city, and any cost savings may get lost when you pay for a car service into NYC (more than an hour I'm sure). Once you start to consider outlying airports, you can also look at Westchester and probably others, but these are not the major airports.

rkkwan

LGA - taxi is cheaper than taxis or car service from EWR or JFK. There's no rail service, but there's airport bus to Grand Central, Port Authority and Penn Station. Or one can take a public bus to Manhattan, or take a public bus to connect to subway to Manhattan.

EWR - Airtrain connected to NJTransit train is pretty fast, but it only takes you to NY Penn Station. You still have to transfer to taxi or subway. Or Airtrain to PATH train if you're going to Financial District or lower Manhattan. There are also airport buses. [Or even city bus to Newark, then transfer to trains.] If you don't want to ride a bus or train, then car service is much better than taxi.

JFK - Airtrain can connect to LIRR or Subway. LIRR is fast, and goes to Penn Station. Subway is cheaper, and slower, but if your destination is served by the A train or the E train, then you don't need to transfer again. Or there's airport bus, taxi and car service.

There's also helicopter service from JFK and EWR to both midtown and lower Manhattan.

That's the general idea. But there's no MEM-JFK non-stop anyways.

tenthumbs

I've taken the shuttle/train/cab from Islip, which ran about $80 for my daughter and me; it took about 2 hours to get to Manhattan with the waits for the shuttle/train/cab. Another time, we had a Lincoln Town Car for 4 of us,and door to door service was about $220. The car was more expensive, but it was certainly more convenient! I had a free ticket on SW, which does not service LGA or JFK.
The choices are numerous, the OP just needs to compile all the info and figure out which best suits his needs.

joebear

Thanks for the help...It looks like LGA is both most affordable and cheapest.