Best Airport for Connecting on the East Coast?
 

Reports are legendary of delays and cancellations at JFK and Newark, along with Boston. Even when the weather seems fine (at least by the time you are supposed to take off).

Are Dulles, BWI, Altanta any better?

Or, I know Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago are risky in the winter. How about Spring, Summer, Fall?

With so many fewer non-stop destinations, where are the best places to connect?

wouldn't that depend on your airline, and route?

I've connected to/from international flights at most of the eastern airports, including Atlanta, excluding Philadelphia.

My favorites are Dulles and Boston, despite the bus rides required between terminals. But, when winter weather is a consideration, Atlanta is a preferred choice. It is possible that the completion of Terminal A at Miami will improve connections there (damning with faint praise) but returning from international flights will still require dealing with customs in a drug-sensitized mode.

Where are you coming from and what are your priorities? Avoiding weather or making connections?

I avoid Chicago in the winter and Dallas/FtWorth in the early-mid summer, because when the weather can be extreme for either. HOWEVER, weather can hit either at any time, so you just have to play the averages. Boston and NYC get thunderstorms, but not like Atlanta; Atlanta gets ice storms but not like Boston and NYC's blizzards. And so forth.

By far, the most non-stop cross-continent flights connect from JFK, with Dulles after that. But a lot depends on whether you are trying to find a gateway city that gives you many options or one that gets you to your 2-3 most desired destinations.

As you probably know, you will sometimes be routed to JFK or Newark and then a connection at LaGuardi -- whatever else you do, that's definitely worth avoiding, yet it pops up all the time.

I would tend to avoid the New York airports, due to delays and generally poor facilities. Boston never seemed like much of a connecting airport to me, but could work well enough in a pinch.

Personally, I think that Atlanta, while hectic and crazy, is actually very efficient. Even if there is a crowd, like you often see when transferring from an international to a domestic flight, they move things along. And it is a logical airport that makes sense. Summer can bring storms and delays.

Detroit is an even better airport, perhaps the best major airport in the US. Sure, winter can be a bit risky, but not overly so. Definitely a top choice.

Dulles is a pit. BWI is useful for Southwest, but nothing special.

It is kind of a silly question without considering origin and destination. Baltimore and Cleveland might not have many delays, but then again, they aren't exactly overflowing with flights to Europe, either.

Not sure how useful Atlanta is as an East Coast x-fer point. It's ok if you start in the South or Southwest, but keep in mind that Atlanta is further west than Detroit.

A vote for Dulles. I've connected there a couple of times and never had any problems. It's super-easy and most of the time, my connecting flight is just a few gates down from where I originally arrived.

Thanks to everyone who replied.

We prefer to fly out of Manchester, NH, versus Boston, whenever possible, which often involves odd connections, especially with Continental miles.

We have a Continental connection in Newark in October heading to HNL - no choice on connection locations since we were limited using flyer miles. Hopefully, we won't run into problems - never flown through Newark before.

Since you're probably most interested in Continental's hubs, I can tell you that I avoid Newark as much as I possibly can. Their Cleveland and Houston hubs are far better in terms of not being delayed, and they also have nicer shops/restaurants/facilities.

As far as other hubs on other carriers, I also try to avoid the NYC airports like the plague, due to overcrowding and lackluster facilities.

I also try to avoid Atlanta and O'Hare, due to congestion and frequent weather delays. Dallas/Ft. Worth is large, but it has all of the charm of a Greyhound station. Denver has nice facilities, but it's a lousy place for a hub.

Cincinnati is a highly underrated hub, and Detroit isn't too bad, either.

Generally speaking, the smaller the hub, the better in terms of delays and facilities.

Oops, sorry . .. forgot the topic was the East coast! :)

What about Chicago in early Dec? How safe is it?

I've always had good luck at Dulles. Very smooth airport in my experience.

"What about Chicago in early Dec? How safe is it?"

If you're worried about snow, there's always that possibility. I don't think it's worse than other northern cities, though.

We just connected to Paris through Cleveland (Continental). We had a very easy and good experience. It is a nice smaller airport so not a lot of problems. Not sure what winter would bring. We generally fly Delta through Atlanta and the only time have had some delays seems to be late spring/summer in late afternoon flights with thunderstorms kicking up. Usually they are pretty good in winter.
I have flown through Chicago in winter and they must be used to the snow/sleet/ice, it went smooth. In winter though, I would connect through the South, Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston/Dallas
In summer, I think any of them are good. I think the NY City area airports are probably the busiest. Newark used to be much better than JFK or Laguardia, but we don't live there anymore and I know Newark is larger and busier.