I'm flying from Santa Barbara, CA to NYC and then onto London.

Does anyone know which airport is the cheapest/easiest to fly in and out of in NYC?

Thanks.

Well, you're not going to want to switch airports between flights, so the only thing that makes sense is to fly into the NY airport that your London flight leaves out of.

I'm not sure what you mean by easiest and cheapest. Costs are set by the airline not the airport. And if you're just catching another plane I'm not sure how one can be easier than another.

nytraveler is correct. But clarify: Are you simply planning on routing your trip through NYC, or do you plan on stopping and staying in Manhattan for a bit?

I'm getting the impression that pauleau is planning to spend a little time in NYC, otherwise I can't imagine why the question. Right? I'll be flying into LaGuardia, doing a stopover in NYC and then flying out of JFK on the same ticket, so that is quite possible.

In any case, flying into LaGuardia is the easiest to get into Manhattan (or at least the quickest and cheapest by taxi).

Patrick: That's my reading as well. And you're right: LGA is the easiest of the NYC airports as far as getting into Manhattan. The outbound flight to London will go out either JFK or EWR, right? Hopefully the former.

If just getting to NYC cheaply is an issue and you don't mind changing carriers, how about heading south to Ontario or Long Beach and using JetBlue to get to JFK? Then the issue becomes pricing NYC-London....

my situation is this: I have miles to cash in but it's only for a domestic flight. so with my miles I'm buying my SBA to NYC flight. Then I'll pay for the flight from NYC to London on my own. I'll have two separate tickets.

Maybe NYC isn't the best place to fly through? Any ideas there? I have a free ticket anywhere in the US from SBA.

Thanks

P.S. I don't care to do any sight seeing in NYC, it'll just be a stopover. Long Beach and Ontario is not an option.

I'm not an expert at booking European flights from the west coast of the US, but it's my understanding that it is often the same price or close to it to fly to say London from Los Angeles as it is to fly from New York (although it may be easier to get some great specials from New York). I'm not sure I'd give up those miles to cash in a domestic award when you might be able to get a flight from home for about the same as from New York.

Patrick has a good point. You may be wasting the free ticket. However, if still are planning to use the free ticket to NY, then get a flight to JFK or Newark (depending on where your London flight would leave from).

What airline is your ticket on? That may also make a difference on where you might fly out of.

To echo what others have said it might only be $100 difference to fly direct to London--not worth using mileage for that. Plus you really do want to fly to the airport you will be leaving from or you're going to be spending a lot of money getting into NYC or to your outbound airport.

Beware of restrictions on "free" tickets. You may find that there aren't many options with them in terms of when and where you can fly (we once had tickets for "anywhere in the 48 contiguous states...but there we're not any "_ class" seats on the flights we wanted to book.) I'd first check with the airlines to see what they'll let you do. If you do have options and determine this is the most economical way to go, I'd vote for LGA, but I recently flew in and out of Newark - stress-free!!