Boston to DC--best way?
 

Hi,

We are a family of 5 and ask what the best option for getting to Wash DC from the Boston area?

Seems we could fly from Boston to Reagan (US Air shuttle $500 each or so!), or fly Providence to BWI, then cab/limo/shuttle/etc there, or drive (yuck), or train (nah), etc...

I can't imagine we're the first to get sticker shock...Anyone have any other suggestions? --Mike

5 people onw-way by train is less than $500 total ($95/person)!!! Taxi for 5 from BWI to downtown DC is less than $50, if that helps. Whatever you decide: $500/person is outrageous - find a Plan B!

http://www.amtrak.com/

Not sure how much help I can give, but it seems that the most inexpensive way for a family of five to do this trip is by car. Greyhound is $98 per person with a seven-day advance purchase. As someone else noted, Amtrak is much more. If you have a lot of flexibility, I found $298 total RT for two adults and three teens at Orbitz.Com, which I've generally found to be the way to find the least expensive air fares.

My road atlas says it's 443 miles between these two cities, thus about 900 miles RT. Depending on how you calculate the cost of driving in your car (including tolls, Maalox, and aspirin!), it looks like driving will be your cheapest option.

amtrak is reporting $623 round trip (about 311.50 one way) with 3 kids under 16.

I looked at AirTran and they fly from Boston to BWI for less than $100 each way.

I don't know if Southwest or if some of the other No frills airlines fly that route but I'd bet they do.

it's impossible to gauge what a flight will cost unless you know the travel dates

Why the "(nah)" regarding the train? We always go via Amtrak for our Boston-DC trips (daughter in college there). Kids under 16 go half-price, and kids who are juniors or seniors in high school can submit a buy-one-get-one free form if they say they're visiting a college at their destination. Check various times, avoid Fridays and Acela.

The trains are much more comfortable than flying, you don't need to arrive hours ahead of time or go through ridiculous security screening, and they take you from city-center to city-center, thus avoiding the time and money that might otherwise be required for that part of the trip.

If you want cheap, you can take the Chinatown buses. Boston-NYC is about $10 each way; NYC-DC is about $20. So, $60 per person roundtrip BOS-DC. Can't beat that!

Hi again

Seems as though if you know when you're flying and it's 14 to 21 days away you can pretty much get a good price on certain airlines or if you like the train (non-Acela) use the Promotion Code V822 and get an extra 20% off each fare.

Hope you enjoy DC

thanks so much, I have a lot to think about and look into!

There is a new airline, Independence Air (flyi.com)flying from Logan to Dulles. starting 6/16 .You get $25 off first roundtrip per person. We just booked for about $130pp. Then take a shuttle into the city or rent a car...it's about 30min from DC

Hi

Just rec'd this from UsAir

US Airways is running a great sale on flights all the way into early November, and there are some great deals to be found. These fares are a great way to save on that spring, summer or fall vacation.

Sample Fares:


Boston to Balitmore ... $98 R/T

thanks for the advice. I enrolled with Independence Air, got $25 off each round trip, and am paying only $93 for each RT ticket Boston to DC Dulles! Then hiring a car to bring us to the hotel for $55 each way, avoids car rental fees and parking fees. Cheap!

thanks again,

Mike

That is a good airfare, Mike, about the same as the train would've cost.

How about reporting in later on the trip time -- say, from the time you arrive at Logan until the time your car delivers you to your hotel in DC? It's probably faster than the train, but with early airport arrival, transfers, etc., adding onto air-traevl time, I'm curious how the actual totals compare.

Actually, Independence Air is a an airline that's been around a while and changed its name.

Independence Air used to be Atlantic Coast Airlines (ACA), but most people knew them as part of United Express, flying commuter planes (props and regional jets) primarily to Dulles for connections to mainline United flights. As with any airline, opinions on ACA varied from great to awful, but there did seem to be a disproportionate number of complaints about on-time performance and customer service.

At some point in the last year, ACA and United ended their agreement for ACA to fly as United Express, and ACA re-invented itself as a low-cost carrier named Independence Air. They also said that they were going to augment their fleet with larger jets (I don't know if they've done that yet.)

Anonymous - Flying will be much faster than the train, even with all the time going to/from and at the airport.

Fastest Acela Express takes 6.5 hours on this trip.

We'll see! The only time I ever flew into Dulles, we got to our hotel 2 hours after we landed.