I have a week long trip planned -- will be in New York City for 5 days and then spending the weekend at Rhinebeck & the Omega Institute. First time in New York City. I have Amtrak reservations that will get me to Penn Station at 4 p.m. Sunday and my plane flies out of LaGuardia at 8:00 p.m.

Recently realized traffic situation different than what I'm used to -- very concerned that I have not left enough time to get from Penn to LaGuardia (and certainly not if Amtrak late). I was thinking of doing public transportation if time permitted or taxi if it didn't. Just as an experiment I put in the times for SuperShuttle pickup and they say 3:10 to get me to LaGuardia by 8:00 flight. I assume taxi would be faster. Was 4 hours unreasonable to allow between train and plane takeoff?

Advice appreciated, thank you!

4 Hours to get from NY Penn to LaG is fine. You have to allow for checking in and going thru security when you get to the airport.

I looked at the super shuttle - it should take about 25-30 minutes to get from NY Penn to LaG. A taxi would be about the same. Hopefully you won't get caught up in traffic.

Public transportation which is the least expensive (E train [8th Av line] to Roosevelt Av station then Q70 bus to LaG should take about 45 minutes or so.

That is far more time than you need. You only need to arrive at LGA at most 2 hours before your flight. It doesn't take 2 hours to get to LGA from Penn Station even on the worst traffic day. And while your Amtrak train might be late, it's more likely to be 10 minutes late than an hour. That's very unusual for trains from the Hudson Valley. But I beg you. Don't take Super Shuttle, which is the world's worst mode of transportation in NYC. Take a taxi or even the subway to Grand Central and then an airport express bus (https://www.nycairporter.com/schedul...ontolaguardia/). In a pinch, you could even take the E Train to Roosvelt Ave. in Queens and then a regular city bus, and that would only cost you $2.75 and would take about 90 minutes.

I agree that it is unusual for trains from Albany/Rensselaer to NYC to run late (since they originate in Albany). The Amtrak 284 train however comes from Buffalo so the risk of it running late is higher. Personally I'd be comfortable with 3hrs - no need for 4. You can check-in in advance to save that time, and if you only have carry-on bags the only deadline you need to meet is to be at the gate before they close the door - ~15 or sometimes 20min before departure. Not an issue in your case with plenty of time.

As a backup plan if you see the incoming train is substantially delayed getting into Rhinebeck you could get yourself to Poughkeepsie by hook or by crook or by taxi and get one of these metro north RR trains shown below into Grand Central. I think we talked about this in one of your earlier posts when you were scoping out plans.

Keep tabs on the Amtrak status throughout the late morning/early afternoon, but be aware that the Amtrak website / status isn't always accurate for some reason. I'll often check that the train is on time in/out of stations further up the line which in this case would be Syracuse, Rome, Utica, and Schenectady., or also look on this site for what seems to be more accurate status. Amtrak Status Maps

Out of curiosity I looked up the 284 train for today on dixieland. While it was running 30min late across most of NY it made that time up with a shorter stop in Albany/Rensselaer and is now basically back on schedule.






Metro North Sunday schedule.

Thank you for advice! I have heeded warnings about airport/hotel shuttles and was only looking at that to get an idea of how time they recommended to plan for.

I had been disappointed to see the airport express bus wasn't available from Penn -- didn't even think about getting to Grand Central and taking it from there.

I have directions for taking the E train and the city bus; my hotel for first few days is very close to Penn Station so my plan is to try it out on the way into the City, when I have no plans for the day. A friend has told me that taxis are also available at the Roosevelt Ave. station I could avoid the bus if I was running short of time. I have also been warned of flights of stairs.

I promise a trip report in exchange for all the help.

Just a thought. When I have added the details of my flights to Google Calendar, Google has often alerted me of a delay before the airline emails me.

You might try entering the date/time/name of your train into your phone calendar. Google may surprise you.

Thank you, everyone! I managed the Queens bus and E train fine back and forth to LaGuardia. I was grateful though that it was Sunday, not a work day, construction is a mess around there.

Amtrak was amazing. After all my worries, it pulled back into Penn Station 10 minutes ahead of schedule. Train travel itself up to Rhinebeck was delightful; lovely views of Hudson River, very comfortable seats, plenty of room for luggage. I managed my own luggage with no problems (conductor helped with getting it on and off at Rhinebeck where there were several steps down to the platform) .

Full trip report eventually.