Looking at flights from Tampa to Paris over Christmas. AA outbound flight through Miami is fine, but return has us flying into JFK then departing from La Guardia to return to Tampa.

Is this too much of a hassle? It's been a long time since I've flown through NY, and never have done anything like this. There is 4 hours between flights. Are there buses making regular runs between the two airports?

AA seems to have the best fares for our dates...but I can just hear the howls from my DH now!

Yes, there are connecting buses, or you can take cab. Either way, four hours should be enough time for you to make your connection.

OO, is the savings significant enough to justify the hassle and stress of getting from JFK to LGA? Remember you will already be exhausted from the trip and the long flight.

Having to worry about playing beat the clock on the plane ride home would do me in unless the savings was at least $500.

Aarrgghh, I would hate to make that change, so close to home and all
I agree with GT..If I could avoid that switching of airports, I would.

I know that howl, I am the one that makes it at our house

Actually, I did that same thing last year when I flew to Istanbul. It was not a big deal flying into JFK on the return and taking the shuttle to La Guardia (they run them all the time). I was concerned as well before I booked the flights, but a little research showed it was commonplace and handled smoothly.

I wouldn't worry about it, especially with 4 hours to play with; I had only 2 and it was a breeze.

I hate flying through NY, period! There's another way to do it, but it entails flying Paris to DFW, then DFW TPA. That adds a couple hours onto the length of an already long flight.

Orbitz shows another option going through Chicago, but there's only something like an hour 15 min between planes. From our trip last year, flying home through Miami (not an option this time for our dates) I remember Miami customs alone taking us a couple of frustrating hours.

So...would you be in favor of flying into DFW as opposed to changing airports in NY?

Yes! I would favor DFW over the NY area airports any day. I like DFW.

Remember with Chicago you have a chance of getting stranded there by winter storms.

Have you checked USAirways? I believe they fly direct from Charlotte to Paris. Your flight would be Tampa-CLT-Paris.

OO, is there nothing going in and out of Newark?

Well, it would be too much of a hassle for me, especially on the way home from a European vacation. Personally I avoid JFK at all cost, it is the only airport I have even been thru that I feel this way about. I would definitely continue to look into better routing.

I don't think the switch from JFK to LGA is that big a deal assuming it's not on some really crazy busy day like Jan 2. But both Delta's Song and Jet Blue fly nonstop JFK to Tampa. I understand you're trying to do RT tickets but....is there no other way? Do you have to use AA?

No, no, no. Don't do it. My boss missed her connection with 6 hours between flights and she thought it would be nice to save $475.00. She says she would never do it again unless it was a free ticket and she could stay overnight in Manhattan

Hey Z,
How could your boss miss her connection with 6 hours?!! Was her flight delayed into JFK? If she had that long to connect to an airport about 30-45 minutes away, something was seriously wrong.

I got off the plane in JFK, went to the shuttle, hopped on and rode to La Guardia, hopped off and walked to my gate. Some people get really flustered and confused at airports, but the signs tell you where to go. I just don't get why you would need so long to connect. They have shuttles that run continuously because so many people do just switch between the 2 airports. Four hours is more than enough time to make your homebound flight, and if the delay is weather related, that can happen if your just going to the next gate!

I meant "YOUR'RE going to the next gate"

I hate when I make stupid grammar errors!!

vespertine...where did you go through customs? I was assuming we would at JFK, then we'd schlep bags to LGA.

Gosh--divergent opinions, and strong ones at that!!

We don't need to use AA, but other airlines are no better. Delta has something though JFK, but 9+ hrs between planes on the way back. USAir...this is a joke ?...said ticket price would be $6,000 something. I'm assuming their website is malfunctioning! Anything that went through Charlotte connected another time before heading to our destination, both going and coming. No good.

DFW is an old friend...that might be better, and I think we have enough miles to upgrade to business.

Four hours is plenty of time to make a LGA flight from JFK if everything goes smoothly.

However, if your original plane is late, and/or there is a delay getting through customs (if a bunch of international planes land at once), and/or if your luggage is delayed, and/or if there is an accident between the airports, and/or there are security line problems at LGA you may not make it.

My guess: you will make it with no trouble - but it's certainly not a guarantee. How do you deal with risk/anxiety?

Hey vespertine, her flight from Rome arrived late and as a result everything went wrong. As Nytraveler said four hours is plenty of time to make a LGA flight from JFK if everything goes smoothly. I agree, IF everything goes smoothly

If everything goes smoothly is the part that would worry me though.
We are talking about holiday time, winter weather, and NY traffic.
All it takes is one accident and roads can be backed up for hours.
Does Tampa not connect with Atlanta,Washington or Newark?
Come up here to Jax first OO, you can make the connection from here..my daughter flies to Europe from here to DC then on to Paris or wherever..

What a great site this is...instant opinions, over something that I'd otherwise ponder for days.

To make a long story short...NY seemed risky and I didn't want to fly through DFW, then back east to Tampa. Got the route we wanted by calling AA. Had to call anyway for the upgrade to business so just did it all at the same time.

I decided to call as I could tell from aa.com that there was a return flight that did go through Miami. Their website only gave that flight on one of their paired options, and the flight to Paris that they paired it with went through DFW! Unlike some websites where you can choose your outbound flight then choose return separately, I could not figure out a way to do this on aa.com. If anyone knows, I'd love to know for future reference!

So...we are good to go, Dec 22 through the 30th. I'm smiling! Big. Thank you all for your input on our options, I really appreciate it and it was such a help to hear others perspective on this.

on aa.com first search your flight by "fare" then when you know what the cheap fare is, do another search for the same trip by "schedule". If you know what connecting airport you want you can even use "multiple destinations" option, choose each segment separately then get a final tally. Sometimes you get the same fare as the "cheap" fare sometimes it is a few dollars more, but
I thing they must priorize the "cheap" fares by "unpopular route" to fill the planes more efficiently. Have fun planning your trip!

Thanks Laurie_Ann! Used your method for our dates, just to get a feel for how it worked--simple--you just have to know that approach is available! I've always used Orbitz or Expedia for bookings, never the airlines site (except Southwest), but now that Orbitz is adding a fee onto their tickets, and (so we found when we thought we were going to cancel a trip because of an approaching hurricane), their own fee for cancellations as well, I'll use the airlines sites from now on.

And...you saved me a bundle. There was a $283 price difference, using the aa.com rate. Knew there was some difference, but had no idea how much until I used your method for our dates and saw the price. Called AA to verify that the ticket price given last night was accurate...he didn't say, but did say I was in luck as the reservation made last night had not yet been ticketed (waiting on getting the advantage miles for the upgrades) so I could cancel that with no penalty and re-make the reservation on line. I'd thought it was odd, but wasn't alarmed, that I hadn't gotten the email confirmation from last night yet. Thank goodness--we were so lucky.

SO...your instructions were perfect and you saved us a nice chunk of money to boot!! Thank you, thank you!