Wow - after reading messages on this forum for over a year, I have finally signed up to be an official Fodorite! My husband and I had a wonderful trip to NYC last year thanks to the great advice available on this forum! We had such a great time that now his family wants us to take a family vacation to NYC in June, and I am in charge of planning the trip.

I have found a few flights that will work for us, but I'm not sure which would be best. I would prefer to fly into LaGuardia, which is where we flew last year, but I'm not satisfied with the arrival times available on the day we are traveling. So, now I have to choose between Newark (flying Continental) and JFK (on Jet Blue). The fares are the same, and the arrival times are only 30 minutes apart. There are differences in departure times on the day we go home, but it really doesn't matter what time we get home. I have no experience with either of these airports or airlines. I've read a lot of the old posts on this topic, and most seem to say choose the better airfare or better time. Since there is basically no difference for these two flights, I would like some input on which airport/airline is preferred and why, which is easiest to get in and out of, and which will take the least time to get into the city. I haven't selected a hotel yet, but it will most likely be midtown (in or near Times Square).

Also, since there are 6 of us, I think I would prefer to use a car service from the airport to the hotel rather than taking two cabs. We used Carmel to get from the hotel to LGA on our last trip, and I was very satisfied. I'm definetly not interested in taking the subway or other mass transit with luggage, so that is not an option.

Any general thoughts/advice on this issue would be appreciated. Thanks!

LGA is the most convenient by far, of course.

JFK is #2 in terms of convenience and JetBlue is a million times better than Continental.

Take JB into JFK, and Enjoy!

I'd also opt for Jet Blue to JFK.

I prefer limores.net for a car service to Carmel. For 5 people you'll need a minivan or a stretch limo. I think the stretch is a lot more.

I favor www.dial7.com myself. Two sedans might be cheaper than a 6 person vehicle.

I'd do LGA. JFK will be a 45-60 minute drive to Midtown whereas LGA is 20.

In other words that commute time could negate any time savings.

Plus, transportation from JFK is more costly.

I would do JFK rather than EWR. If there are traffic problems you have more options into the city - and usually it's easier to get a deal for JFK from the car services.

what time are you flying at and what day? that makes a huge difference. i travel a lot for work and while i do use mass transport quite often i feel as if i can break it down... june isnt bad in the city EXCEPT if its a friday night when everyone hightails its to their summer house OR if there is some parade..... (the closing of an avenue can add quite some time onto your journey).

In cases of storms etc... JFK always is the last to delay flights and cancel bc they have the most and the longest runways in the areas (Which planes need in crap weather). ewr tends to be more backed up and lga i almost refuse to fly to-- they dont have an ontime flight to be seen.

jetblue is a better airline vs. continental-- just depends if you have miles on a certain airline.

Thanks for all of the good advice. To answer some of your questions, we are flying in on a Saturday, and the flights we are looking at arrive as follows: EWR - 2:08 p.m.; JFK - 2:40 p.m.; LGA - 4:50 p.m. Please let me know if you think the increased commute time from JFK would make it better to fly into LGA. I was hoping to get to the hotel by around 4 or 5 o'clock, get unpacked & freshen up, have an early dinner, and head to one of the comedy clubs like Caroline's. We arrived on Saturday afternoon last time and went to the 8:00 show at Caroline's. We really enjoyed it. I know they have later shows, but I think we will be pretty tired after traveling all day.

Thanks for the advice on the other car services. I didn't know about limores.net. I will check it out. I did look at dial7.com, and their vans are cheaper than Carmel's, so I may use them instead.

I would do the EWR 2PM flight which should get you to Manhattan by 3:30PM.

The JFK one will put you in Manhattan closer to 5PM.

The LGA one would get you in Midtown by 5:30PM providing there are no major traffic snares.

Agree with above post. EWR #1, JFK #2, LGA #3.

Transit time from LGA is a little shorter (usually) but delays more common. EWR is my favorite - you can jump on the AirTain and not worry about traffic. JFK is a schlep to midtown under any circumstance.

I also agree that arriving 2-3 hrs. earlier makes EWR a better idea, especially in June. If you're staying on the west side, it's also somewhat more convenient. Be aware that there's about $10 in tolls from Newark that will be added onto a taxi or car service price. One taxi from EWR to Manhattan will be $40-55 depending on where you're going.

We flew Jetblue into JFK for Thanksgiving. Good flight experience. Be aware that the JFK Jetblue terminal was under renovation at that time. Had to fly into and out of what looked to be a termporary terminal reached by bus. Not sure if this will still be the case in June.
As an annoying aside, Jetblue sold my name and info to credit card companies associated with their frequent flyer program WHICH I DID NOT JOIN, and I have been receiving unwanted credit card solicitations ever since.

Newark has a nice train into the city. I've never flown Continental, so can't comment on the airline.

I use EWR when I must, but my main problem with it is the tunnel -- tunnel traffic can be horrible and I've sat for 90 minutes in the middle of the day waiting. (During non-peak times, lanes are often closed for road/tunnel work.)

Sure, traffic into the city from JFK can be and often is a nightmare, but at least you have options and, if you ask, a good driver will use them.

After considering all of your advice and discussing it with the group, we chose EWR. Thanks again for your help!