Which airport to NYC?
 

Hello everyone,

I'm planning a trip to New York in July or August this summer with my sister and our 2 daughters age 12 & 14. We intend to do all the touristy stuff.

I've been to NYC once before. When visiting RI, we took the train in for the weekend. Unfortunately, it was the weekend of the famous blackout. We were unable to do much of what we had planned, got stranded and just all around had a very stressful time (or an adventure which is how I tried to get my DD to look at it!).

This time we'll be flying from Seattle and staying a week. I really have no knowledge of the best airport to fly into or the best way to get from the airport to the city. We are planning on staying in midtown. Will probably priceline something.

Any info anyone could give me on which airport,transportation, which month would be better between the two etc. would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Jenn

I know it isn't the most popular, but we really have enjoyed flying into Newark, and taking the Olympia Bus into the city. Last trip, we took the SuperShuttle and ended up circling the airport three times to get enough passengers to fill up the van - never again. We had 5 so a car service was out of our budget.

Priceline should be pretty easy that time of the summer - it's hot in NYC and not a big tourist destination at that time. My daughter and I visited one July and the weather cooperated, however, so we were lucky.

Alaska has a nonstop from Seattle-Newark every day getting you into Newark at 5 p.m. You could then bus over to the Port Authority and get to most any midtown hotel in no time at all (we walked up to our hotel 6 blocks from the PA in about 10 minutes).

Let me know if you have questions I can help with. We love NY and visit a couple times a year, and fly from Seattle, too.

Unless you can save at least $100 PER person, I wouldn't fly into any other airport but LGA.

It is the most convenient airport to fly into then to get into Manhattan.

Yes, people will tell you the Airtrain from Newark is quick but it isn't faster than LGA and with luggage, it is a PIA and you still have to get a cab from Penn Station to your hotel.

LGA.

LGA.

Fly into LGA.

inthechips, a car service from Newark is priced for the entire car.

The shuttle probably cost you as much if not more than a car service.

jdmaillet, forget to add, a cab is the easiest and fastest way to get from LGA to your hotel.

I think the quote was $95, not including tips and toll, for the car service. The shuttle was $17 pp, plus tip. So, yes, you are probably correct - lesson learned. We may have saved about $10 and it was a lot more of a hassle, but guess I had to try it once, huh?

I recently checked the Carmel and Tel Aviv web sites, and I think a minivan, which will hold 5 people, was about $50, plus tip and tolls.

I had checked with both Tel Aviv and Carmel, by email, and was quoted $95 for 5 persons with a piece of luggage each. I too saw the $50 on the website, but the email said different.

Agree that LGA is most convenient to the City - but EWR and JFK are not that bad either. So - I would use LGA unless you get significant savings at one of the other two.

For four people with luggage cab or car service is the most sensible way to get into the city. The cost is similar to - or may be less than - taking the Shuttle.

Public transit options are also available for each (but from LGA are really bad) but IMHO are not really sensible for four people with luggage - the savings are not that great.

No brainer -- <b>LGA</b> if you can get it.

I only use the other airports if I absolutely must.

Ranked by ease of gettting into the city, it would be LGA, EWR then JFK.
From LGA you can take a cab or bus (M60) but could get stuck in traffic with either. From EWR you can take the bus, a shuttle (already know the downside there) or cab, or the train into NY Penn station. From there you can walk, cab or subway to your hotel, depending on location.
For my money, after a cross-country flight it is worth a couple extra dollars to reduce the hassle so a car service might be a good choice.
We just used Carmel from NYC to EWR and it ran about $60 with tolls and tip, about the same as a cab but with better service; we booked online at www.carnellimo.com They also have a coupon on their website for a discount on airport pickup.

Well, I love flying in/out of EWR and try to do so as often as possible, especially if flying out early (before 8:00am) and returning late (after 8:00pm). I've encountered the fewest problems/delays both on arrival and departure plus it usually never takes more than 20 mins. to get to/from the aiport (I live downtown).

I know you guys will call me nutty BUT I live in NY and I would never ever fly out or into LGA. LGA has and is having some serious air traffic controller problems. Every week there is a new story on the news of near misses and aborted flights from this airport....I experienced one myself a few months ago and it was very scary. I'm sure there are more than they report. My choice would be Newark or JFK. Believe it or not a friend of mine took off from LGA 2 weeks ago....had a near miss on take off and an aborted landing on the way home...

That combined with my own experience is enough for me.

I have to agree with Annabel. I've lived in NYC for 13 years and have run into major airline delays in and out of LGA. They also have one of the country's shortest runways (but I'm not expert, so maybe that's not a big deal). It is the closest to the city, but Newark is maybe 10 minutes more? JFK isn't too bad either but avoid rush hours if you take a cab (actually, avoid rush hours at any of the area airports). I choose Newark when I can because, on a consistent basis, I've found it to be the easiest to deal with. But that's my view on it. Others will likely have had the opposite experience! By the way, a NYC cab has a 4 person limit, so you may have to split up or take a car service.

Don;t let anyone scare you about LGA. It's true that the runways are much shorter than at EWR nd JFK. That's why jumbo jets - which need longer runways - are not allowed to land there. The runways they have are plenty long enough for the smaller jets (727s, 737s etc) that do land there.

As for scare stories - there are problems and near mises at all ariports all the time - mostly not reported in the news. I haven;t seen anything at all to indicate this is more common at LGA than any other airport. (I've had problems on takeoffs or landings at all three ariports - it 's just one of those things that happens if you fly enough.) If you let those things bother you - you should just give up flying.

I would go with LGA. As for month, it's a tossup. I wouldn't advise going in the summer as it's pretty hot and steamy.

Give me a break. I fly out of LGA about 4-5 times per month, JFK at least once (JetBlue) and EWR at least once (Continental). Delays at LGA are no worse or better than the others, and this talk of &quot;air traffic problems&quot; is hogwash.

It does make sense for people who live downtown to use EWR -- LGA is at the opposite end of Manhattan.

(But last week my girlfriend took a car service from midtown to EWR in the rain -- 3.5 hours, most of it waiting to get in the tunnel. She missed her flight to Chicago but got on one an hour later.)

LGA is the best/closest. Period. You can/will experience delays at any of these airports. Try to avoid Friday flights if at all possible.

You can fly into the airport of your choice, but just so you know that this is a serious situatiuon that does exist...

abclocal.go.com/wabc/news/investigators/wabc_investigators_111104laguardia.html

abclocal.go.com/wabc/news/wabc_030905.airsafety.html

Like I stated in my previous post, I experienced this first hand. If you have a choice of 3 airports within 10-15 minutes, why not choose the safest one?

I fly out of NY quite a bit - about an equal number of times at each of the 3 airports. I have never experienced any significant delays at JFK or EWR but have often been delayed at LGA - many times were insane delays of 4+ hours. Also since 9/11 many of the security areas have been reconfigured at LGA...and very badly - especially Delta's. Yes, waiting outside in 20 degree weather for 2 hours is such fun! Because of all this, I often fly out of JFK (taking the subway from home in Brooklyn) and into LGA (quick cab ride home). If I'm leaving from work (near Penn Station) I'll almost always fly out of EWR - I love the AirTrain.

I've flown in and out of LGA at least a hundred times and the ONLY time I've ever been delayed was prior to September 11th. Since that time, I've experienced no delays.

If you are flying in the summer months, make sure your arrival time is before 2PM at the latest. Afternoon thunderstorms will absolutely shut down NYC airspace.

Michelle, last time I flew into NYC, about two weeks ago, I stayed downtown. Since I was flying into Newark, what the heck, I took the Airtrain. Never again with luggage. Took me an hour and ten minutes to get from Newark to Wall Street schlepping two bags.

The really dumb thing I did was take to subway to Wall Street.