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Original poster

Which airline / which airport to New York?

17 replies

boredofironing · 03/02/2013 22:07

Want to go to New York. Flights are coming up pretty much the same price for several airlines. BA, Virgin, Luthanse, American Airlines. Some into JFK airport, some into Newark airport.
(We have two dc 7 and 10.)

Any tips greatly appreciated. Thanks.

OP posts:

HomeEcoGnomist · 03/02/2013 22:10

Into Newark - shorter queues at immigration
Out from JFK

Worked a treat when I went In Sept

HomeEcoGnomist · 03/02/2013 22:12

Oh, and we flew Virgin

Def don't go with AA - consistently poor ratings, v rude staff

FoxtrotFoxtrotSierra · 03/02/2013 22:13

Depends on times out of JFK. We flew out in the evening and everything shut at 8pm. It was ghastly. Newark was lovely though.

PoppyWearer · 03/02/2013 22:14

Virgin or BA.

JFK is a nicer/bigger airport but Newark smaller and probably less queues.

Original poster

boredofironing · 03/02/2013 22:14

Excellent. thank you.
Which airport gets the best view of stat.of.lib?

OP posts:

SandStorm · 03/02/2013 22:15

We flew AA in October and they were fine. We arrived into Newark and waited 2 1/2 hours to clear immigration.

PinkyCheesy · 07/02/2013 11:52

My tip: take the morning BA flight out of JFK. Business people dont use it cos it wastes a whole day, so its quieter and and the airport is a rather nicer place to be in. Or if you HAVE to fly home overnight, book the first flight (6pm ish) and hope that its really really full so you get bumped (and compensated!) on to the next flight. There's about 5 flights every evening, and they're all always late so you won't really lose any time

Fly into Newark for less immigration hassle.

No free booze on American (that sways it for me)!

NB I have probably spent as much of my life at Heathrow and JFK as I have at school

AttilaTheMeerkat · 07/02/2013 13:05

JFK is a dump of an airport and traffic around that whole area can be horrendous.

Newark is a bit nicer and the whole airport boarding process seems to be a bit smoother (though still not great).

skratta · 10/02/2013 15:29

Definitely go into Newark, whenever I fly here (my closest airport is JFK, but traffic means it takes just as long to get home sometimes!) I fly in.

JFK traffic is bad (already mentioned before) but it is quite nice once inside, and is a lot bigger, but not a nice place to come into when you arrive/travel from after a flight. I would reccomend JFK for a later flight definitely, on the way back.

I liked AA a lot, great service, very friendly, but Virgin (only used once, but recently) was also good. Overall, I'd say Virgin, because I know a lot of people don't have such a good experience as my ones have been and although I had a great time (well, as great as you can on a plane flying for hours and hours) others didn't, so better not to chance it.

juneau · 17/02/2013 12:12

Which airport gets the best view of stat.of.lib?

You don't get views of anything flying into JFK, I don't think. We usually fly into Newark and the approach is along the Hudson river, so if you sit on the left-hand side of the plane you get lovely views of the Manhattan skyline as you come in to land. I can't remember if you can see the Statue of Liberty, but if you were sitting by the window you should be able to.

JFK is big and crazy with eight separate terminals. Newark is newer and less busy. It's also closer to the city, but it really depends where you're staying and what time of day you arrive as the traffic can be very heavy during rush hour. If you're downtown then Newark is probably better. Midtown or Upper East Side it would take about the same amount of time by cab.

SW1XMother · 19/02/2013 07:38

We always fly into JFK with Virgin, but Newark is a nicer airport. We fly with Virgin Atlantic and immigration never takes more than 30 minutes. We are usually one of the first to leave the plane (travelling upper class or premium economy) and don't have to queue long at the airport.

bridgetsmum · 19/02/2013 17:15

You should also consider going via Dublin with Aer Lingus. Although you have a change of plane, the major advantage is that you will pre clear customs and immigration at Dublin. Straight thru no queues on arrival

bridgetsmum · 19/02/2013 17:26

Just another thing with going thru Dublin, it's only on the earlier Aer Lingus flight EI105 that you can pre clear at Dublin.

mrscog · 19/02/2013 17:32

We flew with Virgin into JFK - we were on the 2pm from LHR flight. It was fine, and I'd recommend Virgin. We weren't affected by traffic as we got the train into Manhattan.

We did get a view of the Manhattan skyline as well - but if you're flying into JFK you need to sit on the right of the plane. Couldn't see SoL though.

Not sure about flying back as we flew on to California then flew back from LA (hell - LAX is rubbish!).

AttilaTheMeerkat · 19/02/2013 17:41

You'd have more chance of seeing the Statue of Liberty from the air if flying into Newark; you certainly will not see it if flying into JFK.

Still prefer Newark to JFK; it is certainly the lesser of two evils.

(Would agree with your comment re LAX mrscog - its a real dump).

Coconutty · 19/02/2013 17:46

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Fairypants · 19/02/2013 17:50

We went last week! Used Newark.
Saw SoL from left of plane on the way in (rt on the way out) really good views of manhattan in general.
We flew with united airlines which was fine but felt a bit budgety - no free booze!
Immigration was very long but we stopped to go to the loo straight off the plane so were literally the last in the line from our plane.
Hth

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