LHCVG From United States of America, joined May 2009, 1376 posts, RR: 1 Posted (3 years 5 months 1 week 3 days 15 hours ago) and read 1719 times:
I have a couple questions that I've kind of wondered about regarding travel plans:
1) Is NYC so congested/delay prone/etc. that connecting through there is something that's good to avoid if possible?
1a) Is EWR better than JFK and LGA in this respect? (I say this because in a post the other day someone mentioned that they think EWR is not as prone to the ATC delays that the other NYC airports are)
2) Are ATL and ORD preferable to NYC for connecting or are they busy enough that there may be delays just as bad as NYC?
3) I've always considered IAD and maybe PHL to be out of the majorly congested airspace in the NE US, so they seem to be better connecting options in terms of avoiding delays and such. Is this true?
I'm looking for general considerations, not so much individual routings since those would vary which hubs are more convenient.
Can't talk about EWR or JFK other than echoing what you've already heard about them, but ATL is a breeze to connect at. The airport's construction (6 terminals parallel to each other) makes it very easy to change between the concourses in very short time. Given that it is in the south, there can be weather delays due to thunderstorms particularly in the summer, but they have 5 runways in use at the same time, which is very efficient and a big advantage over the airports in NY, for instance. I'd choose Atlanta any day of the week.
[Edited 2010-01-10 09:55:37]
Et là tu montes encore plus haut et ça persiste, alors on vole
HT From Germany, joined May 2005, 6475 posts, RR: 26 Reply 2, posted (3 years 5 months 1 week 3 days 14 hours ago) and read 1697 times:
I second Luftfahrer's statement about ATL.
One never has to step out of the complex when connecting from one concourse to another (unlike at some other major airports in the U.S.).
Only downside is international arrivals and the new security check afterwards even if ATL is your final destinations. So be sure what liquids to buy enroute ...
With IAD's 4th runway in place (although unable to operate independently) it took a major step to the good.
And I never had any problems to speak of arriving or departing IAD nor upon connecting there. Maybe I was just lucky with moderate queues at immigration.
What is ORD's current state of re-aligning the runways ? For a time it was among the most (weather related) delay-prone airports in the U.S. especially if winds were unfavourable.
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Another (very) good hub airport in the east is CLT, even though some walks can be on the lengthy side.
-HT
PI4EVER From United States of America, joined May 2009, 599 posts, RR: 2 Reply 3, posted (3 years 5 months 1 week 3 days 10 hours ago) and read 1675 times:
Avoid JFK, PHL and MIA. EWR is OK and as noted by others, ATL is a breeze. IAD and ORD are fine. CLT ranks wih ATL as to ease clearing immigration and on to connecting flights, but obviously puts you on US which receives a very mixed bag response/opinion on their TATL service. BOS, IAH and DFW also good choices.
Hope this helps.
Thomas
ElBandGeek From United States of America, joined Jun 2008, 735 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (3 years 5 months 1 week 3 days 10 hours ago) and read 1671 times:
I've never had to connect through ORD but I have walked the terminals a few times and it doesn't seem like it's nearly as bad as some people make it. On AA the worst case scenario would probably be from the end of G to the end of H or K and I would say that would be maybe a 20 minute walk tops. As for UA, it's spread out between 2 terminals so it get's more complicated. Just connecting within T1 shouldn't be bad at all. There is a bus that runs every ten minutes or so between C and the UAX gates in T2, but even so I don't think walking from the end of F to the high C gates would take exceptionally long, as long as you don't have a tight connection.
Having actually connected in ATL (both on DL and FL) I can say getting from one point to another is very easy. My flight one time came into E and my connection went out of A and it didn't take long at all. I had a few hour layover so I wasn't rushing, but even if I had it would have been fine.
I think my favorite place to connect is DTW. The train makes getting from one end of A to the other a breeze, and it's no hassle to get over to B/C either. Plus in my experience it has never been delay-prone the way ORD is known to be.
Quoting HT (Reply 2):
What is ORD's current state of re-aligning the runways ? For a time it was among the most (weather related) delay-prone airports in the U.S. especially if winds were unfavourable.
The first new runway (9L/27R) is open as is the extension on 10/28 (originally 9R/27L, will be 10L/28R when this is all said and done). I believe what will eventually be 10C/28C is the next one slated to open but I have no idea when that may be. After that I think is the new 9C/27C and the extension to 9R/27L (originaly 9L/27R). That is also when they should be decommissioning the 32/14s. Then finally will be the far south 10R/27L. I have no idea the timeframe on all of this but I vaguely recall hearing it's supposed to be all done by 2014 (don't uote me on it though)
Airplaneguy From United States of America, joined Dec 2009, 48 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (3 years 5 months 1 week 3 days 10 hours ago) and read 1667 times:
ATL, despite being a large airport, is remarkably easy to connect from concourse to concourse. They have that underground train system which is super efficient and easy. I've been through CLT many times, and it being a medium sized airport, it is easy to get around and lacking in the "hustle" of the large hubs. Thunderstorms can be a potential problem in summer for any hub in the south, but then again, snowstorms can be a potential winter problem with the northern hubs. DTW is another easy one with beautiful concourse.
LHCVG From United States of America, joined May 2009, 1376 posts, RR: 1 Reply 6, posted (3 years 5 months 1 week 3 days 9 hours ago) and read 1659 times:
Lots of good info here. I forgot to mention that I do also think ATL is great for ease of connecting, subject to tight connections due to delays (the last time I had a tight connection because ATC was slowing us down all the way from AUS in order to preserve spacing on approach into ATL).
SW733 From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 6104 posts, RR: 10 Reply 7, posted (3 years 5 months 1 week 3 days 8 hours ago) and read 1646 times:
Quoting HT (Reply 2):
No own experience, but some user complain about the state of its interiors.
To me, it's not the airport that is bad, but rather the airline you will most likely be flying to get there, US Airways. I would avoid it because of that.
ATL is easy. ORD not bad. I avoid the NYC airports like the plague. IAD has been fast the few times I transited there.
HT From Germany, joined May 2005, 6475 posts, RR: 26 Reply 8, posted (3 years 5 months 1 week 3 days 2 hours ago) and read 1627 times:
Quoting LHCVG (Reply 6): the last time I had a tight connection because ATC was slowing us down all the way from AUS in order to preserve spacing on approach into ATL).
Was this before or after the opening of ATL's 5th (parallel) runway ?
LAXintl From United States of America, joined May 2000, 22228 posts, RR: 51 Reply 9, posted (3 years 5 months 1 week 3 days 1 hour ago) and read 1621 times:
Here is some data from the DOT on US airport ontime performance for 11-months ending Novermber 09.
As you can see NY area airports are the worst in the nation for on-time performance.
Jan 1 - November 30, 2009 %
1 Salt Lake City, UT (SLC) 86.26
2 Chicago, IL (MDW) 84.80
3 Phoenix, AZ (PHX) 84.45
4 Houston, TX (IAH) 84.07
5 Portland, OR (PDX) 83.50
6 Las Vegas, NV (LAS) 83.47
7 Los Angeles, CA (LAX) 83.30
8 Baltimore, MD (BWI) 83.28
9 Cincinnati, OH (CVG) 82.72
10 St. Louis, MO (STL) 82.52
11 Detroit, MI (DTW) 82.52
12 Tampa, FL (TPA) 82.43
13 San Diego, CA (SAN) 82.29
14 Seattle, WA (SEA) 82.24
15 Orlando, FL (MCO) 82.02
16 Washington, DC (IAD) 81.54
17 Denver, CO (DEN) 81.31
18 Washington, DC (DCA) 80.94
19 Charlotte, NC (CLT) 80.63
20 Chicago, IL (ORD) 80.62
21 Dallas/Ft.Worth, TX (DFW) 79.55
22 Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN (MSP) 79.36
23 Fort Lauderdale, FL (FLL) 79.36
24 Boston, MA (BOS) 76.54
25 Miami, FL (MIA) 76.52
26 Philadelphia, PA (PHL) 75.02
27 San Francisco, CA (SFO) 73.86
28 New York, NY (JFK) 73.74
29 Atlanta, GA (ATL) 72.89
30 New York, NY (LGA) 68.51
31 Newark, NJ (EWR) 66.10
From the desert to the sea, to all of Southern California
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