Almost every month, a new report comes out with a ranking of different airports.
While the categories used to assign grades will vary slightly depending on who is doing the report, there are some commonly agreed-upon factors that most will not argue can either make or break one’s airport experience — the frequency and length of flight delays, how modern and well-organized the airport is on the inside and the amount of traffic getting into the airport.
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For me, a different variation of the latter — or, how easy or not it is to get to the airport from the city — is very often the determining factor of whether to fly out of a particular one when there are other options. Very often, the lower price of the ticket can lure you in but not be worth the aggravation of several bus transfers or an expensive Uber (UBER) price.
Veronika Bondarenko
I will pick LaGuardia every time for one simple reason
If we don’t take into account airports like Teterboro (TEB) which are used by private jets, LaGuardia Airport is objectively the easiest airport in NYC to access from most parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn.
From where I live on the Upper West Side, I can ride the 2 train and catch a direct bus to LaGuardia (LGA) to arrive in 50 minutes if timed right while not spending any more than what is already covered by a MetroCard. Even if I deal with the very long ride and transfers at stations that do not necessarily have elevators on which to bring your suitcase, the last leg of one’s public transit journey to JFK will require you to pay an additional $8.50 for an AirTrain ticket. In the reverse, I’d be looking at an Uber or Lyft (LYFT) of at least $70 and likely higher during busy periods. When traveling with only a carry-on, I like going by public transit.
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The ride-hailing app costs are even higher for Newark (EWR) (it is, after all, in a different state), and while the NJ Transit is fairly efficient I find having to transfer at the crowded and airless Penn Station too stressful.
‘Easy to miss one’s train and thereby miss one’s flight’
Another train might not come for more than 20 minutes while, given the fact that gates are announced on overheard screens around which many other travelers are crowding, it is easy to miss one’s train and thereby miss one’s flight when heading to the airport as I did twice in the last five years.
You wouldn’t be wrong chalking this up to my poor time management but airports that have made it easy for travelers to get downtown will always win over those who don’t.
So yes, I will pick LaGuardia every time I can even if the ticket is more expensive. This is often not possible since the airport only offers a few international flights to other countries in North America but when given the chance to avoid an expensive cab ride or a long transit ride when I’m already tired from a flight, I will pay the higher ticket fee every time.
