Airports from Princeton (Newark, Atlantic City, Allentown: live, prices, airport)

[cool-breeze]

We are planning to move to the Princeton area and wanted to know which airport is the best to use for domestic and international flights. Seems that both Newark and Philadelphia are relatively equidistant. Are one of the airports better for travel time/traffic, parking and overall efficiency? Thanks

[christina0001]

I give slight preference to Philly, seems a little cleaner, a little less rude. Baggage claim seems easier at Newark. Parking is easier at Newark but further. Traffic is about equal. I haven't really had anything seriously negative happen at either airport, both seem efficient enough. I usually price out flights for both and go with whichever is cheaper. Only once has the pricing been almost identical, so I went with Philly. Usually going to one over the other saves me a few bucks.

[royceb]

Originally Posted by christina0001

I give slight preference to Philly, seems a little cleaner, a little less rude. Baggage claim seems easier at Newark. Parking is easier at Newark but further. Traffic is about equal. I haven't really had anything seriously negative happen at either airport, both seem efficient enough. I usually price out flights for both and go with whichever is cheaper. Only once has the pricing been almost identical, so I went with Philly. Usually going to one over the other saves me a few bucks.

Newark is the worst airport in the county when it comes to delays. In the last 5 years, I can only remember when a couple of times where my flights arrived on time. 2-4 hour delays are common because of all of the flight traffic.

[Viralmd]

I agree about the delays at Newark, HOWEVER, there are MANY more international flights through Newark...

[christina0001]

I guess I've been lucky. I only fly a couple of times a year, tops. I'm a patient person, and the only time I experienced what I felt was a considerable delay (2-3 hours!) was at Chicago. It was terrible. They loaded the plane and had us sit there for over 2 hours.

[lammius]

I fly 3-4 times a year out of Newark. Sometimes I have to fly out of JFK for international flights to Asia. Newark is MUCH better than JFK, but I'm not sure how it compares (in terms of ease of passing through) to Philadelphia. One advantage Newark has is that from Princeton you can take the train and AirTrain if you don't wish to drive/park or use a car service.

[BahamaBlu]

I think it really comes down to price and which one has a better flight for you. I prefer Newark and went through it a few months ago with little problem. I've been too both Newark & Philly [Newark more] and have never found one to be rude/more dirty than the other. If any the part of Philly's airport I was in was sort of run-downish [I think it was Delta's area.. not sure]


P.S. I would not advise JFK. For some reason, that airport drives me nuts.

[cool-breeze]

Appreciate all the comments. How does parking prices, frequency of shuttles to terminal and distance to terminal (if walking is necessary) compare between Philly and Newark. We would definitely avoid going to either LGA or JFK. Also if anyone has comments on either Atlantic City airport or Allentown Bethlehem, especially distance/commuting time compared to Philly or Newark - would be appreciated.

[christina0001]

I don't recall Newark and Philly having a significant difference in parking prices and frequency of shuttles. If you are walking, Philly has closer parking. I have walked from my terminal once to my car at Philly (just felt like walking) but that wouldn't be an option at Newark, I don't think. I park in the economy lot which is pretty far from the terminals. I haven't been to AC airport. My grandfather adores Allentown airport, but he lives in NW NJ. I've checked a couple of times but Allentown never has the flights I need, and I think the commute is at least as long if not longer to Allentown.

[downtownjc]

Newark and Philly are probably the same as far as delays at this point. I have been often delayed on both, and in Philly the takeoff delays (from just waiting for a runway to open up for takeofff) seem to reach 45+ minutes regularly.

You may as well go with whichever one has the cheaper fares on the route you fly on. That's often Philly since Southwest flies out of PHL (keeping fares down), but not always.

And of course most domestic flights out of PHL will be on USAirways while most domestic flights out of EWR are on Continental.