<p>Apologies in advance for bumping an old thread, but I just wanted to thank you all once more for the help with my return flight decision. My flight from Tel Aviv to Newark was almost completely empty, so I lucked out with an entire row to myself in the front of the plane Once we landed, I rushed through customs (no line!) and was in a cab within 40 minutes. The cab ride from Newark to JFK was almost 2 hours because of all the traffic, but I got there just in time to catch my flight back home and arrived late on Christmas eve!</p>
<p>I had a fantastic time and would definitely recommend Newark if any of you are planning on international travel. It was by far the best airport I’ve experienced of the three major ones in the New York area. All of the workers I encountered were friendly, there were very few crowds, and I was able to easily navigate around the airport to get to where I needed to be.</p>
<p>If Newark is your first US port you land at, you need to pass through customs there. You cannot check your luggage through. So you have to wait until your luggage appears on the carousel, bring it to customs, then check your luggage again and board. As others have said, your flight will begin boarding about 30 minutes before departure. No way you can make it in one hour. And take into account possible flight delays. Even in good weather, there may be airport congestion that would force your plane to hold in place for a while.</p>
<p>Glad it worked for you! A question-my Ds are on a similar trip, and due to a flight change, will arrive in Newark at 9:30 AM, and not need to be back at the airport till 5 PM. What is the cheapest way to get into NYC? And is this sufficient time to get into the city, meet a friend for a few hours and get back to Newark? The friend says taxis, but that involves quite a chunk of change.</p>
<p>you can take the airtrain— you take the monorail to the train station at the airport and then take NJtransit into penn station. On your return trip you need to make sure that the train stops at newark liberty (and not just newark penn), since not all trains do. It’s about 20 minutes into NYC.</p>
Once we landed, I rushed through customs (no line!) and was in a cab within 40 minutes. The cab ride from Newark to JFK was almost 2 hours because of all the traffic, but I got there just in time to catch my flight back home and arrived late on Christmas eve!</p>