Hubby and I are planners. In the event of possibly doing a visit to Cornell next month, what is the closest major airport to Cornell? Looking at a map, is it Syracuse?
Any tips/advice for us Californians would be appreciated.
Syracuse is the closet major airport. Ithaca airport and Elmira airport are much smaller but are closer to Cornell.
I don’t know what the definition of “major” airport is.
The following cities have airports:
Syracuse
Rochester
Buffalo
Philadelphia
New York
The following airports are certainly not “major”, nevertheless you can possiblly fly into and out of them, via the “Delta Express”, “US Air Express” type connecting flights:
Ithaca
Elmira
Binghamton
Wilkes Barre-Scranton
The issue is these don’t have many flights in/out per day, so you don’t want to miss that connecting flight; leave plenty of time. Some times of year weather/fog can be a concern for flying up there, but it should be fine when you’re planning to go I think.
You’d have to check about car rentals. Alternatively there are buses to Ithaca from Binghamton,Scranton and NYC, {maybe some of the others, I dont know),but you probably don’t want that hassle. Anyway the environs around Ithaca are gorgeous and are best explored by car.
Fly into Newark and then to Ithaca or Syracuse. or do the drive from Newark NJ to Ithaca 3.75 hours.
Most of my friends get a ride to Syracuse to fly out to Philly or JFK and then fly home. Syracuse is the closest major airport. Barely anyone bothers with Ithaca’s airport.
Don’t plan for Ithaca airport during the cold months as they don’t have de-icing equipment. Syracuse airport is about an hour shuttle ride from Cornell.
If money is an issue, southwest airlines is cheaper and flies into Rochester and you can rent a car (3 hr drive). If not, flying into Ithaca in April would be the most convenient. The planes going in and out of ithaca are very small, btw. But I think Syracuse is most commonly used for traveling from the west. You could rent a car or take the shuttle (they call it limosine) between Cornell and the airport.
“…into Rochester and you can rent a car (3 hr drive).”
you mean "… into Rochester and you can rent a car (2 hr drive). "
Thank you, monydad! You’re right. I was thinking about Buffalo, which we did once because I wanted to see Niagara Falls.
I’d say fly to Newark (EWR). You can fly nonstop. Then drive up to Ithaca. About 3.5 hours. Or fly to Ithaca from there.
Or in our case, at Xmas take Amtrak from Syracuse to Chicago Union Station: 13 hours, free wifi, free bags, and D will just sleep anyway after finals. Plus it’s only $150 round trip. 
When on the airline websites, check into the “vacation packages” with rental car. Sometimes the car deals make it extremely worthwhile – esp since you can do some exploring on your own. If you go ala carte and look at the car rental separately, you miss out on good deals.
I remember flying in/out of Ithaca airport a few times in the 80’s when I was a student at Cornell. A one room building about 30’x30’, one door to the parking lot and one door out to the planes. When they called your plane: “now departing, gate 1 …” haha. I’m sure it’s bigger now, and frankly I would fly there if I had the chance because it would be a nice retro feel, and no shuttle busses to the rental cars, etc…
OP. I have a current student at Cornell and we’re from SoCal. The closest somehow “major” airport to Cornell is Syracuse. The flights from Syracuse connect to Philly/JFK/La Guardia/Chicago/Detroit, etc. You need to have a long layover because flight from Syracuse often get delayed. It’s better to wait 3 or even 4 hours at JFK than to wait overnight because you missed your flight. For your visit next month. just rent a car from Syracuse and take the drive from there to Cornell. It’s not that far. I think it’s an hour.
For your student. if he/she decides to attend Cornell. There are buses from Cornell that can take students from Cornell to Syracuse. Ithaca airport is closer and more convenient but can be more expensive as the flights are limited. Also during winter, like somebody said. they don’t have de-icing. My daughter likes to fly JetBlue since they have a free-luggage checkin and they have red-eye flights from SoCal to JFK. Feel free to PM me if you need more info.
@dad2018, does your daughter take a 5-hour bus to NYC…how does she get to JFK? I’m asking because JetBlue is opening direct services from there to where we live (Reno) this year. For now, D has flown in and out of Syracuse.
@Renomamma
Sorry, I should have qualified my statement. She takes JetBlue from Cal to JFK then another JetBlue connecting flight from JFK to Syracuse. Since we figured that she’ll be using JetBlue a lot, we as a family enrolled to their Jet Blue reward program and opened a Amex Jet Blue card. So far we accumulated points good for a round trip ticket.
That’s very helpful, 2018dad! I didn’t realize JetBlue flew to Syracuse. Thanks.
Just curious: did any of you ever compare the travel time and expense of:
a) a 3 or 4 hour layover in JFK (If that’s what it is- and it probably shouldn’t be much less than 2hrs, in some seasons anyway, due to the risk of a late flight causing a missed connection), then a plane to Syracuse, then 1-1/4hrs limo ride from Syracuse to Ithaca;
vs
b) cab from airport right to Cornell bus stop in NYC, then Cornell bus from there right to Cornell campus?
http://transportation.fs.cornell.edu/coach/schedule/default.cfm
For multiple people on a visitation trip ,it seems like car rental- whether at JFK or LGA or Philly or Newark,- whichever gives the best direct flights from where you live, timing-wise- might be preferable to anything else. Giving consideration to the prudent layover time issue, per-person charges of buses or planes, and the fact that a car is desireable to visit the area anyway.
^ Agreed, those airline tickets really add up!
I’m from the West Coast so I’ve been giving transportation a lot of thought as well. I think that flying or driving into Ithaca makes sense for move-in day, but after that, carpooling with other students to get to JFK/Newark/LaGuardia would probably save time and money (Syracuse doesn’t have any direct flights that I know of).
All: thanks for all your tips and advice. D was accepted to Cornell today, so we will be planning a visit in April for one of the Cornell Days!