<p>We’ve been using Q Conn this year. With my first Yalie, I used CT Limo and I think Prime Time once or twice. So far I am pretty pleased with Q Conn. They picked him up from a hotel in Hartford and got him to Harvest in time. They got him to the airport and back at Thanksgiving. They have a Yale discount. They are pricey if you need a ride after hours, but CT Limo doesn’t provide rides after midnight – DS lands at 11:47 p.m. returning from winter break and they told me there was no way they could give him a ride. </p>
<p>I did have one problem. They called DS regarding his ride to the airport at Thanksgiving and said to expect a driver in a car – like a cab. Apparently they will outsource to a contracted driver if they only have one student. All was fine. The driver showed up and was very nice, but he didn’t realize that we had already paid and DS didn’t know if I had and he asked DS to pay and he did. When he arrived here I was upset, but we called Q Conn and they credited us right away and quickly figured out what went wrong on their end. I talked to them and they explained to me that they will sometimes contract with individual drivers to save fuel, etc. when it’s one passenger going a distance. On the way home he was in a van. But even with that snafu, I think I like them better than CT Limo. The website is user-friendly, there is a discount and they answer the phone right away. They seem to care about keeping my business and I was pleased with their response when they made a mistake. I’m curious to see how it goes next week and when he goes back. I’ll let you know if we run into any problems. I am pretty sure CT Limo is less expensive round trip to JFK, but if they can’t provide the return trip, it isn’t useful. I’m going to continue to price-check and I might use CT Limo for spring break depending on price and timing of the flights.</p>
<p>IIRC, the last time I booked CT Limo round trip it was $95. I don’t know if that’s still the case as my son prefers (i.e. it’s cheaper for him) to take the Metro North and a bus to the airport. </p>
<p>FYI, I just called for my daughter to visit her brother last week and was able to book her one way reservation over the phone two days in advance from JFK. At the time they didn’t have the notice up on the web site and I told them I was unsuccessful booking online. They also told me the system was “down” with no mention of the upgrade.</p>
<p>Hoping all goes well with K1s Ct limo ride tom given all of the talk here of changes in Ct Limo ops.</p>
<p>FWIW
K1 does all of the booking for CT Limo…goes through the Yale portal system to the CT Limo site and prepays by credit card. K1 did the reservation for the airport transfers about a month ago. It is usually a large bus. </p>
<p>We don’t do the transfers at all… figured since I handle the airline ticket search, K1 can do the transfers…part of the growing up experience… At some point I suppose K1 will have to take over the airline ticket search. </p>
<p>I am going to investigate that Q Conn option…and Go shuttle. We used Go shuttle to Princeton and it was perfect. I have used a SuperShuttle service for business which was excellent as well. A little competition for CT Limo is good imho.</p>
<p>Our daughter was able to get through to CT Limo by phone this morning and got a reservation, so all should be well. She was afraid to book online since she is leaving tomorrow and they say they need 3 days. I guess the new web site looks better than the old one, but I have to believe they get significant business from Yale kids, so why mess things up just when the kids are leaving for Christmas? So I’m happy to have the names of a few other companies, these folks seem to make odd decisions and I’m not sure we can trust them.</p>
<p>DS called CT Limo yesterday afternoon. He was told his pickup time today would be about 8:10 am if he wanted to make a reservation, even though the departure time of his flight @BDL will be much later. We wonder whether it is because his pickup is not at Phelps Gate. But we did notice there appears to be not so many scheduled pickup time slots as before (many years ago).</p>
<p>We suggested that he take a cab instead this time.</p>
<p>Called CT Limo twice today, both times hung up after being on hold for 10 minutes. Enough wasted time on this. I booked with Go Shuttle which was quick and easy online. Too bad–we have used CT Limo for 7 years now (have had 2 kids at Yale) and never a problem until now. Hopefully they straighten themselves out. S said many kids in his dorm are complaining about CT Limo right now…</p>
<p>Was that Go Shuttle to BDL? And did it work out OK?</p>
<p>How much is a cab to BDL</p>
<p>CTLimo did pick up my Daughter and 10 other kids at 10:15am. A CTLimo bus showed up and the driver didn’t want to take them (? not sure why ?). Then he said that he would take them, so the 11 got on the bus. Then a 10 person minivan showed up, and the CTLimo driver told the driver that he was late and so the passengers were all on his bus and that the minivan driver wouldn’t get paid because he was late. Anyway, her flight was at 1pm, so she wasn’t late to the airport and it all worked out OK.</p>
<p>I actually think CT Limo pickup from Phelps Gate to BDL is almost always on time (+/- 15 minutes is regarded as on-time here.) The other direction tends to be more troublesome, especially when there are not many students traveling back to campus. However, if you are willing to wait at the airport beyond your scheduled pickup time, CT Limo van will eventually show up. At one time, we waited almost an hour beyond our scheduled pickup time (and called them multiple times while waiting.) To be sure, this happened to either DS or us only two times in the past 4-5 years. So its on-time record (for pickup) is actually better than the flight on-time record for some airlines.</p>
<p>That is good news. At Thanksgiving our daughter flew back through LGA, and she had to wait an hour after her plane landed before the ctlimo van showed up. But they had told her it would be that way, so she was OK with the wait. I’m not sure what they’ve told her about the pick up at BDL in January. </p>
<p>It sounds like the ctlimo people are fairly reliable, once you get past their web interface and recent scheduling problems.</p>
<p>I just made CT limo reservations due to previous good comments about them from this thread, but very concerned that it will not work out. Was on hold for 15 min, then disconnected, then on hold for 30 mins. Since it takes so long to get through by phone, I thought that I’d ask the group…when D flies into JFK, where does she wait for CT limo? Is there a sign that says “shuttles”? Does she make a call to CT limo to tell them that she arrived. I was starting to ask these questions at CT limo when the lady hung up. I would call to cancel my reservation, but ironically, the hold times are too long. </p>
<p>FYI, RT prices from Yale to JFK are $95 for CT limo, $98 for QConn Shuttle, $108 for Go Shuttle, $134 for Red Dot. For QConn, they pick up and drop off at individual terminals, but for start of school, end of school, and thanksgiving, they pick up and drop off at Terminal 4 and you have to take the airport shuttle to/from terminal 4.</p>
<p>I just got off the phone with CT Limo. I too was on hold for a while so I was sneaky and called their private car phone number. When the person answered I pleaded that I had been on hold for so long on the shuttle line, and she took pity on me and connected me directly with a person who could book my reservation. I was super nice and that got me a long way I think. The total charge was $65 ROUND TRIP Phelps Gate to Bradley, worth the hassle in my opinion.</p>
<p>To YoHoHo’s great summary of fares, I’d like to add the estimated fare from Phelps Gate to LGA using public transportation:</p>
<p>Phelps Gate to Union Station - free on Yale Shuttle
Metro North offpeak to 125th St - $15</p>
<h1>M60 to LGA - $2.25</h1>
<pre><code> $17.25 one way; $34.50 round trip
</code></pre>
<p>In four years of commuting between our Southern State and Yale, my child has flown out of LGA, JFK, EWR and HPN (only when being picked up by someone local to HPN). She hasn’t used a limo service yet - frugality runs deep in her! Could we be the only family that prefers to save $60 over saving an hour or two?</p>
She should be DS’s role model. Well, maybe the role model of any of our family members.</p>
<p>To his credit, in many cases, he is more frugal than his parents. We have had many arguments in the past because we wanted him to go the more expensive way and he would like to go the more frugal way.</p>
<p>When he had to be busy till 3:00 am, we felt the pain and did not want him to waste time by being on hold for half an hour when calling CT Limo.</p>
<p>Talking about frugality, one of DS’s suitmates always flied first class for his vacation. At one time he did not book a reservation for the first class; his mom noticed that and immediately upgraded it to the first class on behalf of him. At one time, another of his suitemates ordered two entries at an expensive resaurant (and paid for both) just because he could not decide which one to order, and ate one and sampled only a little on the other. A girl liked to throw a party occasionally when she was on campus (she stayed a lot of time in an exensive apartment in Manhattan in junior/senior year. I heard the owner of the apartment is in her, not even her parents.) She always paid everything for her party and did not ask any of her friends to chip in. Another friend threw a party to celebrate his own birthday. His family paid for a expensive birthday party in NYC and hired a luxury limo (not the kind like CT Limo Van) between New Haven and NYC just for this event.</p>
<p>Many (but not all) families of Yalies are really very financially resourceful.</p>
<p>Yalemom15, You should receive the highest EQ award on this thread. LOL. I remember I used a similar trick in other context in the past.</p>
<p>An interesting story we heard from DS in one year. During the parents weekend, DS’s friend noticed one parent seems to look like Brian Williams, NBC News anchor. He asked him: Has anybody ever told you that you look like Brian Williams? This parent replied: I am Brian Williams.</p>
<p>Hi everyone! Happy parent of an early admit , class of 2017 here.</p>
<p>Regarding Bulldog Days - do parents come? is there an official program meant for parents?</p>
<p>Would sharing a Town Car from and back to Bradley be a good option? My kid will be travelling with at least 2 of his admitted classmates - maybe more from regular decision. Any experience with this? It seems like a convenient (and cost effective) way to go.</p>
<p>For August, I’ve already booked a room for myself and my spouse at the The Study hotel arriving on Thursday. Do the kids come back from the orientation trip on Thursday or Friday?</p>
<p>I never went to BDD but as an alum I was familiar with the place and didn’t need reassurance that my kid would be taken care of by the support systems or need to hear the lectures. I was already sold and it was kiddo’s turn. There are programs open to both students and parents and some programs designed for each. There are repeated activities since one would want to do two or three things in every time slot. When I looked at the program I was wishing I could be a part of the excitement once again.</p>
<p>The town car idea would work fine and likely be cost effective.</p>
<p>The orientation trips return Friday and often quite a bit later than when you can get into dorms. You’ll have to work out with your kid how much they want you to do and it is always a challenge to work out who gets what bed and desk until they are all there. You can come as early as you like but you are expected to be out of there by about 3 PM on Saturday as they start intensive orientation and social activities for the kids only.</p>
<p>Brian Williams’ daughter Allison graduated in 2010. If that story was before then I’m sure he was there for her. If later then perhaps he has another kid there. Allison stars in the HBO series Girls but I prefer her youtube videos with Sam Tsui and her role in “College Musical” filmed while at Yale :).</p>
<p>Despite completing the CTLimo online reservation form and getting an email stating they would be calling us to confirm departure time, we never got a call…Good news is that the GO Shuttle picked up my S on time and deposited him safely at LaGuardia this afternoon! And the bad news is…due to equipment outages at LGA, his flight (and many others I believe) are all delayed at least 3 hours. So, instead of picking him up in an hour, we’re sitting home wondering if he will actually even be able to get here tonight. Sigh.</p>