My son has connected through Chicago for years. I’d recommend Midway over O’Hare–seems to have far fewer delays than O-Hare (maybe just because it’s not as big so there’s less of a domino effect) and, more importantly for your son, is a much quicker and easier ride into downtown Chicago. Southwest flies through Midway from LGA, Newark and Hartford.
So I was discussing the whole travel thing with my kiddo and he wondered why not just fly out of Hartford to a connector somewhere else…say Philly or Detroit?
He would be eventually flying to SF. Wondering if it would really be more expensive to do that rather than taking train or connector to JFK/LaGuardia/Newark?
Sometimes Hartford can be cheaper - but often the flights are early morning which can be very difficult to get to unless he, or his friends, have a car and can drive him. I’ve discovered that in high season - like this darned Christmas week when my son can’t fly back until the 22nd - that United’s flight that combines the train from New Haven to Newark to SFO - is about as cheap as anything else - once the ground transport is factored in. Off season times that’s not the case, though. But it’s really convenient. And, if money isn’t an issue - then one can fly from New Haven’s Tweed airport to Philadelphia and then to SFO. (Haven’t had the money for that one, though.)
@SpiritManager thanks for the insight! Only time kiddo has done this trek was for OV for Yale Crew so I wasn’t sure of the actual cost. We, as a family, have traveled via Newark but I wasn’t sure for SFO which would be the best. And no, $$$ is certainly an issue. We are on a budget so the most economical way is best.
It turns out that the company only wants to know what days work for him, whether morning or afternoon is preferred, and his choice for departing airport. They’ll handle the rest. They’ve been like a Swiss watch throughout the process, which by contrast to one other company is grounds to hope for an offer there.
One thing to consider is this. The NYC airports have much more traffic so that also means that delays and cancelled flights are more common especially in the winter. Bradley is very good about avoiding that. Personally I would rather hire private transport to BDL and have less drama,stress and delay than bother with trains, traffic and chances of missing a flight in NYC. The amount of added time to the trip is simply not worth it to me. I live in CT and would never book flights out of NYC because of this. We did it once for our honeymoon and swore never again. We almost missed our flight because of an accident on the highway. I would rather go out of Boston or Providence than deal with NYC airports but that is me.
Tweed, which connects to Philadelphia, should not be overlooked.
I think you just have to experiment to find the best combination for your kid. Mine, so far, has flown out of LGA and JFK. We’ve looked into Hartford, but the transportation to the airport costs about the same and the connectors haven’t been as good. So far he’s tried Go Shuttle; Metro North to the bus, and (on the Sunday after Harvard-Yale), the Yale special shuttle. For Christmas, we’re giving Amtrak to Newark a go. None of it is fun! The best flights are when he goes a bit early and can stay with his friend at Columbia for the night, because it at least makes flying into NYC worthwhile.
Back when I was a student in the '70s there were Yale charter flights to San Francisco for Christmas. Guess they don’t do that now.
D just did Hartford for thanksgiving break and used megabus which was $15 round trip leaving from union station. In Hartford then took a $1.50 Bradley flyer shuttle to airport. So much cheaper than getting to LGA but added a good bit of time and need to work around bus schedule to avoid lots of sitting around time.
If a company is flying him I’d ask for flight out of tweed with only downside that you have to go through Philadelphia when other flights might be nonstop from NY.
Over Thanksgiving, we did Amtrak to Newark. You can score tickets for about $40 if you purchase well in advance.
Megabus is a nice option! Thanks for the clue in @scmom12
@scmom12, it’s all on the company. With his schedule, it seems that a late afternoon/early evening flight (non-stop) is the only way to make it work and not have him exhausted or having slighted his responsibilities on campus. I think that, since everything else is gratis, he might spring for an Uber ride.
ETA: this is a company known for its difficult tech interviews, so arriving compos mentis matters. He could probably wing a behavioral / HR kind of interview.
@tonymom - we bank with Wells Fargo and there is one large branch right on the other side of the green, 1 1/2 blocks from Old Campus.
@Tperry1982
Thanks! Good to know. Didn’t want to change banks if it could be avoided.
@tonymom - My D has probably gone to the actual bank maybe 3 times in 3 semesters. I love being able to transfer money back and forth between our accounts.
As @Tperry1982 indicates, the ease of funds movement probably weighs heavily in favor of sticking with a bank that you already have an account at, in favor of one where the ATM machine is convenient. That said, I envy Tperry for having discovered the magic that makes money transfers work in both directions; DS has received more than one cash infusion, if memory serves, it hasn’t gone the other way :))
@IxnayBob - I steal money from her account all the time. She seems to have more discretionary funds than me. I’m just slightly kidding. When I re-read my post, I see where you’re going. There is definitely more going from me to her than the other way around.
Please advise about this travel situation. We’re from a fairly rural area in the midwest. We don’t have cabs or Ubers and no one I know is familiar with NYC. After Thanksgiving, my son was booked on an evening flight back to New Haven. There was a mechanical issue which caused the flight to be delayed for 2.5 hours. When they actually arrived at LGA, it was actually the airport had officially CLOSED. A few employees stayed an additional hour to take care of the necessities. My son had arranged CT Limo to take him back to school, but they wouldn’t come at that hour. LGA insists that everyone leave so that the homeless don’t sleep there. So there was my 19-year-old, on the streets of Queens with no ride at 1AM. He ended up taking a $300 Uber ride back to campus. Was there something better/cheaper/smarter that he could have done if we were more knowledgeable about those things?
Metro North trains run from Grand Central to New Haven just about every half hour. The last train of the night leaves Grand Central at around 145am and arrives in New Haven around 400am. It’s easy to take a cab or Uber from LGA to Grand Central and then hop on the train. Taking the last flight to LGA is always risky for the reason you mentioned. Hope this helps.