Bon Voyage! I recently flew to New York for an affiliate marketing conference. Since my best friend from college Deena lives there, I headed up a few days ahead of the conference to catch up and spend time in Manhattan together. As always, when I travel I like to share a few flight tips like I recently did for my Costa Rica flight.
OMW New York: New York Flights
What’s the best way to travel to New York? Fly in to LaGuardia or Newark – they’re pretty much the same distance from the city. The airport in Newark is a little nicer than LaGuardia and has more places to eat at, but LaGuardia is low key and you can find cheaper flights in there. Do a little price-matching on Expedia or Booking.com. Kayak.com always has great deals on flights.
Usually I prefer to fly Southwest. The best flight this time was through United Airlines on my company’s account, though. Maybe they’re having to lower rates to attract flyers following the PR backlash of dragging the doctor off the plane in Chicago? Regardless, the United flight was ok, but there is a $25 fee for each checked bag. So, keep in mind when you’re buying the ticket that if you plan on checking a bag you’ll need to add $50 to the ticket cost. The other hitch was flying out of Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), which is always a little trickier than Houston Hobby Airport. You have to park at a lot like the Parking Spot a ways from the airport and take a shuttle in, otherwise you’ll pay through the roof for parking at the airport itself. I’ve heard some reports that the parking lots are not safe and your car may get broken into, but I’ve never had any trouble. Besides, I don’t keep anything of value in my car. Although fixing a broken window would be a bummer!
Once I landed in New York, I hopped in a group Uber, which was about half the cost of a solo Uber even at 1am. The other people in my Uber were actually super interesting – a young lady from Chicago visiting her sister-in-law in the medical district, and a Puerto-Rican American who was recently hired at a Puerto Rican travel agency. I hear they have some good surfing there, so Chris and I should like to visit sometime. It’s always fun to strike up conversation with strangers, as long as they don’t follow you and murder you later in the big city.
The Uber brought me all the way in to the heart of Manhattan at the Sheraton Times Square, where the conference was. I didn’t want to go through the trouble of booking a more low-key hotel and commuting to the conference, or switching hotels a few days later, so I just stayed there. In retrospect, it would have been nice to have a reason to trek around from somewhere quieter. Times Square is so crowded. New York City, specifically Manhattan, is hard for me. I always prefer wide open spaces to towering buildings, rows of anonymous windows, and slices of harsh unforgiving direct sunlight.
Anyway, I hope these tips help you find the best New York flights! As always here is my view from the window seat.
