[Idyllchat] Airports

[Roberta Churchill]

Dear Jay,  No one told us about a shuttle from the dock to the terminal.  We walked in a heavy electrical storm (that eventually shut the airport for all the morning plus) to the terminal.  I wasn't awfully happy with Untours (and I have told them details) on this trip.  This is another example of, we think, tourist fatigue in September on the part of the local rep. 
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Jay Cloidt 
  To: Florence Goldfarb 
  Cc: IdyllChat at lists.untours.com 
  Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2007 10:40 AM
  Subject: Re: [Idyllchat] Airports


  In the last 3 years, I've flown out of Newark 4 times, and I haven't had any problems. Admittedly, this is not a huge statical sample, and maybe I'm used to New York airports, but I haven't had any problems. If you look at flight times from JFK, La Guardia, or Newark you will notice that the scheduled flight time is longer than the plane needs to be in the air. A 45 minute flight from LGA to Pittsburgh is scheduled for 1.5 hours. The 45 minutes that you taxi before takeoff is actually expected and scheduled in. That's just the nature of have 3 of the busiest airports in the country. Imagine air traffic control's job of coordinating all 3 airports who's approach vectors intersect each other. 

  It's been my experience that in returning to the US, Newark's immigration/customs is better than JFK's in general, although the immigration/customs in terminal 1 of JFK this past September was good. It looked like it had been recently renovated much like Newark's immigration was a couple of years ago. 

  Airports I have had issues with:
  Las Vegas - McCarren Airport - McCarren is a very big airport with a single security access point. This generates huge lines to get through security. Fortunately, I noticed these lines on the way into Vegas, and planned accordingly for leaving. And if you cruise through and are left with extra time while waiting for your plane, they have slot machines in the terminals. 

  Reykjavik, Iceland - Keflavik airport is a new modern Scandinavian terminal. Unfortunately, we had to go through a second security check at the gate while boarding. This would not have been bad except, instead of letting us on the plane, we were kept in a segregated room until everyone had checked in. Then we were allowed on the plane. This took 45 minutes with a single bathroom for the entire plane load of people. 

  Charles De Gaul:  everyone likes to slam CDG, but if everyone is doing it, there must be a reason. We had to go from one terminal to another, outside security to change planes. This is a big complaint with JFK as well, but fortunately, I usually originate in JFK and don't have to change planes there. 

  Venice - the shuttle bus from the boat docks to the terminal (we took a water taxi) seemed to run very infrequently, and we thought we were going to miss our flight. It could have just been bad luck. I don't know. 


  On Nov 20, 2007 9:34 AM, Florence Goldfarb <fgoldfarb at gmail.com> wrote:

    I live in NYC and if I had a choice I would never fly out of JFK--too
    hectic and poorly organized.  I do fly out of Newark occasionally, but
    the departure delays from Newark are terrible.  If Boston seems to be
    a better choice, I would leave from there. 
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