Travel Question --- Dulles, O'Hare or Newark??

[TheReader]

If you had to pick one for having a layover, making a connection between an international flight and a domestic connection, which airport would you choose??

 

Based on ease of navigating in a somewhat sleep-deprived state, and not on what tourist attractions you might see if you left the airport or something.

 

Assume a layover of at least 2 hours, if that matters. (or, suggest to me "if you pick xyz airport, allow at least abc hours to make your connection).

 

Thanks!! Trying to plan our US trip for this year, but the Continental/United merger has really limited/changed our options and we can not get a Houston connection with more than an hour layover yet still at a decent price.

[Just Another Jen]

Ohare. *I* dislike newark and dulles. There is never enough time to make your connection.

[Heidi @ Mt Hope]

I recently had BAD luck with weather delays at O'Hare (both coming and going) and I had so. many. people. tell me that they try never to have connecting flights through Chicago.

[Melinda in VT]

This is not a statistically valid sample ;) but in our family, Newark is the airport that results in most of our scheduling mix-ups.

[WistfulRidge]

I have never, ever had a good experience with O'Hare. I've been known to pay quite a bit more money to avoid having anything to do with that airport.

 

I have no personal experience with the other two airports, but have heard that Newark is nearly as bad as O'Hare.

[Annie]

What part of the year? If I had the choice, I would not fly into O'Hare from late October through the end of March. Also, some of the terminals have separate security, so if you need to travel between terminals, you might need to go through security again.

[TheReader]

What part of the year? If I had the choice, I would not fly into O'Hare from late October through the end of March. Also, some of the terminals have separate security, so if you need to travel between terminals, you might need to go through security again.

 

Going international to domestic, it is likely we will have to go through security again anyway, no matter what. At least, that has always been our experience when flying through Houston.

 

Reluctant to put specific time frame on the internet, but would be late (US) Summer; ie, schools would still be out/people on vacation.

 

I've done Newark once or twice and had no real problems but have never stopped in the others.

 

Now DH is thinking if we do Newark and give ourselves a 9 hour layover, "surely" that's enough time to leave and see the Statue of Liberty.....the travel directions he sent me, "take x train to y station, transfer to b subway, blah blah blah" sound like they would take a good 2 hours each way. I think he's nuts. Doing a follow-up post on that in a minute.......

[FaithManor]

I've NEVER made a connecting flight through O'Hare. As a matter of fact, given the choice of attempting to make a connecting flight through that airport OR having root canal work done without anesthetic, the choice would be difficult! :lol:

 

My parents have attempted to fly through O'Hare six times. They never made a single connection either.

 

On the other hand, we've all flown through LaGuardia and Kennedy and never had any trouble so though I've not actually used Newark, I'm going to make an assumption that they are like New Yorkers and have their act pulled together! Love New York! Seriously, just a great place and the residents, by in large, are just awesome.

 

I've flown into Ronald Reagan but never Dulles. My nephew, a former resident of Alexandria, told me he'd rather have an ingrown toenail than fly through Dulles. He's not prone to drama so my best guess is that he did not have a good experience. :D

 

Faith

[TheReader]

I've NEVER made a connecting flight through O'Hare. As a matter of fact, given the choice of attempting to make a connecting flight through that airport OR having root canal work done without anesthetic, the choice would be difficult! :lol:

 

My parents have attempted to fly through O'Hare six times. They never made a single connection either.

 

On the other hand, we've all flown through LaGuardia and Kennedy and never had any trouble so though I've not actually used Newark, I'm going to make an assumption that they are like New Yorkers and have their act pulled together! Love New York! Seriously, just a great place and the residents, by in large, are just awesome.

 

I've flown into Ronald Reagan but never Dulles. My nephew, a former resident of Alexandria, told me he'd rather have an ingrown toenail than fly through Dulles. He's not prone to drama so my best guess is that he did not have a good experience. :D

 

Faith

 

thanks, this is helpful.

 

Personally, I think we should just pay the extra to stick with flying through Houston. How it can be less expensive to go so many extra miles is beyond me; airline pricing just makes no sense.

 

I have gone through Newark with no problem, but now DH has some crazy idea about leaving to see the Statue of Liberty during our (he thinks 9 hour) layover, so I'm trying to dissuade him from that. -sigh- Because really, after a 10 hour overnight flight, the last thing I will feel like doing is touring around. And then we still will have a, from there, 4 hour flight + 3 hour drive to our final destination.

 

Not to show my bias on that or anything.....:lol:

 

anyway, thanks. I've always heard bad things about Dulles, not so much on O'Hare. Will pass that on.

[Kelly1730]

We flew internationally last summer and were in Dulles, Germany, Turkey, Greece and Newark. Hands down, Newark was the worst! We managed better in the airports where the signage was NOT in English than we did in Newark. The employees were practically useless when asked a question, well, I could go on but I won't:glare: Just our experience, but I would do my best not to go through Newark again. My kids have had lay-overs in Chicago and have not had a problem, but I've heard horror stories from others. YMMV, I'm thinking:001_smile:

[higginszoo]

I flew Dulles last year alone with my four kids, and it wasn't bad. The international and domestic flights are more integrated than some other airports, which could help. My older two navigated their way through security and out to the gate on their own (practicing solo travel, which they did a lot of later in the year).

One of the last times I flew O'Hare, I just had my youngest (4 mo at the time), and had to go out of and back in to security (they'd recently done the no liquid rule, so I had to dump formula, try to find water (couldn't before I boarded my next flight) ... 2 hours was barely enough time to make it across the airport, and the staff were NOT helpful.

I haven't flown through Newark in ages -- but as a college student, was glad that I rarely had time constraints when I had to change planes there, and once had to have my roommate's family in North Jersey come and get me and drop me back at the airport before dawn the next day, or spend the night in the airport alone.

[DawnM]

I haven't had that problem in O'Hare and I have gone through there many times in the last 46 years.

 

Now, that is NOT to say we haven't never had any problems, but I would still much rather fly through O'Hare than get a root canal! :D

 

Newark I just simply do not like. It is in a very industrial part of town, is ugly to fly into, can have weather issues (we ran into some last time we flew through there from Hong Kong to Charlotte and ended up on the tarmac for 3 hours! We were so exhausted we slept through most of it though!)

 

Dulles.....eh, haven't gone there much but the couple of times I did weren't an issue.

 

Dawn

 

I've NEVER made a connecting flight through O'Hare. As a matter of fact, given the choice of attempting to make a connecting flight through that airport OR having root canal work done without anesthetic, the choice would be difficult! :lol:

 

My parents have attempted to fly through O'Hare six times. They never made a single connection either.

 

On the other hand, we've all flown through LaGuardia and Kennedy and never had any trouble so though I've not actually used Newark, I'm going to make an assumption that they are like New Yorkers and have their act pulled together! Love New York! Seriously, just a great place and the residents, by in large, are just awesome.

 

I've flown into Ronald Reagan but never Dulles. My nephew, a former resident of Alexandria, told me he'd rather have an ingrown toenail than fly through Dulles. He's not prone to drama so my best guess is that he did not have a good experience. :D

 

Faith

[TheReader]

I flew Dulles last year alone with my four kids, and it wasn't bad. The international and domestic flights are more integrated than some other airports, which could help. My older two navigated their way through security and out to the gate on their own (practicing solo travel, which they did a lot of later in the year).

One of the last times I flew O'Hare, I just had my youngest (4 mo at the time), and had to go out of and back in to security (they'd recently done the no liquid rule, so I had to dump formula, try to find water (couldn't before I boarded my next flight) ... 2 hours was barely enough time to make it across the airport, and the staff were NOT helpful.

I haven't flown through Newark in ages -- but as a college student, was glad that I rarely had time constraints when I had to change planes there, and once had to have my roommate's family in North Jersey come and get me and drop me back at the airport before dawn the next day, or spend the night in the airport alone.

 

sounds like experiences are all over the place, from this thread.

 

I'm not too worried about the kids; we do this trip once/year, so they are seasoned international travelers. All of them (each of them?) know the drill. We will have to do security on arrival anyway, at least, that is our experience in Houston --- arriving International flights get sent through security again before entering the gates for Domestic connections.

 

Personally I really wish we could just pay the extra and stick with Houston. We'll see.

 

Thanks for the feedback, though; you're the first person I've ever heard say that Dulles isn't a nightmare.

[ThisIsTheDay]

I would avoid O'Hare if at all possible based on dh's two experiences. The local plane would not leave here due to winter weather at O'Hare.

 

Thinking we were safely out of winter, he flew through O'Hare again last week. He sat on the runway there for 1.5 hours, this time due to thunderstorms.

[icul8rg8r]

Depends on time of year, but of the 3 airports you mentioned, here's **my** order of preference:

 

Dulles, O'Hare, then Newark. If it's winter, you may want to look for a connection in Atlanta or Dallas!

[GinaPagnato]

Dulles, without a doubt. Newark is known for mix-ups, and Chicago is HUGE and hard (for me) to navigate.

Dulles is really simply laid-out, and super-easy to get around.

[gardenmom5]

my daughter did lots of flying east-west for four years. she despises newark and will pay more with a longer layover rather than go through it.

o-hare is very busy

she'd do dulles in a heartbeat.

[gardenmom5]

I would avoid O'Hare if at all possible based on dh's two experiences. The local plane would not leave here due to winter weather at O'Hare.

 

Thinking we were safely out of winter, he flew through O'Hare again last week. He sat on the runway there for 1.5 hours, this time due to thunderstorms.

 

My memorable O'hare experience. We sat around waiting for four hours past our boarding time. our plane (that we were "supposed" to be on) was on the ground. in LA. it couldn't take off because of brush fires. our pilot finally snagged another plane.

[Starr]

I think it just depends on the day with those 3 choices. Be sure and schedule a long layover.

[Sun]

Honestly, I'd just choose whichever gave me the best price and layover combination. I'd probably want 3-4 hours for the layover and would try to avoid the 9-hour layover if at all possible. When flying into Newark from Europe, I've never had to wait more than about 45 minutes to get through customs (and usually faster, but don't count on it. It could be an hour!).

 

The experience you or anyone has at any of those airports will largely depend on how well customs and security are staffed the day you're there. That's not always predictable, though some airports are known for being a bit slower.

 

That 9-hour layover would be a killer for me. I'd try to avoid that.

[TheReader]

Honestly, I'd just choose whichever gave me the best price and layover combination. I'd probably want 3-4 hours for the layover and would try to avoid the 9-hour layover if at all possible. When flying into Newark from Europe, I've never had to wait more than about 45 minutes to get through customs (and usually faster, but don't count on it. It could be an hour!).

 

The experience you or anyone has at any of those airports will largely depend on how well customs and security are staffed the day you're there. That's not always predictable, though some airports are known for being a bit slower.

 

That 9-hour layover would be a killer for me. I'd try to avoid that.

 

We will shoot for a 3 hour layover, more or less; I think he found some that were 2.5 hrs, which in Houston would be enough, but not sure about these other airports. I've only (of those 3) ever gone through Newark, which I didn't find bad at all.

 

The nine hour layover was his idea if we went through Newark so we could take a side trip to see the Statue of Liberty. I think I've talked him out of that. We will definitely NOT do 9 hrs now that we'll not be doing the side trip. No worries there.

 

I think there's a website that gives average customs times, how long to allow, etc.....I'll look that up and see what we find. One good thing is our typical flight is 1st thing in the morning arrival, so there's not a lot of back-up yet in Customs and all, which helps.