airport parking rates at JFK and Logan

When we fly out of LAX, we rent a car each way. See if that might work for you.

$750 is insane.

There are private parking lot facilities by JFK with shuttle service. Check out parking lot finder website and plug in your dates. You will also see a coupon pop up while you're on the website. If you're coming in winter time, find out which ones will clear off the snow from your car before you arrive at no extra cost. The website also allows you to pick a hotel/parking option too.

we rent a car each way

A quick check for a random April date reveals 2 one-way rentals would run about $300. lot better than $750. Also do not have to be concerned about what might happen to your car while it sits for 3 weeks in NYC!

The $100 rate in Toronto is crazy cheap. You have gotten spoiled :-)

Why not just book a flight from Ithaca to Europe? You’ll have a layover, but will eliminate the drive/parking/hotel. I live in Rochester, New York and I have friends who make the drive either to JFK or Toronto, but by the time they pay parking and hotel, they could’ve just booked the flight from Rochester to Europe for the same (or almost the same) cost and a lot less running around. Additionally, you could book 2 separate flights, although that is risky because if the first flight is delayed and you are not booked through, you have no recourse. Still, I would look at the price flying from Ithaca. Especially if you are booking well in advance, it could be worth it from a financial standpoint.

You could try Syracuse too. One way rentals would be cheaper than going to NYC and your return drive much shorter. You will have connections though. You could overnight in the connecting city or spend a few days if you like the city your connecting in.

For Logan airport in Boston, you will save money if you take the "Logan Express" (frequent shuttle bus run by the airport authority) from Woburn or Framingham and park there. The cost for parking is just $7 a night, and the shuttle is $22 round trip. So for 21 days you'd pay $191 for the parking and shuttle. It's totally worth it. Their parking lot is sheltered from snow and the buses go to the airport in a special fast lane.

The Logan Express bus mentioned is probably your cheapest option, as the economy lot at Logan is now $29/day so you would definitely need to park offsite. I’m not sure what “fast lane” for buses is being referred to here- at least from Woburn, there’s no special lane on 93 for busses so you will need to account for traffic. Once you get to the actual airport you’ll have the special bus lane.

I’d probably look at the car rental idea, if you can’t find a way to depart closer to home.

Avoid parking at Logan at all costs. See what's available at park and ride. We did that once, but that was about 15-20 years ago. It wasn't super cheap, but far better than the airport.

I'm sorry I don't have the specific information you requested. I think the rental idea sounds reasonable. However (sorry LOL), considering the cost of your entire trip, I'd be more concerned with which way is easiest. As frugal as I am in life, I take the least exhaustive way to get to, and often from, Europe. I want to arrive rested and the least stressed as possible so, I believe, I'm less apt to get sick during my travels and I want to be as relaxed as possible when I leave my house and start enjoying my vacation immediately. Of your options, unless you can get a direct train from Ithaca to Boston, for example, I think I'd pick a flight to a major airport instead of driving, etc. However, that's just me. What relaxes you?

Here in Ithaca there are two places the locals seem to always advise others to stay away from -- the local ER and the local airport. :) Having experienced the ER this summer, I couldn't agree more.....although when one is in need of an ER, driving 2 hours to Rochester isn't usually an option.

I have personally never had a disastrous experience flying in/out of Ithaca, but I know plenty of people who have. It's a tiny airport with very small planes. When things get off kilter nationally, or weather intervenes even slightly, it seems like flights to/from Ithaca are frequently the ones that are outright cancelled. I know of several people who missed their connections and were faced with waiting 3-4 days until the next available seat was available....all ended up renting cars and driving from Philadelphia or Detroit. Also, currently flights out of Ithaca are mostly 2 stop options (Ithaca to Detroit to Rome would be great, but doesn't seem to be an option) or more than $2,000. I am not currently seeing prices out of Syracuse that are great. It is also a pretty small airport....although much bigger than Ithaca's.

On our last three international flights we've chosen to drive 4-5 hours to/fr an airport and then flown nonstop. We have really liked this, and because I'd rather have a long layover than risk a short one, it doesn't even add that much time to the travel day. We usually spend the night at a hotel near the airport on our return and drive home early the next day. Toronto has been perfect for us, because the drive is relatively easy and the prices have been fantastic. I have, indeed, gotten spoiled.

I will explore the car rental option. It is sounding like the plane fares I'm seeing might be exceptionally low, so I might need to figure out if JFK or Boston would work parking-wise, or whether there are any decent options out of Philadelphia or Newark...

So I looked at Newark. For those of you who make regular trips, is $819 r/t on nonstops both ways still a good deal? Looks like Newark parking is much more reasonable, including park and fly options for under $300. Wondering if this is a deal....or if I should wait for something better. I have many months before my trip. Thanks!

Newark is my airport of choice in the region, anything under $1000 is a good deal these days. Newark is the easiest airport to drive to, there are multiple ways to approach it and traffic is rarely an issue. Parking in the official long-term economy lot is $18 per day. There are lots of off-site options but I have had mixed experiences with them; from deceptive pricing, long waits to pickup your car, and long waits for the shuttle van. I now stick with the official lot, I pay more but it's never been a hassle. One thing to be aware of is that much of the airport from the parking lots to the restaurants, newsstands, and coffee shops are now cashless. Plastic is king.

Thanks, Michael -- good to know! It's also a slightly shorter drive from Ithaca to Newark...

What I'm seeing as my options now are Newark-Rome, nonstop each way, $819 on United
OR
JFK- Rome nonstop and Rome-JFK with a 95 minute layover in Amsterdam on Delta/KLM for $500 rt

Assuming (just guessing at this point) that we could do a hotel stay and fly at Newark for about $300, we're talking about $2k for two of us for the plane, parking, and hotel.....with the convenience of nonstop flights.

Assuming (again, just a guess) $700 for either a hotel stay and fly, or close to that much (sadly) for one way car rentals(I'm seeing $140 Ithaca to JFK and $190 return, even with a corporate code) and hotel for the night we return, that's around $1700 for the two of us.

I'm thinking it might be worth paying a little more for the nonstops out of Newark? Other opinions?

Ruth, I've read in the paper about how difficult it has become for air customers in non-hub or remote cities. (I once got stuck at Fargo, ND, because there were no United fire-extinguisher replacements closer than Minneapolis ... don't ask ... ) My travel needs are perhaps different from yours, because I'm 68 and I've been to Europe a vast number of times. Nowadays, we always want an open-jaw transatlantic ticket (from the NYC area), and we've learned that two-segment flights are not our enemy. We often save cash or miles by taking a two-segment flight, and end up where we want to be (say, Cologne or Warsaw .... ) by 1 PM anyway. And we save time and money on (say ... ) local trains to the "real" destination from the airport where we land. We often return home from a bigger-name place we've been to before and loved, but return departure time is a factor, as well as the cost.

I realize this may not apply directly to your family, but I just wanted suggest a different way of looking at your problem. It's not a huge case of going the wrong direction, but because we use United a lot, we once flew to Houston to get our flight to South America, Peru or Ecuador, I forget. Often, total mileage like that is not a big factor in the air cost.

I live almost equal distance between JFK and Logan and while the fares are generally cheaper from JFK the parking situation is definitely better in Boston. As mentioned above, the Framingham Express is really pretty nice. Located right off the Mass Pike, large covered parking garage, costs $7 a day and then you need the round trip ticket on the bus to the airport which is about $20. Buses are frequent and it doesn't take much longer than if you just kept driving from Framingham to the airport yourself.

My 'local' airport fortunately has had Aer Lingus service for the past several years and when ever it's comparable I do that (means a change in Dublin, but it's an easy one). But sometimes they can't compete with Norwegian or even some of the legacy carriers. Just booked RT Boston to London for $350.