New York City - Will 3 hours be enough to connect from EWR (Intl) to LGA?

I'm arriving on a SQ flight from FRA to EWR, and catching a flight from LGA on United in three hours. Any ideas on how to make sure I don't miss my LGA flight? I am going to do carry-on, but any other ideas?

Wow.

How are you planning to get to LGA?

Imagine even a small flight delay. Long line at customs. You're definitely stretching it!

NOT including arrival & customs, I believe even the most timely commute by train/car will take 1h15m at it's best.

taxi/limo....i wouldn't try bus/train....

That's incredibly tight, if you are early or ontime, if there are not any lines in customs, if you don't have to wait for the cab or limo, if there are no traffic or weather delays and if you not arriving at rush hour, you may make it.

I would have a plan B ready just in case, maybe change to a later flight out of LGA if possible.

Yup, definitely risk involved. What time are you arriving? I'd definitely take a car service and have them take the George Washington bridge to circumvent the city traffic unless you are arriving on a Sunday morning.

That's incredibly tight, if you are early or ontime, if there are not any lines in customs, if you don't have to wait for the cab or limo, if there are no traffic or weather delays and if you not arriving at rush hour, you may make it.

I would have a plan B ready just in case, maybe change to a later flight out of LGA if possible.

There is a later flight out of LGA that I could stand by on, and the next day is memorial day, so if anything really happens, i still have a few flights that i could possibly take. do you think there is any way to convince the airline to fly me out of EWR on a different flight if there is a delay?

There is a later flight out of LGA that I could stand by on, and the next day is memorial day, so if anything really happens, i still have a few flights that i could possibly take. do you think there is any way to convince the airline to fly me out of EWR on a different flight if there is a delay?

This may be one of the worst landside connections one can make anywhere. You will head from EWR into and then out of Manhattan. Traffic runs from slow to standstill.

You don't list the carrier or destination xLGA or the time of day for arrival at EWR or departure from LGA, so this response is necessarily general.

1. If you are stuck with this routing, I would arrange a car service (ELITE or DIAL7 are reliable and available 24/7 at EWR). Pay the extra to be met inside and escorted to your car.

2. Avoid checked luggage. This will delay you in leaving EWR and departing LGA.

3. Have your onward BP printed (or on your mobile if that's avail. for your carrier). At worst, look up the kiosk locations on a LGA map.

4. Offer your driver a substantial tip/premium to get you to LGA faster.

On a holiday weekend xLGA, the question isn't whether you might be acommodated, it's whether there's space to acommodate you on a later / different flight. Likelihood of oversold meaning no standby, SDC or other program is pretty high.

The typical change fee in the USA is $150. You will spend close to this on the land transfer. I would make the change to an xEWR fee, pay the fee and then quit worrying.

I wasn't aware that there is a FRA-EWR flight operated by SQ :confused:

There is SQ FRA-JFK. Is it a codeshare operated by LH ?

But I agree, very short connection time. Hire a limo.

You still have time until Memorial Day 2013, considering the costs of the car service ride, including meet & greet/waiting time for the driver ?? + tolls for a rough total of $120 plus - you might be better off applying the $$ to look for/changing or rebooking a connecting flight out of EWR (UA/CO & code shared regionals) - even though you probably/will have to clear TSA again after dealing with CBP ...

Even for oversea arrival on a holiday weekend/Sunday @ EWR, the airport is prone to air traffic holds/delays, ground stops & taxi/gate issues plus the wait to deplane (flying in C or F, among the first to come off ?) Ideally, this will leave you with no more than 60 to 75 or 90 minutes to get to LGA, clear TSA and head for the gate with carryon only - (30+ minutes from feet on the curbside at LGA to the boarding gate as being minimum) - your actual timeframe or window for rushing from EWR to LGA is 30 to 60 minutes at most, most likely no more than 45 minutes & possibly not even 15 to 30 minutes - an impossible mission without a police escort, seriously. If you are delayed coming out of EWR even for 15 to 30 minutes, fairly typical & expected, you are going to miss your connection & end up on standby for a later flight. Post merger, UA/CO are flying smaller and fuller planes out of LGA & EWR these days - with sold out Y's - you could be stranded onward.

Your signature is for "NYC" so you know how unpredictable traffic can be for the Holland Tunnel or the GWB route to Manhattan/Bronx & onward to Queens. Holiday/Sunday shoppers & weekend tourists could easily jam those bridges and tunnels by mid/late afternoon, crossing delays of 10 to 20 minutes+ aren't unusual at all - fine for most not a tight schedule, but not for you on a count-down clock. Coming out of EWR area, it has taken us - numerous times - more than 90 minutes just to reach the GWB toll plaza on a weekend - and the Yankees weren't even playing at home in the afternoon !! There's nothing for the best/fastest limo/car service drivers can do to battle & squeeze thru 15 lanes of merging traffic on I-95 or 10 lanes into 2 at the Holland Tunnel.

Some FT's have luck & fortune with them - flights arriving/landing/parked at the gate early, quick deplaning & exit to the curb for waiting car service, smooth run via GWB or HT/MT route to LGA - with time to spare before early boarding ... you could be the next one to proclaim it. Alas, that's the exception and not the rules these days - switch to plan B and have plan C ready. If you manage to get to LGA early with carryons only, you will have better luck standing by for the earlier flight, etc. As it stands now, the odds are against you - sorry !

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That's incredibly tight, if you are early or ontime, if there are not any lines in customs, if you don't have to wait for the cab or limo, if there are no traffic or weather delays and if you not arriving at rush hour, you may make it.

I would have a plan B ready just in case, maybe change to a later flight out of LGA if possible.

There is a later flight out of LGA that I could stand by on, and the next day is memorial day, so if anything really happens, i still have a few flights that i could possibly take. do you think there is any way to convince the airline to fly me out of EWR on a different flight if there is a delay?

Since Memorial Day is nine months away, there is some likelihood that there will be schedule changes to one or both of your flights that will either increase or decrease your connection time. (Or did you mean some other holiday?)

If you were arriving EWR on a weekday -- rather than a Sunday -- I would recommend AirTrain to EWR Rail Station, NJ Transit from EWR Rail Station to Penn Station New York, Long Island Rail Road from Penn Station to Woodside, and a taxi from Woodside to LGA. Unfortunately, on weekends there can be long gaps between the NJ Transit trains from EWR to New York, making the rail transfer iffy for someone under severe time constraints.

To add to the thoughtful discussion here, I'll move this to the Travel->NYC forum where inter-NYC-area airport connections are discussed. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.

If I understand correctly - you are landing on Sunday before Memorial Day.

Flight schedule will probably change allowing moving to the later flight.
I think if no abnormals you can make it as long as your cab drive listens to traffic on easiest/fastest method to LGA.

What time is arrival flight in EWR as that may help define level of traffic woes.

To the OP if you attempt this do not check bags. You could assume 45-60 minutes for exiting the a/c and getting through customs and another 60-75 minutes to get to LGA. But so much could go wrong. EWR is a UA hub, can't you try to change your UA flight to EWR even if you have to pay a change fee.

The problem is that if the OP waits for a schedule change to happen, and it does not, he could be looking at a higher reprice of the fare (in addition to the change fee) or sticking with this difficult to achieve schedule.

Sunday on Memorial weekend is hard to judge. If its a warm summer day traffic will be a nightmare. If its still chilly and more April like the drive might be a breeze. I would suggest the driver taking the NJT over the GW and down avoiding Manhattan.

Sunday on Memorial weekend is hard to judge. If its a warm summer day traffic will be a nightmare. If its still chilly and more April like the drive might be a breeze. I would suggest the driver taking the NJT over the GW and down avoiding Manhattan.
Yup, no need to go into Manhattan especially since it will be the end of Fleet Week. kvolvo, see what you can do to fly out of EWR and not have to go to LGA on Memorial Day weekend. That 3 hour window which includes the time needed to deboard and go through immigration gives you no breathing room for delays, traffic or any other slow down en route to LGA including ballgame traffic involving either a Yankee or Met game.

do you think there is any way to convince the airline to fly me out of EWR on a different flight if there is a delay?Sure. Pay for the flight change. They'll be easily convinced. ;) It might be worth it to you do that.

If I understand correctly - you are landing on Sunday before Memorial Day.

Flight schedule will probably change allowing moving to the later flight.
I think if no abnormals you can make it as long as your cab drive listens to traffic on easiest/fastest method to LGA.

What time is arrival flight in EWR as that may help define level of traffic woes.

guys, forgive me, i've totally screwed up my info here... I better figure it out before i leave. First of all, i'm arriving into JFK, not Newark. Secondly, we are coming back Sunday before Labor day (not Mem day). Thanks, guys for your suggestions!

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"First of all, i'm arriving into JFK, not Newark. Secondly, we are coming back Sunday before Labor day (not Mem day)."

In the immortal words of Emily Litella, "Well, that's different." :D

JFK - LGA with three hours is awfully tight. You still haven't provided the connecting information x LGA, so it's really hard to give you air carrier specific information.

If you stick with this:

1. No checked luggage - that can take as much as an hour at JFK and there are check-in cutoff's at LGA.

2. Car service with meet & greet.

Once again, by the time you pay for the car service and extras, you are looking at close to the likely domestic change fee.

Where are you headed from NYC and is there service xJFK?

To add to the thoughtful discussion here, I'll move this to the Travel->NYC forum where inter-NYC-area airport connections are discussed. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.

And once the OP has gotten some more feedback here in NYC, we'll merge this into our existing thread on EWR-LGA connections:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/new-york-city/1116613-lga-ewr-ewr-lga-airport-connections.html

dstan
NYC Forum Moderator

JFK - LGA with three hours is awfully tight. You still haven't provided the connecting information x LGA, so it's really hard to give you air carrier specific information.

If you stick with this:

1. No checked luggage - that can take as much as an hour at JFK and there are check-in cutoff's at LGA.

2. Car service with meet & greet.

Once again, by the time you pay for the car service and extras, you are looking at close to the likely domestic change fee.

Where are you headed from NYC and is there service xJFK?

If the OP is flying UA out of LGA and other than IAD there would be no alternative service out of JFK. It also sounds like the OP could be on the last flight of the day although only the OP can tell us.

Sunday summer, the roads will likely be packed. Still, if the OP can meet his car/drive at T2 he should still make it to LGA in time even if roads are packed. His real killer is his JFK flight arriving on time and getting through customs within an hour.