VivoPerLei

Exactly. I use to fly into MHT quite frequently ten years ago when UA offered more service on mainline jets. With MHT fares being significantly higher than BOS, combined with that and the other factors you mentioned, it's best just to suck it up and fly into BOS and drive. I recently did just that.

wtigerFF

Living in BOS, it's a rare situation for me to need to rent a car at the airport but we actually had to do it once when we got sent to BOS but our car was in MHT. That was a few years ago. Not sure if this is still true or not but there was a $10 convention center fee included in our taxes and fees.

BearX220

BOS car rental is very expensive and time-consuming... add 30 minutes on either end of your trip for dealing with the huge and distant rental car center. I just rented there last week; sneaky niche taxes and fees made up $40 or $50 of the $170 bill. I grant you that is not the case at MHT, where you can be on your way in five minutes too.

wtigerFF

I've never rented a car in MHT so I can't speak to that but I've rented a lot of cars in SAN, LAX, SFO, LAS etc. There always seem to be at least $40-$50 in fees tacked on to my rate when I rent from a major airport and it's a ride to get there and back. I love the small airports where you can just walk out the door to the car rental lot

I just looked at a old SAN car rental receipt. it has over $70 in fees (not tax) added to the rate. Some are a per day fee, some are a flat fee for the rental. In contrast, I picked up a car at a small Avis location in the middle of nowhere and it has almost nothing added to it other than taxes.

iced

I would cite this as the biggest reason to consider MHT. Nashua isn't a horrible drive from Manchester, regardless of day or time, but pretty much any workday afternoon from Boston to Nashua will be stop and go at least part of the way. The tunnel, the Zakim (unless you take Storrow over to route 2 in which case you're a glutton for punishment), Burlington, Lowell...it's all a horror show. 50 minutes is a 2:00 AM drive time - realistically, Boston to Nashua will take closer to 2 hours at peak traffic.

Early morning arrivals are less bad since you're doing the reverse commute but you will still hit problems, particularly around Burlington.

Sykes

We live in the SF Bay Area and have family in Nashua, NH and further north (Wolfeboro). MHT is a pure pleasure to fly into and out of, but BOS is dramatically much more reliable, with much better irrops protection.

One note, however, is that even if you choose MHT, I would definitely avoid the MHT<->EWR flights. It's tempting to fly PS SFO->EWR->MHT, but the EWR<->MHT flights are tremendously unreliable. I don't know if the ORD flights tend to be more reliable.

warreng24

MHT is great. They deal with snow better than BOS, IMHO.

However, the ORD-MHT flight is Express. Just a single cloud over ORD and ATC delays kick in. When that happens, UA always delays Express in order to keep Mainline on-time.

wtigerFF

That is exactly the problem with the MHT flights. For UA, they are all express and are frequently delayed by ATC. BOS does have heavy rush hour traffic, though. Can't argue with that...better to arrive after rush hour is over if driving from BOS. On the other hand, SF Bay Area traffic is worse so our rush hour may not seem as bad to the OP. It's a matter of what you are used to. I have a friend from LA who thinks the Bay Area traffic isn't that bad...

MHT must have improved on handling snow. I've avoided them in the winter after missing several connections due to the huge line waiting for de-icing. Maybe they have invested in more equipment since then. MHT can also get snow when BOS does not.

MHT is a wonderful airport to use if nothing goes wrong. It's been awesome to drive to since they added the exit from the Everett Turnpike. There isn't even a toll anymore. Not so great if your flight is cancelled or delayed

noah

I agree with most of the advice given so far. BOS has lots of advantages.

To the OP, however, I would definitely keep considering MHT as an option to either fly into or out of depending on your schedule and what flight options are available.

If you can fly SFO-BOS and arrive after 7pm, then it is almost certainly a faster trip than flying via ORD. Rush hour, however, especially on a weekend -- forget getting out of Boston quickly. In the case of a 4:30 arrival, you might prefer to fly through ORD and trust your luck to MHT. Similarly, on the return -- if you have an early flight, MHT-ORD-SFO might just turn out to be a time saver in many ways and saves the long drive. It is entirely possible to rent a car in MHT/BOS and return it at the other airport -- so consider some open-jaw trips just to test it out and see what you prefer. When MHT works it is a *great* little airport.

garkster

Also, much more likely for mid-con to be delayed due to SFO ATC than trans-con, which will already be in the air if you are flying W/B from the east coast in the morning before they activate the "traffic management".

IME (lots), the only flight from IAH that is not subject to "low clouds" ATC delay is the 0730-ish departure. Even the 0915 CT, arriving 1115-ish PT is commonly subject to ATC delays.

sdix

Again, thanks all. Was on the 6:15am BOS-SFO this am. 45 minutes Nashua to BOS. Of course a Saturday and very early but quite an uneventful trip.

Easy rental car return with drive back to terminal so that was effortless.

No TSA line so 5 minutes curb to lounge.

Again thanks!

nfedas

MHT is great. UA at MHT is a disaster. I live about 10 minutes from MHT and will only fly UA out of there with a 2+ hour connection and am taking an early morning flight.

You can't beat how nice and easy MHT vs. BOS. But I think if anything needs to be cancelled UA does MHT->EWR first. I've definitely driven from EWR to MHT several times at 2AM due to delayed/cancelled flights.

jpezaris

Still true. And still equivalent to taxation without representation: it is a tax applied to people who do not live in Boston, and therefore have no say on the tax. Elsewhere, you might shrug your shoulders and move on. But Boston? Home of the Tea Party that protested taxation without representation by the British monarchy, an event that helped forge a nation? Galling.

Tall Paul

The connected Hilton at BOS is also a plus. I normally can cut my rentals down by one day using the hotel (it is more expensive but I can usually show a net savings). I almost always fly to BOS and then drive past MHT to my companies locations.

And additional plus is that great food is just a short T ride away.

3Cforme

You're ignoring the other side of the history: Boston was a successful merchant town even before the Revolution. Getting somebody else to pay for your infrastructure (the structure now known as TD Garden, IIRC) is brilliant.