mtofell

I'm generally a west cost and Hawaii flyer so AS works out pretty well. I've got a trade show coming up next fall in Atlantic City and am struggling a bit. Philly looks to be pretty close or maybe Baltimore? Anyone have any words of wisdom or tips to get in/out of Atlantic City? I hate to give all those miles (coming from Maui) to an airline that I'm not chasing status on.

guv1976

PHL would be the closest. Will you be renting a car? If not, there is frequent bus and train service from Downtown Philadelphia to A.C. Train information here:

https://www.njtransit.com/

(Click on the train icon.)

jrl767

the drive from PHL to ACY is orders of magnitude easier than from BWI ... you might also consider EWR depending on time of day (I wouldn't recommend starting the drive from EWR much after ~3pm)

guv1976

And you could, of course, fly AA, and credit the flights to AS.

dayone

If you're flying AS to PHL, there are three options: Rent a car, SEPTA airport train to 30th Street Station and transfer to NJ Transit train to AC, or taxi to downtown Philly and take NJT or Greyhound bus to AC.

Spirit flies into ACY. AA has a bus connection inside PHL to ACY that works similarly to a flight connection.

guv1976

The SEPTA train can also be taken from PHL Airport to Jefferson Station for the Greyhound Terminal on Filbert Street.

mtofell

Yeah, I considered that but the rate of return is pretty poor. Not sure if it's always the same (fare class, etc.) but the last one I did was 50%.

beckoa

It all depends on fare class. Some as low as 25% or even 0.

Flying for Fun

AA BE fares, fare class B now earn 25% EQM in Mileage Plan, 500 mile, EQM minimum No more zeros on the usual fare classes.

James

FenwayTim

If you coming from Maui then your connecting regardless….. Based on your stated goal of AS points, i would do 1 of the following based on importance of time/flight choices vs most earning rates:
Most points:
AS to either SFO or SEA and onward to EWR (longer drive by about 45 minutes once you land) but you’ll have 3-4 choices of times into EWR once you land in SFO/SEA
Most flight choices on the connection:
AS to SFO/LAX then AA to Philadelphia — this will have the most choices time wise to choose from and will be the shorter drive + you’ll get points (albeit a smaller earning rate on the AA portion)

doublemazaa

Interesting that booking that only the bus from PHL to ACY is $800 roundtrip but I can book SEA-ACY through PHL on AA including the bus ride for the same dates for $534 RT.

BearX220

I've done this and it was easy, cheap, and remarkably fast. The Filbert Street depot is steps away from the Jefferson train stop and the buses run frequently.

WillTravel4Food

I've done the SEA-PHL followed by a drive to ACY. Once out of the PHL traffic, plan an hour for the drive. I honestly don't know if going into EWR would be faster. It all depends on traffic. One thing to consider, if you choose AS then it will involve a redeye on either OGG-SEA or SEA-PHL. The one issue with this routing is that the only way it works without an overnight in SEA is to take the day flight OGG-SEA then the redeye SEA-PHL. I wouldn't want to be doing the PHL-ACY drive after a redeye. If you overnight in SEA, the PHL-ACY drive will be during rush hour. Not ideal in either situation, but at least you don't lose all the miles using AA.

jrl767

I looked at fares on a couple random dates in Sep; AA has OGG-DFW-PHL arriving ~1230pm (in M, which credits at 100%) for ~$50 over AS to either PHL or EWR, and a 787 on OGG-DFW

mtofell

Thanks everyone - I really appreciate all the ideas. I do have a place to stay in Portland and was thinking of breaking things up on the way there due to the time zone thing. Ideally, a long overnight layover but don't see any. Everything seems to be going through SEA (big surprise, I know). Heading back west to Maui I could see doing it with a short layover since I'd be gaining hours rather than losing them... and I'd be home at the end rather than arriving at the conference.

Edit - Just looking at some flights leaving from HNL instead of OGG and there are some good options. HNL>SFO 11AM-7PM, then next day SFO>EWR 11AM-7PM all for $408 on AS metal. Two days of travel but no redeye and a decent arrival time for the drive down to Atlantic City? Also, a good non-rushed layover at SFO. Starting the trip over to HNL from OGG is just a $39 WN or HA fare.