Better NYC airport to get stickers to clear on a Sunday afternoon?
 

If I'm going between NYC and ORD on a Sunday afternoon, between 3 and 4, what's the better airport to have stickers clear from, LGA or EWR? I'm going to ORD. Also, should I be shooting for leaving an hour or so earlier, or am I already avoiding much of the Sunday evening business travel?

EF is your friend.

This one: HPN ;)

I have (and can't live w/o) EF. It's how I found C seats to JFK. My problem is gambling a month out with unconfirmed upgrades, and what has been the experience around here. I agree, as flight time nears, EF is one's best friend.

But this one only flies EMB jets. If that is not a problem, I would choose SWF. Only catch is the last flight to ORD is around 1:00 pm I think. Not evening.

That makes it easier in the upgrade department. No upgrades to worry about :)

Cheers.

It seems reasonable to guess that EWR offers the easier upgrade, due to the fact that a lot of frequent biz travelers from EWR will be hog-tied to that airport's main carrier (CO).

I prefer to fly earlier in the day rather than later. You avoid the Sunday Evening Rush, you gain flexibility in case of flight delays, and you open up the possibility of getting bumped.

Why is EF the OPs friend?

It will show Y7 and other for sale buckets. How will Y7 help them decide on best upgrade options (flights/airport)? The only thing that EF would tell is F0 which probably will not happen until very close to flight time.

We ALL know seat map is unreliable as a tool for estimating bumps and upgrades.

EF is your friend when it comes to C and X inventory.... but that was not the OPs question.

To start answering the OPs question re upgrade chances on a Sunday ...

1. Few business travelers commute Sunday afternoon/evening on mid-cons. Owing to the time change a 7am LGA-ORD flight arrives in plenty of time to work Monday most of the day. Yes the LATER in the afternoon you travel, the more people (tier and no tier) there would be.

2. LGA has so many flights in comparison (thus a greater upgrade chance simply by the number of seats on the route). EWR and LGA both are MD80 runs (sans the one LGA-ORD 757 at 9am) so no real aircraft wide body (more seats) benefit.

3. As the flights are short .. the service will be limited. Meal service (snack) will be minimal on flights that offer something in First. [for example the 7:55am 12:45p and 4:45p EWR-ORD would be something but the rest would probably be drinkies only] It all depends on WHY you are wanting to upgrade.

Personally the question comes down to WHY you want 2-3pm. Do you have events in NYC in the morning and nothing in ORD for the evening? Me, at a hotel in NYC heading home on a morning I would book maybe 11am to get to ORD and into the city at a decent time.

The airport choice in NYC largely depends on where in the city you are leaving from. EWR is more convenient for some pax .. LGA betting for others.

LGA has the benefit of better standby for earlier flights (standby AND upgrade only option).

I would disagree with this. If I am booking a flight for next week and have a little flexibility, I will always take an F7 flight over an F3 flight. While there are certainly no guarantees, there is a much better chance of the F7 flight having upgrade seats available at the upgrade window (or flight time) than a flight currently showing F3. As always, YMMV, but I like the better odds.

However, for the OP this is a month out. Likely all (or most) options will show F7 at this point.

Cheers.

... and fwiw, F can be seen for free on sites like seatcounter.com

That's what the winky-wink was for.

Bottom line to the OP - and he knows it - if you must sit up front then it's 15K miles to pay for it. Otherwise you play the UG waiting game.

While LGA has many flights to ORD - who knows you will have picket the right one. The 3 pm may end up having fewer seats released to X vs the 4pm, or the opposite could be true. You just never know.

EWR has few flights to ORD each day, because it is a less popular airport, but that could mean the competition for the seats is that much more.

Since the OP knows the issues with sticker upgrades (hence the LAX-SFO-JFK question recently) maybe we should be suggesting better routing (better upgrade chance).

LGA-MIA-RDU-ORD might be good .. or LGA-MIA-TPA-DFW-ORD (catching the DFW-ORD 777).

The difference between F and Y on a flight of that length is trivial compared to the difference in hassle getting to the airports. It can take 90 minutes to get to EWR from manhattan on "coach" NJ transit seats. Or equivalent. It depends where you are.

Pick the airport first, then pick the flight that's convenient. You're talking about a M80 for two hours or so right? This is way down the list. Unless of course you're an "upgrade hobbyist" or something, and it's not actually about convenience.

That said - to answer your question as a PLT flying LGA-ORD you will almost certainly clear on a Sunday afternoon if you do the 24 OLCI and so on. I have flown this route many times and never missed. Weather/cancellations notwithstanding.

This is a good point.

However - he could look at this coming Sunday and each of the next several Sundays for a rough idea of which ones are most popular, as a work around.