Cost-effective from Boston to Atlantic City (no car)
 

I'm flying into Logan, arriving in the evening. I want to meet up with a friend in Atlantic City the following night. (This is due to a change of plans, I wouldn't have booked a flight into BOS had I known this before.)

This will be during winter, I don't think a one-way rental is a good option (after Atlantic City, I'm heading on to NYC). Also, this is not a business trip and I'd like to keep the costs in check.

For my dates, flights BOS-PHL are dirt-cheap. Do folks from New England think flying into PHL and taking a bus from there would be the best option?

Flights BOS-LGA and BOS-JFK are also pretty reasonable at my desired date. But from arriving at the airport in NYC, I would have to head on to the Port Authority bus terminal in Midtown West (or to Chinatown) and take a 2h 30m bus ride from there... I would be willing to go that route, but it's not super-convenient.

Flights from BOS-PHL are frequent and usually on schedule so if they're also cheapest then I think that's the way to go. There's always a bit of weather risk in the winter, but the high frequency of BOS-PHL flights will give you some backup if there's a storm.

I don't know the bus schedule/frequency from PHL to Atlantic City but since PHL is much closer to Atlantic City than either LGA or JFK I'd imagine you'd have lots of good, cheap options there as well.

If you're looking for low-cost options, depending on the timing of your flight you can do train from PHL to Atlantic City, though it requires a change at 30th St Station in Philadelphia. SEPTA trains from airport to 30th St run every 30 minutes ($6.75). Then New Jersey Transit's Atlantic City Line has 12 trains a day between 30th St and Atlantic City. If you have flexibility on when you fly (and there's usually plenty of frequency BOS-PHL between AA, DL and B6) you might be able to make that work.

https://www.njtransit.com/var/var_se...geAction=JK8To

If the weather is such that the BOS-PHL flights are not operating, probably any other mode of transportation is going to be similarly affected.

Train

You can book Amtrak all of the way from Boston to Atlantic city. (With a change in Phila)
It might be cheaper to take Amtrak from Bos to Phila. then NJ Transit to Atlantic City.
FYI NYC to AC trains all go through Phila.

You could also take Amtrak to NYC and a casino bus to AC but you will need to transfer between Penn Station and the Port Authority Bus Terminal (not a bad walk)

Bus options from NYC to the Atlantic City Casinos have dwindled in recent years, but Greyhound still runs service to some of the casinos. It's called the Lucky Streak Service.
You could take Bolt Bus or Mega Bus to NYC then Greyhound to AC, but you would need to get from their drop off points to the Port Authority Bus Terminal
It's a few dollars more, but I would take Greyhound from Boston to NYC. It terminates at the Port Authority Terminal then change to the AC Casino bus there.

Finally, you could take Bolt Bus or Mega Bus from Boston to Phila. Both companies drop off 3 blocks from 30th Street station in Phila., then take NJ Transit to Atlantic City.

This option wins for convenience and ease of transfer, and may be cheaper than you think. Total travel time will be competitive versus flying part of the way also.

Depending on the congestion on the Turnpike ;)

I appreciate all suggestions. I ended up booking a flight BOS-PHL shortly before the train suggestion was posted. Hadn't thought of that! As for the bus to NYC and then onwards to AC, I'm not sure it would have been ideal for me. I took the Boston - NYC busses now and then back in the day but always hated it. Acela Express was my preferred option back then (once was a grad student in Boston a long time ago) as long as I could score a discounted ticket.

For the record, another option would have been to fly to EWR and then take the train to Philadelphia and then Atlantic City.

OP doesn't say what carrier has been purchased for BOS-PHL. I hope it's an airline with frequent service on its own metal and also interline possibilities in IROPs.

You can book an Amtrak ticket from BOS to ACY, but it will involve transferring to an NJ Transit train for the PHL-ACY segment. That being the case, I suspect that it would often be cheaper just to buy BOS-PHL on Amtrak, and then buy a $10.75 PHL-ACY ticket on NJ Transit. (Amtrak might charge a premium to book through to ACY on one ticket.)

Amtrak used to run its own trains to ACY, but has not done so in many years.

Purchased DL ticket due to PM status and due to BOS being a hub/focus city for DL.