gaobest

Definitely depends on the airport!
LHR Sfo jfk oak ORD

invisible

Why this is a question? Is it somehow unusual to take public transport to the airport?

If you want to get to Narita Airport (NRT) from Tokyo, a train would cost you about $12-$14 (non-express). Taxi would cost you $350 or more.

Singapore/Changi - MRT from the city center (Raffles Place) are would cost you SGD $1.80 and you will be there in 45 min or less. Taxi would cost about SGD $30, including the downtown area surcharge. During surge pricing, Grab/Gojek could charge you 2x of the amount and it is not guaranteed that you will be there in 45 min, contrary to MRT.

KL/KLIA - you can get to the city center for 8RM via bus, taxi would cost you 120RM or more.

Such examples are everywhere.

bitterproffit

SIN (Rail)
HKG. (Rail)
PER. (Bus)
NRT. (Bus)
BUD. (Bus)
ORY. (Rail)
AMS. (Rail)
TXL. (Bus)
FRA. (Rail)
MUC. (Rail)
CPH. (Rail)
BCN (Rail and Bus)
AGP (Rail and Bus)
DCA. (Rail)
BOS (ferry and Bus)
MDW (Rail)



Sadly, although I am a 20 minute drive from my home airport at BNA, to get there via transit would require a Lyft ride to a bus stop, a bus downtown, transfer to a bus to the airport. Total time: 1 hr 25 mins. We have woeful mass transit here.

RTheys

I once took a Flixbus from Antwerp to Dusseldorf because my car broke the night before and was in the shop. In Dusseldorf I took an S Bahn to the airport. 4 hours total. This was for a TP run which I had to start in DUS instead of BRU which is my home airport.

CDTraveler

You know you've been on FT too long when you look at that list and see city names instead of codes.

Some are fairly obvious, like CPH, but it takes a pro to know AGP is Malaga.

bitterproffit

LOL, the amazing thing is I wouldn’t have gone to most of those places if it wasn’t for FT helping me re-spark my love of travel.

Visconti

LOL...yeah, always take the train in TYO and bus for HND. Favorite is probably the LIRR to JFK; this an airline forum but my first love has always been the glory of those old iron horses. To this day, I love a real train with a locomotive.

Some places I'll always hire a car, CDG, LHR comes to mind. But, it really varies. PVG I love the subway especially since it costs about $1.00 usd or something? It's the best value I've ever seen on a airport subway. Of course, usually the Airport Express in HKG.

So, generally, a train/subway if traveling light. If not, I'll always hire a care with airport pickup, think driver with a sign a la Vegas style.

Hvr

I can't believe that DFW via the DART hasn't been mentioned yet.

MEL is possible but extremely convoluted.
SYD,
BNE,
NRT and HND are quite easy.
SFO, BOS, ORD, JFK,
PVG on the magline is fun.
HKG, SIN, ICN are all easy.
BKK, LHR,

Visconti

Right! At a certain time, 2 - 4pm, it reaches the top speed of about 450 kph? I remember thinking that if this thing ever derailed, they're never gonna find the pieces for any of us.

LAX2Anywhere

Long time ago, when I was in college, I took a bus to ORD after a trip home to Southern Wisconsin. Weather was bad with snow falling. So instead of driving me to ORD, parents took to to somewhere in Milwaukee as I recall, to catch a bus to ORD. Worked out pretty well.

Have taken rail to/from MUC and BRU, and from VIE. All were pretty easy as long as you don’t have much baggage.

Tennis69

I've taken the Maglev train from Shanghai to PVG many times. 431 kph (268 mph) gets you there quickly.

CMK10

I just used the Metrolink Light Rail at STL last weekend. It's really convenient as it stops at both STL terminals. It's also a $4 ride to downtown.

LtKernelPanic

I've used the train to get to and from ORD, LHR, and LIS off the top of my head. Used the bus once to get home from my hometown airport after my flight was canceled and I couldn't get a hold of someone to pick me up. Normally I arrange with a family member for drop off and pick up when flying out of here.

james318

DART is great. I recently had to start going to downtown Dallas from way far north Fort Worth. I hate driving on highways. But I have discovered that I can handle the highway to the nearest DART station (20 minute drive or so) and then DART into downtown, a block from my office. The train is just under an hour. It would be FASTER to drive in the morning, but coming home is probably a wash.

But I guess that doesn't count on taking it to the airport. If Tarrant county would get onboard with real mass transit from places people live to places people want to go, life would be good. I'd much rather do that than drive to DFW.

swag

When I lived in N Dallas and would take longer trips (5+ days), several times I drove to the Belt Line station, parked there for free, and rode DART the one stop to DFW. But since I was driving 90% of the way, I didn't really consider it as "taking public transit to the airport"; it felt more like just using a different remote parking lot.

Still, those were the only times I used transit to get from home to airport, though like others here I have a long list of airports where I used transit to travel from the airport at my destination. Most transit systems do a much better job of connecting the airport to downtowns and other visitor/tourist areas than they do connecting to the myriad residential neighborhoods in the metro area.