I whole-heartedly agree... at least to Manhattan there are various routes and even some city streets to get to/from JFK even in the worst rush hour. Have you ever tried to drive into Manhattan from NJ in the morning... tunnels and bridges have a 30-60-90 minute wait most days. No thank you.

And there is something about the "simplicity" in practice about just jumping into a cab which has a FLAT FARE to JFK instead of a subway/taxi to PENN Station (which deserves its own level in Dante's Circle of Hell) to the AirTrain. That's not convenient nor efficient.

1. JFK is easier to and from midtown east.
2. JFK is far less prone to air traffic delays.
3. JFK T7 is super easy and compact. There's no quicker walk to the gate, nor is there any quicker baggage delivery.
4. EWR is one of the nastiest airports in the country. Long lines, surly employees, frequent delays.
5. The Lincoln tunnel is a nightmare at rush hour.

This is spot on. I work with these people. They're not going to fly out of Newark. Period, end of discussion.

yup, plus the reliability of the Airtrain and NJ Transit should give everyone pause.

Because getting to JFK from Manhattan and vice versa was a piece of cake. :confused:

Getting to/from JFK from anywhere not on Long Island just plain sucks.

Not sure when the last time was that you were in EWR, but at worst, it's no better or worse than JFK as it relates to air congestion, employee attitude, etc.

Don't talk to me about the Lincoln Tunnel - the Belt Parkway and 678 are just as God-awful at the wrong time of day.

I actually think OAK is a really bad comparison. I may be biased since I'm from the East Bay and OAK is a lot closer, but OAK is a great airport. Have you been there recently? The renovated terminals are actually quite nice now (not as nice as SFO T3 Boarding E, but 10x better than Boarding F), security is always a breeze, and with the new BART extension, SFO and OAK are roughly equidistant from downtown SF. OAK is another market that UA retreated from post-merger, and a lot of people (myself included) were sad to see it go, as it was a welcome alternative to SFO.

I can't speak for EWR as it's actually the one NYC airport that I've never flown into, but to me, EWR seems to be more inconvenient to get to from Manhattan than OAK is from downtown SF.

I lucked out with my last flight to JFK end September.
I dislike EWR and avoid it when possible. I have other *A options from USA but
returning via the east (Europe and Mid-East) will cause issues. I already booked
DL one flight after arriving JFK on Qatar. If a choice between EWR using UA or
JFK on another carrier- I'll stick with JFK.

If only we had things like the NEX, Flytoget, RhonExpress from NYP for EWR and Grand Central for JFK we could all be in a much better place.

We're not going to agree here, which is fine. But I would debate #1 (which is related to #5 - not disputing #5, but the Van Wyck is also a nightmare) and #4 (Terminal C). #3 I already agreed with. I'll give you #2 as well :D

Agreed. OAK/SFO has no relevance to this discussion. OAK is an excellent regional airport with on time flights, short lines, and easy parking. Unlike NYC, the bay area can only support one international airport.

It's very similar to getting to EWR. You can drive and get stuck in bridge/880 traffic or you can take a jam-packed, delay prone BART train and then transfer to the airtran at Coliseum.

Then they'll fly on AA or DL... and there are plenty of other people on the west side and lower Manhattan who can even more easily get to EWR and are willing to pay premium fares who don't want to go to JFK. That's the beauty of New York. Money everywhere...

United will prioritize the PS departures out of EWR, and they will not be subjected to the same delays as some other flights. I'm not sure I'd agree that delays at JFK are less across the board. I've been part of some pretty insane delays there while EWR has ben flowing just fine.

I LOVE this change. For folks that are primarily United flyers going from West coast into Europe (other than London, Paris and a few others), you now go lay flat the entire way..

That's bad for JFK, but for all of people connecting in EWR, it was a huge improvement.

Assuming it's the same plane, same service, same hard and soft product

1. Your upgrade rates will increase, which requires everyone to use upgrade instruments.

2. Take-over of PMCO 752s. Not sure if you all noticed, but the daily PMCO 752 was completely gone from specifically EWR-LAX/SFO routes. And obviously, all other 738s, A320s, A321s, and 753s.

3. You can still use Gogo with Unlimited rate plan and not $16.99 for the 5.5 hour of the flight by United WiFi.

4. It means you may not need United Club access if you fly BF in EWR-SFO/LAX

Fundamentally, I guess for UA, sure, they can say they're "moving" the flights to EWR. The capacity in November might be A+B, if A is EWR's transcon traffic and B is PS today. In a year its going to be A. People used to flying to JFK are just going to switch carriers, and people who weren't schlepping to EWR aren't going to suddenly do so.

They're not going to be attracting anyone new with this move, its not like they're starting up VNY-TEB.

To each his own.....I would rather get my work done in my office and know i have a 30 or 40 minute commute than leave my office 2 hours earlier than needed because I may or may not hit traffic. Not saying you're wrong just saying you and I differ on how we would rather spend our time.

Commute aside, I have real doubts whether its a good decision financially. Only time will tell.

And the answer is...
 

Gotham Air’s New $99 Helicopter Between Manhattan And JFK/EWR

The cost for first time users will be just $99 one way, and after that they’ll charge $199-219 depending on the departure time.

While it seems slightly unnecessary for a six minute flight, they’ll be serving hors d’oeuvres provided by Chef Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bakery, as well as drinks on afternoon flights.

Furthermore, they’ll have an inclement weather guarantee, whereby if the helicopter can’t fly due to high winds or low cloud coverage, you’ll be driven door-to-door in a Tesla S.

Pocket change for the finance guys, eh?