exerda

I can sum it up: surly staff and irrops issues.

fgirard

+1000, and if one is flying on UAX, they'll take the hit first.

dmurphynj

Ahh. Being my home airport, I don't have IRROP issues here. As for the surly staff, you just have to know how to approach them. Have your ... stuff ... in order before approaching the desk, be precise, curt and direct. Think of the Seinfeld Soup episode, and you'll do fine here.

I get it - I live here... no time for formalities.

But yeah - I guess getting stuck in EWR during IRROPS would suck.... plenty of room on my basement pull-out couch if anyone needs it!

RNE

Not to mention surly passengers, like me.

To the OP: Although the shuttle trip is quick, there can be long lines and 15- to 20-minute waits just to get onto a shuttle. And that's in good weather and not a lot of tarmac traffic. To add insult to injury, the shuttle's departure and arrival points aren't dedicated areas, but narrow, roped-off walkways (with stairs, by the way) shoehorned in between crowded gates. They have no place to sit or otherwise find any comfort. Should you step away for, say, a bottle of water, you'll lose your place in line—and this assumes you don't mind crawling over the other people behind you. Once you get on the shuttle, don't expect to find a place to sit. Not that you'll need one for a quick trip, but still. The shuttle—while very useful—is like much of EWR: a haphazardly executed afterthought.

RNE, advising: don't dawdle.

Kmxu

My experience is closer to others except for RNE. Do not be scared at all. There are good days and bad days. But the transfer between A and C is not stressful. Happy travels.

Cargojon

Agreed, except for the shuttle dragons at C71A who insist on inspecting your boarding pass to even "let you" on the shuttle from C to A. God forbid there's a restaurant at A you want to eat at and come back (not that there is, but you get the drift).

On the C side, there is a decent waiting area with chairs so providing the crowd isn't too bad, going C to A is reasonably easy.

mduell

My experience with the EWR bus is much like RNEs... long wait, nowhere to sit, staff behavior best described as hostile.

RNE

You know very well I'm not telling the OP to be scared. I am merely describing the makeshift departure and arrival "areas," and the very real possibility one may have to stand in line for quite a while before boarding. Therefore, allow extra time.

RNE, disputing your sugarcoating.

flyingnosh

^
Just like the New York City subway. No big deal. The objective is to get from A to C, and that's exactly what you get.

My only two gripes with EWR are (1) flights get punished for arriving early, i.e., no ground crew or jetway operator ready, etc. and (2) the speed and reliability of the monorail leave much to be desired.

EDIT: to answer the question about connecting, if I were connecting from a domestic flight to a once-a-day international flight, I would allow for 3 hours. It's what I do when I need to connect on the west coast for a TPAC.

RNE

Yes, but that objective can take a lot longer than the "5-10 minutes" suggested in this thread. The OP should be aware of the possibility of having to wait a while for a shuttle and plan accordingly.

RNE, suggesting that obliging shuttle passengers to stand in a veritable cattle chute is merely a small part of the EWR experience.

nikolastojsin

As far as I can tell, YOW flights are usually E145s coming into A terminal. Which means airside bus transfer A-C - just assume Terminal A is a bus station, and budget 30 minutes for it, and you will be fine. Terminal C, on the other hand, is actually rather nice airside, IMHO. Alternative is to take the monorail - but that requires leaving the secure area, and reliability of the monorail in cold weather is not great (please do not ask! ), so the airside shuttle is the way to go. It is really a minor inconvenience.

As for the staff etc. they are 'NJ-friendly' (picture John McEnroe being friendly with the umpires), which can come across as somewhat off-putting. But it is safe to ignore and not something to really worry about.

One thing to keep in mind, though: in IRROPs, and EWR had plenty of those this winter, E145 flights are the first to be cancelled, so plan accordingly....

hockey7711

I am on the evening flight (10:45pm) in BF next week.
I know there is extra security at the gate.
How early do I need to be at the airport?

gene2632

Yes, there is extra security at the gate, there is a special area marked off for TLV passengers only at the gate. Typically I allow myself two hours for an international flight,if you have Premier status then two hours should work. If you don't have status, I would allow a bit extra just to be safe.

Mats

Two hours is fine.

Check-in is usually extremely fast, but regular TSA security is slow. In my experience, only one checkpoint is open at the later hours, and PreCheck is closed (they have "PreCheck 'Light.'" So be sure to allow about 20 to 30 minutes for security.

The gate security is sometimes looks daunting, but it goes very fast, and they're really nice. It takes less than ten seconds.

They typically open the gate at about 9:45 pm, but there's no reason to get there sooner. I usually wait until the aircraft door is open and passengers are actually getting on board. It's never taken longer than five or ten minutes to get through gate security and get on board.

Do not hesitate to ask if you other questions about your upcoming trip.

Tisa naima

LaserSailor

Gate security is fast, efficient as Mats says. There is a gate controlled area (black barriers) you have to enter for the right side which is special to TLV departures

2 hours is plenty, I have done it on as little as 60 minutes, getting tight.

See you in J, but don't wake me up



Shalom.