njcommodore

Keep in mind it's probably a 15 minute ride from the Newark Airport Airtrain station to the terminal (factoring in walk time and wait for a train). I'd put Amtrak below all air carriers for on time arrivals, so to be safe I would take the earlier train. Agreed that no bags it's doable, but risky.

kwildnj

All.things considered, a 82 minute train connection would be akin to being dropped off curbside 60 minutes before your flight.

It would just be doable if you were checking a bag, figure 15 mins to check the bag, 15 for security, you would be getting to the gate bascally as boarding began, after it already started.

RandD

We plan to bring only carryons but my son (6 year old) will travel with me. My main concerns are also with security at EWR and on-time arrival for the Amtrak.

15 min. to get thru security is not too bad, but is it normal around 4-5 PM on monday? I don't know how much does it help but we got an upgraded to FC on this flight.

MoJ0

Wow... Glad I planned a 75 minute cnxn. Busses from C71 to A23 are a nightmare.

First, the elevators at C are really small and slow, and that's after waiting in line.

Then the busses are not exactly frequent (as in the old mobile lounges @ IAD or US at PHL from F), and they pack them to Tokyo rush hour standards. Everyone was grousing on my bus.

At A there are a bunch of curbs to negotiate before getting to small and slow elevators for another wait.

When I got to the clubs the gals at front desk wre very cool... They had to ride the busses too and can't believe how bad it is. I asked if it was Port Auth, Continental, or both... And was quickly told oh no, this was all United.

I asked didn't Smisek run Continental before... And quietly was told that he ran Continental into United. not unprofessionally mind you... I was fishing and this was done very discretely, but it really gave me some insight I wasn't getting before.

Now i'm starting to get it. It's not entirely tribal pmUA vs pmCO ... It's everyone vs Smisek/newUA management. I mentioned "ah, so things are Jeff'd up" and got a warm chuckle out of them.

Maybe the troops will end up banding together and pushing for change from the inside and bottom up and out!

kb1992

Perhaps it's time to make a T-shirt Jeff Must Go?

MoJ0

What is so hard about boarding by zone numbers? Flight with more than a handful of military guys and... The boarding announcement made "we now are boarding all premier access" and the scrum began.

It's well over 30 days and they still can't get consistency even at a pmCO fortress?

I lose more hope everytime I fly this shell of an airline.

Ps... Mods feel free to move this reply to the boarding zone topic...I put it here because it was in term a EWR

nova08

The Bus from C to A has always been a pain. I feel like so many other airports have a much more efficient method of bussing. Even US in PHL, during peak times those busses keep coming, they offload, board quickly and they're gone.

If you were in A, then it must have been a UAX flt. So far since 3/3 on express flts I've had just about zero consistency and about 5 different permutations in the process.

channa

We should be happy there is a bus. Years ago, you used to have to exit security, AirTrain over, and then re-clear security.

demkr

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9B176 Safari/7534.48.3)

I still do that. Lol sometimes if I have a safe enough connection it feels shorter than the darn bus!

TWA Fan 1

The bus is definitely a pain, no question about it.

It's actually even worse since the merger, because now the bus doesn't only go from Terminal C to the Terminal A "20" gates (as it used to for PMCO), but also does a separate run between the Terminal A "20" gates and the Terminal A "10" gates (which were the PMUA gates at EWR).

That's because, if you change gate pods at Terminal A, you have to do through security again.

As far as PMCO vs PMUA, it's a silly debate, but one thing is clear: The shuttle bus from Terminal C to Terminal A was a PMCO "resource" since PMUA didn't have any flights at Terminal C.

EWR is often a less-than-charming experience, but I think some of the folks who work for the bus company contractor that operates the shuttle take the cake...

belynch

Express ops are spread out over two piers in A (legacy CO and legacy UA) and parts of C. It's a bit of a mess.

While the bus system at EWR is far behind airports like PHL (I can't believe PHL exceeds in anything) and even IAD (again, that feels like a bizarre thing to say) EWR is constrained by its infrastructure. The airport wasn't really designed to handle terminal to terminal domestic connections, compared to IAD and PHL which were either designed to handle these types of ops, or were renovated for this purpose. And the PANYNJ isn't exactly the fastest moving agency out there.

The bus is better than having to transfer via the landside AirTrain, but it's definitely an area for improvement. There's a big master-plan for the redevelopment of the A concourse that will probably be realized in the year 250982308234 and, in the last version I saw, included a train system on the airside.

This isn't, at all, a "CO vs UA" thing. UA management wants nothing more than for the PANYNJ to allow for them to have seamless ops in EWR.

No airport in the Northeast is great for Mainline // Express transfers. It's just a fact of life for those of us that live here and/or commute here.

And if you know you'll be transferring terminals in EWR I'd plan on allowing an hour +. Just like I'd recommend doing in PHL or IAD.

TWA Fan 1

Hilarious!

Also, regarding your exposition on the NY NJ PA, the agency is such an unbelievable sink hole I'm actually glad they move as slowly as they do. Imagine how little they actually build (outside of the ultimate money pit, the new World Trade Center), and still it costs $12 to cross a bridge or tunnel from NJ to to NYC.

Imagine how much the tolls would be if they actually needed the funds to fix up EWR? $200 per bridge/tunnel crossing? $12,000...

keihin_242

As usual, I booked my upcoming TATL on a LH codeshare. While I normally connect at IAD, this is my first time on a international connection since March 3 and half the available flights were through EWR. MUC-IAD wasn't available and I wanted to avoid LH's old 744 out of FRA, so I was at first happy to see MUC-EWR on the 346 and booked it.

So... I have 90 minutes. Should I chance this or just rebook through IAD or find a longer layover at EWR? I could just give up and rebook the TATL on UA metal and get my 4 segments out of the way early. In fact, I'll be on a (govt) Y fare, so I could just try to do a mileage upgrade to the C-cabin if I fly UA.

Also, I'm probably going to have to check bags. I assume a 90 minute layover will mean my bag would be at risk of not making the EWR-ORF flight if the immigration line is long enough. **Update** US passport holder.

Depart:
15:30
Sat., Apr. 28, 2012
Munich, Germany (MUC)

Arrive:
18:30
Sat., Apr. 28, 2012
New York/Newark, NJ (EWR - Liberty)
Flight: UA9255
Operated by Lufthansa.
Aircraft: Airbus A340-600

Change Planes. Connect time in New York/Newark, NJ (EWR - Liberty) is 1 hr 30 mn.

Depart:
20:00
Sat., Apr. 28, 2012
New York/Newark, NJ (EWR - Liberty)

Arrive:
21:24
Sat., Apr. 28, 2012
Norfolk, VA (ORF)
Flight Time:
1 hr 24 mn
Flight: UA4889
Operated by Colgan Air dba United Express.

kwildnj

You hold a US or foreign passport? LH412 comes into Terminal B and your departure will be out of Terminal C.

I would look for a later flight from EWR-ORF. Assuming you are not a US Passport Holder, for flights arriving in the 6-8pm slot often see non-citizens taking 90 minutes or more in customs.

Mr.Niels

After LH changed my itinerary I have 1h and 05min to connect to my UA Domestic flight (coming in from FRA). Is that enough time or should I rebook right away to avoid a 3-4 hours layover.