magendim

Traveling from Vegas to Zurich second week of January and only available J class options are transfers via ORD or EWR. I know neither are great in winter but toss up or would one be better than the other? Only one connection via EWR is UA all the way through, the others are all SWR to ZRH. Layovers are 2+ hours on all. IAD Is available but layover is only 90 minutes which seems too short. SFO-ZRH is sold out that day.

mahasamatman

I would avoid EWR regardless of any other consideration.

limey1K

My experience and opinion would be to recommend anywhere else before EWR.

lincolnjkc

Ehh... Departing or arriving?

I'd avoid EWR over virtually any other option in most cases but I'd probably pick an I->D EWR arrival over an I->D ORD arrival -- you at least have a shot of not having to change terminals and it seems EWR has their act relatively together for INTL... But given those two choices and January I may look at other destinations or warmer dates before picking one of those. "Cold day in Hell" can be an apt description of both in January

eightblack

Would you consider LAX to ZRH on Swiss? At least you avoid potential winter weather issues.

dkc192

Seems like OP is only asking about the outbound LAS-ZRH, in which case I'd recommend ORD over EWR without hesitation, to answer their specific question. Though I like eightblack's LAX suggestion over either ORD or EWR.

trm2

I always say that EWR puts the EW in air travel.

kodyandgracie

I’d go with ORD. They seem to handle weather issues much better than EWR. Once things go bad at EWR, they get really bad quickly.

magendim

Itinerary is LAS-> ORD or EWR -> ZRH. Biz trip so can't change dates or destination. I use EWR fairly often for my east coast trips so am very familiar with that airport. Looks like EWR LAS arrivals are all in C terminal but Swiss departs from C or B terminals so may not have to switch terminals. ORD looks like it will be a mandatory terminal change.

tcdtcd

Yes, ORD does handle almost anything well. Especially now with the 8 parallel runways (and 2 others).

jackk763

Another vote for ORD

FabCW

ORD seems to handle weather quite well overall. That would be my pick.

mahasamatman

It's a total of 8. "Only" 6 parallels.

MsTravelBug

I flew ORD-EWR-BER and vice versa in late October and early November. Outbound was okay: I didn't have to switch terminals and the gates seemed less crowded than ORD. On the other hand, signage was confusing, the gate numbering scheme didn't make sense, and the food at the Polaris club was not appealing.

Return was horrible. My layover was scheduled for 2 hours and 47 minutes, yet I made it to the gate of my second flight with 3 minutes to spare before boarding started! How did that happen? Departure from BER was delayed by about 45 minutes. Also, there was a same-day change that resulted in needing to change terminals at EWR. I landed at the C gates, had a lengthy wait for my bag, cleared customs, and rechecked the bag. Then I had to get to the A gates for my departing flight. To get there, I had to take the train to the B gates, get off, and catch a bus. I then had to reclear security at A, where I encountered some of the slowest TSA agents I've ever seen. I have Global Entry and I moved fast once we landed, but still it took much longer than reasonable.

ty97

You never know where winter weather may hit on any day so pick the best option assuming good weather.

If I understood correctly, your options are:

1. LAS-EWR-ZRH: All UA metal
This is likely the easiest option. Your LAS-EWR flight will arrive at Terminal A or Terminal C (impossible to know which terminal in advance if it's a narrowbody flight). EWR-ZRH will depart from C. There is an airside bus A-->C. There is a Polaris lounge you can use in C.
Best case scenario: You arrive at C and never even have to change terminals.

2. LAS-EWR-ZRH with EWR-ZRH on Swiss metal.
As above, you will arrive at A or C. Your Swiss flight will depart from B. The airside bus will stop to drop you off at B (on request), but the Lufthansa lounges are closed for renovation right now. Depending on the time of your flight, you may or may not be able to use the (poor) SAS lounge in B as an alternative (a thread in the Lufthansa lounge has more details on the alternatives during the LH lounge closure). You also have access to the Polaris lounge which is in C. However, if you arrive at A, this would mean a bus from A->C, go to lounge, then bus from C->B which all gets to be a bit of a hassle. There is also a United club in A that you could use before taking the bus to B. The bus ride from A->C takes about 10 minutes. The bus ride from C->B takes about two minutes.

3. LAS-ORD-ZRH with ORD-ZRH on Swiss metal.
You will arrive at Terminal 1 (slight chance you arrive Terminal 2 but it's connected to Terminal 1). You will depart from Terminal 5 on Swiss. There is apparently an airside bus from T1 to T5. Your lounge options appear to be Polaris in T1 (C gates), SAS lounge in T5, or Swissport in T5. I have no experience with these lounges so have no opinion on them.

I lean toward option 1 because A) there is a chance of no terminal transfer and B) even if there is a terminal transfer, the Polaris lounge is in the terminal you will depart from. And UA has a good J hard project.