# Transportation from Long Island airport to Manhattan?



## anniemac (Jan 19, 2009)

Am making my first trip to NYC this spring.  I will be hooking up with friends who are attending a conference in mid-town - Madison and 45th or closeby.  I have a free Southwest ticket to use, but I see that Southwest only flies into the municipal airport on Long Island.  What's the best way to get to Manhattan from there?  Should I just bite the bullet and buy a ticket and fly into JFK or LaGuardia?   And can I access transportation late evening (11 or midnight) back to the LI airport?

Thanks for the tips!


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## Talent312 (Jan 19, 2009)

LaGuardia offers more convenient and faster transit to Manhatten.  However, if you are a frugal fellow, the free ticket to Islip's airport will save you money.  You can take a shuttle bus to a nearby LIRR station, catch a commuter train, and then the subway once in the City.

From the airport's website:  To NYC by Train.
"Colonial Transportation of Long Island offers convenient shuttle service between MacArthur Airport and the Ronkonkoma train station (LIRR). The shuttle van departs the... airport on the hour and half-hour from 6:00am until 10:30pm. Curbside pick up at the airport is directly in front of baggage claim. The shuttle will pick up and drop off at the North Platform of the Ronkonkoma train station. The one-way fare is $5.00 per person. Cash and credit cards are accepted."


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## camachinist (Jan 20, 2009)

Personally, if you're schlepping luggage to midtown, I'd fly into LGA and cab it. Assuming you fly out of IND, there are non-stops on numerous airlines for under 200.00 r/t.

I remember one trip taking the train from Westport into Grand Central and schlepping two 50lb bags up and down stairs to the local subways. Never again. If I travel light (one roller and my computer bag) I'll take the train/subway, but otherwise cab it. ISP and HPN are equally inconvenient, IMO. EWR is better. IMO, LGA is the best if you're staying mid-town or on the upper east or west side. Cab fares are generally cheaper than from JFK. JFK is really busy, but there is the AirTrain.


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## laura1957 (Jan 20, 2009)

I think you should use your free ticket to Islip, take the shuttle to Ronkonkoma, LIRR to Penn Station.  Instead of dealing with luggage on the subways I would take a cab from Penn.


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## Talent312 (Jan 20, 2009)

camachinist said:


> Personally, if you're schlepping luggage to midtown, I'd fly into LGA and cab it.



Especially so if there's a spouse or S/O with you, which means 2x the trouble as mere schlepping.  Its one thing if all you have is a small carry-on, but quite another if you're trying to deal with another person and their luggage.  Once, I hopped on a RER in Paris and as the train pulled away, I turned around to see my wife still on the platform (not good).


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## Talent312 (Jan 20, 2009)

[duplicate]


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## camachinist (Jan 20, 2009)

I like laura's solution as a good cost/effort compromise. I haven't been in Penn, but in GC, there are ramps/escalators/elevators to effectively handle luggage. That part wasn't bad. It was transistioning to the local subway (and out of it, to street level) that was a nightmare, especially in the crush of people that is normal with NYC subways.


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## EvelynK72 (Jan 20, 2009)

I have used Winston Airport Shuttle to go between LaGuardia and where I needed to be on Long Island.  I see from their website that Winston also services Islip airport.  You might run a quote to see how much this costs - it may be more expensive than the train but it gets you from door-to-door which is nice if you're carrying a fair amount of luggage.  Here is their website:

http://www.winstontrans.com/

Good luck!

Evelyn


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## bigrick (Jan 23, 2009)

We did this several years ago (before JetBlue flew to JFK non-stop from Sacramento).   We used a cab to shuttle between the LIRR and Islip airport.  Simple, easy, cheap.

There were plenty of others doing the same thing as us.  The ride on the LIRR was easy too.


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## silverfox82 (Jan 23, 2009)

Curious why you would want transportation back at 11pm-midnight unless you have a hotel near the airport and an early morning flight. The airport closes earlier than that with no flights in or out due to noise restrictions. You can access LIRR schedules online and another option could be cabbing it to the Babylon station for a few more dollars and most of the trains on that line go straight thru to penn sta without changing in Jamaica and during peak times they run express trains that bypass a lot of stations. LI is a nice airport and you are in the air in just a couple of minutes from pushback, no wasted time taxiing around like jfk and lga.


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## anniemac (Jan 24, 2009)

Yes -Silverfox, I will have early morning flight out and airport hotel the last night.  I will be on a tight schedule back to work and want to minimize risk of missing return flight.   Thanks for the help.


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