(The following story by Chris McGinnis appeared at CNN.com on December 16.)
ATLANTA — With crowds, tight parking, hot tempers and new security measures, the airport is not always a fun place to be during the holidays. Don’t subject your friends and family to that. Instead of asking someone to drive all the way out to the airport to meet you when you fly home for the holidays, take the train instead.
Here’s how:
New York City: This week, the long awaited, frequently postponed, AirTrain-JFK makes its debut at New York’s Kennedy Airport. The AirTrain connects the airport’s eight passenger terminals with the New York City subway system and the Long Island Railroad. The fare is $5 for the 45-minute ride into town (versus the $40 cab fare). The downside is that the journey is not seamless. You have to take AirTrain from your terminal to the Jamaica or Howard Beach train station, get off, and then haul your bags onto the subway or the train for the trip to the city. If you are loaded down with lots of luggage, the AirTrain might not be the best idea. But it’s a fantastic way to avoid bad traffic between the Kennedy and Manhattan during foul weather, or at rush hour.
AirTrain Newark, which has been running for three years, has a similar set-up. It connects the airport’s terminal buildings with a nearby Amtrak station. From there, you’ll catch a train (running two to three times per hour) for the 20-minute ride to Penn Station in Manhattan. The fare is $11.15 — much better than the bumpy ride in a cab for which you’ll pay at least $50.
San Francisco: Earlier this year, San Francisco International Airport opened a BART station in its new international terminal. The trip from the airport to the city takes about half an hour and costs $4.70 each way. If you aren’t lucky enough to have flown into the international terminal, you can take the airport’s new AirTrain, which runs in a loop connecting all its terminals and the BART station.
Other cities’ rapid rail links are also available in or near airport terminals in:
— Atlanta — (MARTA; Fare: $1.75)
— Chicago-O’Hare — (CTA; Fare: $1.50)
— Chicago-Midway — (CTA;Fare: $1.50)
— Cleveland — (RTA, Fare: $1.50)
— Philadelphia — (SEPTA; Fare: $5.50)
— St. Louis — (Metrolink; Fare $3.00)
— Washington-Reagan National — (The Metro; Fare: $1.20)