Traveling through ORD tonight/tomorrow...someone help me out!

[athaker]

Hi guys,

I'm flying to HPN for the weekend in advance of a med school interview, and am going LAX-ORD-HPN.  A few hours ago AAL called me and said my flight tomorrow(either LAX to ORD or ORD to HPN, im not sure which)  was canceled.    I was able to get on a redeye tonight, instead, and take an early flight out of ORD to HPN.  I'm very confused about how these new early flights are marked on time while the later flights have already been canceled.

Here's the original flight info, times are local:
2276   Los Angeles, CA (LAX)      02/01/2008 06:25 am     Chicago O'Hare, IL (ORD)   02/01/2008 12:25 pm
4424   Chicago O'Hare, IL (ORD) 02/01/2008 01:10 pm   White Plains, NY (HPN)   02/01/2008 04:15 pm

Essentially, for those of you who've traveled today or everyone listening to LAX/ORD/ZNY traffic, I'm asking if I'm going to be screwed on my 11:15 redeye tonight from LAX and my 6:25AM hop to HPN through ORD?

AA.com and the help line's are worthless, so forgive me for bringing this smut into the forums   thanks for any help

[KSYR-pjr]

Canceling in anticipation of the mess that this is going to be causing to northeast US-based flights Friday afternoon, no doubt:

[athaker]

eek...alright i thought that storm was hitting in the early morning, which is when my flights were switched to.  Hopefully it is indeed, an afternoon and not a morning mess, for my sake, and good luck you travelers, pilots and controllers.  I'll be thinkin of you when i'm stranded in Chicago (or some diversion city).

And thanks Peter!

[athaker]

A bad 757 with an hour and a half delay until a new plane at LAX, thus causing:
a missed flight to HPN,
a cancellation of my rebook 9:20 flight to HPN during the walk between gates at ORD,
cancellation of yet the next flight after,
waiting standby on the flight after that (departing 8 hours later) and seeing the snow outside getting worse,
then finally saying screw it and being cleared as a standby passenger on a completely frozen mad dog to LGA, (yea, thats right, LGA, never made it to HPN),
I finally arrive in New York.

 Then, bumming a free cab ride to grand central station from the guy next to me on the plane and finally hopping on a metronorth train to westchester, sigh, i'm finally home.

I feel bad for the pilots who flew through ORD today...

[KSYR-pjr]

Then, bumming a free cab ride to grand central station from the guy next to me on the plane and finally hopping on a metronorth train to westchester, sigh, i'm finally home.

Ouch - even on the best of weather days the NY airspace can fall apart.  Throw in a storm and it is pretty much a guarantee that it will be an adventure.

How was the MetroNorth ride from Grand Central back up to White Plains?  Was it somewhat painless?

As I mentioned to Jason (our resident HPN pilot) I am trying to decide what airport to use to commute into Manhattan - HPN or Teterboro - and the ride down from HPN on the MetroNorth is an unknown to me.

[aevins]

The commute from HPN to the city and back is painless. MetroNorth is so easy. On the other hand, I can't stand the trip to TEB. Taking some old bus that is never on schedule to and from the Port Authority Bus Station which is in Time Square, and having to wait on the road, in the cold, outside TEB for the bus to come. Go for HPN, it's much easier.

[tyketto]

Just out of curiosity, how is the commute to/from Stewart (KSWF)? That airport is being promoted like crazy out here in CA as an alternate to the other 3 in the NYC area, via Skybus.

BL.

[athaker]

How was the MetroNorth ride from Grand Central back up to White Plains?  Was it somewhat painless?

Metronorth is excellent, in my opinion.  Trains are invariably on time, and from major stops (like white plains) they run express trains to and from GCT.  From Dobbs Ferry to grand central on the local hudson line, it's about 30 minutes for about 7 bucks off peak, so white plains on harlem line is likely 35 min or so.  That over 10 times cheaper than a cab from the same place, and is comparable and cheaper than taxi from jfk/lga (Cab ride from JFK to anywhere in manhattan runs with preset rate of $45!)

Now residing in Los Angeles, I can't say enough good things about public transport around here.  Sadly, though, I have yet to fly HPN....hopefully my return trip tuesday is more successful

[KSYR-pjr]

On the other hand, I can't stand the trip to TEB. Taking some old bus that is never on schedule to and from the Port Authority Bus Station which is in Time Square, and having to wait on the road, in the cold, outside TEB for the bus to come. Go for HPN, it's much easier.

Thanks, aevins.  I commuted to Manhattan back in 2005 and used TEB extensively so I recall the bus thing, too.  Standing in the illuminated bus stop enclosure at night on that busy road made me wish I had some type of cold steel protection strapped to my side.

Another major disadvantage of TEB I just learned this week after calling a couple of the FBOs is that there almost always is a hold on ALL departures for 30 minutes to over an hour every Thursday and Friday afternoons.  It used to be that you could leave there VFR, weather permitting, and pick up an IFR en route, but even that loophole has been closed due to volume into Newark and in NY airspace in general.   This became such a hassle, I was told, that more than a few corporate customers left TEB for HPN.  So, okay, HPN it is.

Tyketto - Personally I wouldn't consider Stewart since the commute probably approaches an hour and a half between the ride to the train station and then the train ride itself.   However, for someone flying across the US I could see it being a viable alternative to the big three if and only if there is a substantial cost savings in flights to there compared to the big three airports.   But is Skybus cheaper than JetBlue?

Adarsh - Appreciate your feedback. 

[Jason]

Now residing in Los Angeles, I can't say enough good things about public transport around here.  Sadly, though, I have yet to fly HPN....hopefully my return trip tuesday is more successful

Sorry to hear about your ordeal, airline travel can be a real pain.  It once took me 13 hours to get from Milwaukee to White Plains...I kid you not.  Hopefully you have better luck on your return flight.  HPN is normally a real breeze compared to the other "major-3" airports.

Just out of curiosity, how is the commute to/from Stewart (KSWF)? That airport is being promoted like crazy out here in CA as an alternate to the other 3 in the NYC area, via Skybus.

It's not any better or worse IMO, just longer.  I live in southwestern Connecticut and I can get to HPN in about 25 minutes from my mom's house, or 30 minutes from my dad's house if I drive.  If I flew in and didn't have a car, MetroNorth would be my first alternative.  I've never had a bad experience on either the Hudson or New Haven lines (I haven't taken the others).

Another major disadvantage of TEB I just learned this week after calling a couple of the FBOs is that there almost always is a hold on ALL departures for 30 minutes to over an hour every Thursday and Friday afternoons.  It used to be that you could leave there VFR, weather permitting, and pick up an IFR en route, but even that loophole has been closed due to volume into Newark and in NY airspace in general.   This became such a hassle, I was told, that more than a few corporate customers left TEB for HPN.  So, okay, HPN it is.

Does that mean I get to buy you a free cup of coffee and slice of cheesecake at Panorama? 

[KSYR-pjr]

Does that mean I get to buy you a free cup of coffee and slice of cheesecake at Panorama? 

No way.

I'll be the one buying.   It would be my pleasure.   Typically I will be arriving at HPN every Monday AM around 9:00-9:30a and departing Thursdays around 6:30p, unless HPN is below minimums and then it is off to TEB as an alternate.  This should go on until September, assuming all goes well on the project.  Maybe when the weather is good to benign IFR (no t-storms or ice) some evening during the week we could fly out to Block Island or Martha's Vineyard for dinner... before tourist season starts, of course.

[Greg01]

Skybus?

Anyone want to take a guess as to what their pilots make?

[Jason]

No way.

I'll be the one buying.   It would be my pleasure.   Typically I will be arriving at HPN every Monday AM around 9:00-9:30a and departing Thursdays around 6:30p, unless HPN is below minimums and then it is off to TEB as an alternate.  This should go on until September, assuming all goes well on the project.  Maybe when the weather is good to benign IFR (no t-storms or ice) some evening during the week we could fly out to Block Island or Martha's Vineyard for dinner... before tourist season starts, of course.

Sounds good to me, send me an e-mail when you known when you'll be starting the commute and we can go from there.

Skybus?

Anyone want to take a guess as to what their pilots make?

$3.92/hr ? 

[Greg01]

It probably comes out to something like that!