Choosing Between Airports in a Multi-Airport City
Many large metro areas have several airports. Airline choices, schedules, fares and ground travel can all differ between them, so it can pay to look at more than one.
Cities where this matters most
Examples on this site include New York (JFK, LaGuardia, Newark), Los Angeles, Washington, DC, San Francisco, Chicago and London.
How to compare
- List the airports you could reasonably use at each end.
- Check the total price for each pairing, with the bags you need.
- Add ground travel: time and cost to reach each airport from where you are staying.
- Look at schedules: a slightly cheaper flight at an awkward hour may not be a bargain.
- Think about arrival: a late arrival at a far-out airport may leave you with limited transit.
Smaller airports and low-cost carriers
Some airlines, especially low-cost carriers, use smaller or secondary airports, which may be farther from the city but cheaper to fly into. Add the cost of getting into the city before deciding.
Each route page lists airport pairs
On our flight route pages you can see the airports at both ends, which makes it easy to ask a specialist to price several combinations at once.