Thankgiving Help ?

M

Mariner Mom

5-Year Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2009
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7
Hi everyone. We have made a huge mistake, being first time college student parents. Our Plebe was able to get home during the Trimester break with a roundtrip airfare of under $200. Our mistake....thinking the Thanksgiving fare would be comparable.

Now, when trying to get something booked for Thanksgiving the airfare is $1,100 - $1,200 !!!! We are trying to find another solution.

Is anyone out there going to be traveling south, from the Academy, by car headed to Va, NC, SC, Ga, Fl etc.? If so, would it be possible to get a ride and buy your gas/fuel......or anything else you might deem fair? Send me a PM. We can meet anywhere along I-85 or I-95 and minimize any disruption to your plans/trip.

Hope this is not an inappropriate thing to post here.

Thanks,

MM


p.s. Any way to edit the Thread Title? Just notice a typo "Thankgiving" and cannot seem to fix it?
 
Have you checked with the USMMA Parent's Association?

Those people are incredible at solving problems such as this. :thumb:
 
Amtrak

If you don't connect with a ride, you could look into Amtrak .... it's an easy LIRR connection from Great Neck to NYC Penn. Station which is also the Amtrak terminal...probably some bus service as well, but I'm not familiar with it. Biggist problem is these connections involve lengthy travel time.
You can also consider having your son hook up with a local "host" family, maybe a classmate, and stay in the metro NY area. Most local parents are glad to host out of town cadets.
 
thanksgiving

Mariner Mom, I sent you a private message.

Please tell me that you have purchased the Christmas tickets home. Right now our sons tickets have already doubled in price. It's a tricky dance to get them home, but so worth it. I hope you get him home.
 
Just ran the following on www.kayak.com flight search only (it's 9PM on 11/14) depart NY Metro on 11/24 in the evening to Orlando, FL and return on Sunday 11/28

Jet Blue has fares and seats @ $464-$468 RT (not great) to/from either Newark or JFK.

Kayak searches multiple travel sites and like 22 airline databases so that's about as good a simple way to find the best airfares available..
 
Thanks everyone....... our son has some opportunities to stay on LI. We have not found anyone driving down our way yet. We thought he was going to have an opportunity to ride with a staff member when he was home on the Tri break, but that seems to have dried up.....not sure what happened....we are getting much less communication.....very very busy after starting back up......we might get a call today and things will be clearer.

How hard is it to get from KP to Newark? How expensive? Also, how about Islip?
 
Hi Mariner Mom,

Your son can take the Long Island Rail Road into Penn Station.

New Jersey transit is also in Penn Station and definitely goes to Newark Airport.

Here's a link to NJ transit (note there's a Penn Station in Newark and a Penn Station in New York You are looking at the Penn Station in New York).

Cost is $15.

http://www.njtransit.com/sf/sf_servlet.srv?hdnPageAction=TrainTo

GoNavyMom
 
Well, after much effort, a roundtrip was secured at $390. From Newark

Hopefully, our Plebe can find his way there....if not, perhaps he does not belong on the open seas!!!!

Thanks everyone, the tips for the search engines was helpful. In the end, KAYAK was the way to go. At least for this time!

Working on Christmas NOW.
 
The best way to Newark as has been mention is via LIRR and New Jersey Transit, just tell your DS to make sure he gets on a NJT train that stops at Newark Airport NOT Newark Penn Station and if he does inadvertantly get off at Newark Penn Station or Secaucus take a capb from there rather then try to correct his mistake any other way, it'll be about the same additional cost and a lot faster....but if he asks at New York Penn Station when he buys his NJT ticket they'll steer him right; also he could probably just talk to many other folks in the waiting area with larger suit cases odds are they are Manhattenittes going to Newark Airport.

When he gets to the Newark Airport NJT Station there is a little light rail shuttle that he boards to get to the Newark Airport terminals, as I recall it doesn't cost anything.
 
How long does it take to get to Newark airport?

Newark Airport is an interesting option. About how long does it take to get from KP to EWR via train? We bit the bullet and paid exorbitant prices for flights at both Thanksgiving and Christmas. In the future, it might be interesting to check out the options from EWR also
 
idahogreers said:
Newark Airport is an interesting option. About how long does it take to get from KP to EWR via train? We bit the bullet and paid exorbitant prices for flights at both Thanksgiving and Christmas. In the future, it might be interesting to check out the options from EWR also
Click to expand...
Travel time for Great Neck to Penn Station is 35 minutes via LIRR, and Penn Station to Newark Airport via NJ Transit is about 25 minutes. It's a very easy connection. The LIRR trains generally run about every 1/2 hour, and the NJ Transit trains from Penn Station run at least every 1/2 hour, if not more frequently.

Mariner Mom - My plebe and another plebe will be taking the LIRR from Great Neck to Penn Station and connecting to NJ Transit on Tuesday 11/24 (going through to Trenton) - they're probably leaving late in the afternoon. If your son would like to tag along, send me a PM and I'll give you his contact info to pass along to your son.
 
We too were hit hard for DS to get home this year!!!
$600.00 round trip Newark to Orlando :eek:
:thumbdown:
 
While there is nothing that can be done when fares take unexpected jumps, the flights have to be bought early. We bought DS's Thanksgiving flight in July ($300 rt, EWR to ATL), and the Christmas flight as soon as TEE dates were announced (same rate). I am shuddering at the thought of what parents will be paying for Christmas flights who haven't purchased them yet. Also, at USMA we have optional bus transportation to 4 airports. Perhaps USMMA cadets can learn to pack light and learn to navigate the public transportation so they can take advantage of the lower prices at the NYC airports.
Major airlines have email alerts whenever there is a fare sale...easy to sign up for these so you'll know.
 
mom3boys said:
Perhaps USMMA cadets can learn to pack light and learn to navigate the public transportation so they can take advantage of the lower prices at the NYC airports.
Click to expand...
Ironically, Newark (the farthest airport from USMMA) is really the easiest airport to access via public transportation from USMMA. LIRR to Penn Station, NJ Transit to Newark. Kennedy and LGA really aren't easily accessible via public transportation from USMMA. IMHO, LGA isn't accessible via public transportation from anywhere.:thumbdown:
 
mom3boys said:
While there is nothing that can be done when fares take unexpected jumps, the flights have to be bought early. We bought DS's Thanksgiving flight in July ($300 rt, EWR to ATL), and the Christmas flight as soon as TEE dates were announced (same rate). I am shuddering at the thought of what parents will be paying for Christmas flights who haven't purchased them yet. Also, at USMA we have optional bus transportation to 4 airports. Perhaps USMMA cadets can learn to pack light and learn to navigate the public transportation so they can take advantage of the lower prices at the NYC airports.
Major airlines have email alerts whenever there is a fare sale...easy to sign up for these so you'll know.
Click to expand...

We bought the Thanksgiving flight in August and the Christmas flight in September.
 
But Maximus, everyone wants to go see Mickey, so you will always get gouged...some places don't get a break. :frown:
 
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