Flights to New York City

Search for cheap airfare to New York City and book a flight to New York City

NYC flightsWith three large international airports serving the city, there is never a shortage of flights to New York City. As the country’s busiest hub for international air traffic, getting to the city from nearly anywhere on earth is rarely complicated. Getting a cheap flight to New York City is sometimes tricky, but fortunately the competition among all the different airlines and airports tends to make these flights fairly affordable most of the time. Start your search for a ticket early and you should be able to get a good deal.

The three airports:

  1. John F. Kennedy International Airport – This is by far the largest of the three, and home to the majority of the area’s international traffic. It’s located in a remote section of the borough of Queens, about 12 miles from Manhattan. With the recent opening of the Airtrain, JFK is now the fastest airport to reach, but it’s still a bit complicated.
  2. LaGuardia International Airport – This is also in Queens, but only a few miles from Midtown Manhattan. In spite of its closeness to the city, getting back and forth is neither cheap nor easy.
  3. Newark Liberty International Airport – This one is in northern New Jersey, about 15 miles from Manhattan. Direct bus service into Midtown makes this airport fairly convenient, despite it being the furthest away.

>>read more the Airports serving New York

Which airport to fly into?

If you are coming from Europe, chances are you’ll be headed to JFK, but Newark also has nonstop flights. In general, each of the three airports can be reached in about an hour, give or take a few minutes, and for around $10 per person. In other words, fly into the cheapest since the differences on the NYC end are minimal.

Tips for getting low fares

  • Check all three airports for your New York City flight – It’s common for prices to be radically different at all three, so it’s important to check them all before deciding. On most search engines you can click a button that allows you to search nearby airports as well, so do that for sure. Otherwise you’ll want the airport codes: JFK = JFK, LaGuardia = LGA, Newark = EWR. There is also a helpful code to check all three at once: code – NYC, but most search engines will ask you to confirm that you are searching New York City – All airports before proceeding.
  • Be flexible with dates – This applies everywhere you might travel, but some days of the week are far more popular than others. To find out what the lowest possible fare is, plug in Wednesdays and Saturdays for your arrival and departure date. Once you know that, you can decide if it’s worth saving money by moving your own dates around.
  • Book early – Some cities routinely pop up on Last Minute Deal offers with reduced fares, but New York City is rarely one of them. Chances are, fares will continue to rise, so you’ll almost always be best off locking in your flight to New York City as early as you can.

What about budget airlines?

Good news – in recent years New York City has been put on the map of a couple of discount airlines for domestic flights. These discount airlines rarely show up on search engines since they don’t offer the same booking commissions that the others do, so usually you have to go to their individual sites to check the fares. The reality is that they almost always offer the exact same fares as the heavily advertised airlines, but it’s still worth checking just in case.

  • Jet Blue – This popular airline flies nonstop into JFK from many American cities.
  • Southwest Airlines – Their full fares are lower than the major airlines, but some people don’t like their service. They fly into LaGuardia and Newark, but only from a few cities each, at least on a nonstop basis.