9 hours at Newark – Luggage Question

[Old Swan]

Hi All,

Apologies for yet another indirect question...

We fly back to Birmingham via Newark . We leave Orlando early am and land at Newark at 9:20am. Our flight back to BHX leaves at 19:00pm. Doing this combination gave us the best price (Bless you United ) and also an opportunity for a whistle stop tour into NY for a couple of hours.

Our plan is to jump in a cab, head to Manhattan. Show the kids the Statue of Liberty from the Staten Island Ferry. Taxi to Times square. Walk from there to Central Park. Taxi back to airport. Leave Manhattan no later than 3:30pm. We are comfortable with the risks of doing this. I appreciate some people wouldn’t be happy leaving the airport.

I understand that when you have a limited time layover flying indirect your luggage gets checked through to final destination from MCO and you don’t see it again until it hopefully re-appears at your final airport? My question - Will this still be the case with a nine hour gap separating the flights? When we land at Newark - will we see / have to deal with our bags - or will they just go straight through?

I’m assuming that if this is the case we can merrily skip out of the terminal with our boarding passes for the evening flight and not have to deal with our luggage.

We have been working out what to do if this isn’t the case. Ideas ranging from taking the bags with us on a private Limo Tour (ouch - mega $$) to hiring a car for one day, dumping the cases in it and leaving the car in parking at Newark airport and then getting them later. (I’ve been to New York a couple of times and have no intention of driving in Manhattan!). There doesn’t seem to be a left luggage at Newark airport we can use for the day.

Many thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[Kath2003]

Hi All,

Apologies for yet another indirect question...

We fly back to Birmingham via Newark . We leave Orlando early am and land at Newark at 9:20am. Our flight back to BHX leaves at 19:00pm. Doing this combination gave us the best price (Bless you United ) and also an opportunity for a whistle stop tour into NY for a couple of hours.

Our plan is to jump in a cab, head to Manhattan. Show the kids the Statue of Liberty from the Staten Island Ferry. Taxi to Times square. Walk from there to Central Park. Taxi back to airport. Leave Manhattan no later than 3:30pm. We are comfortable with the risks of doing this. I appreciate some people wouldn’t be happy leaving the airport.

I understand that when you have a limited time layover flying indirect your luggage gets checked through to final destination from MCO and you don’t see it again until it hopefully re-appears at your final airport? My question - Will this still be the case with a nine hour gap separating the flights? When we land at Newark - will we see / have to deal with our bags - or will they just go straight through?

I’m assuming that if this is the case we can merrily skip out of the terminal with our boarding passes for the evening flight and not have to deal with our luggage.

We have been working out what to do if this isn’t the case. Ideas ranging from taking the bags with us on a private Limo Tour (ouch - mega $$) to hiring a car for one day, dumping the cases in it and leaving the car in parking at Newark airport and then getting them later. (I’ve been to New York a couple of times and have no intention of driving in Manhattan!). There doesn’t seem to be a left luggage at Newark airport we can use for the day.

Many thanks in advance for any advice.

Check with your airline but it's my understanding that bags travel straight through when returning to the UK (unlike when travelling outbound to the US, you will need to collect bags, go through customs and recheck bags on the way out) so no worries.

 

[chmurf]

If you're booked on the same ticket, your luggage will be checked through to your final destination and you won't seen them until you're back in the UK

I would check with United to make sure you can check your luggage through to BHX

There is no left luggage anymore. Continental (now United) used to have such a service in EWR (maybe still in operation) but there were many issues with passengers unable to find an agent to retreive their bags ... so I would forget about that option

Your itinerary through NYC is tight, maybe even too optimistic.
You'll hit NY with the cab by the end of rush hour but still fairly busy, and go back to EWR during rush hour...
Did you consider the train to Penn Station ?

Remember that you'll need to go through TSA at EWR before being allowed in airside. And you won't have your checked luggage. No shopping then...

In the unlikely event that you need to claim your luggage, you'd have to recheck them, and this would mean being at the airport by 17:00
That would be even less time in NYC

Well, I understand you're comfortable with the risks, but that's a fairly huge risk for a very small amount of time in NYC.

 

[scottishgirl87]

There is no left luggage anymore. Continental (now United) used to have such a service in EWR (maybe still in operation) but there were many issues with passengers unable to find an agent to retreive their bags ... so I would forget about that option

We used this service in 2011 but not sure if it's still there or not. If I remember rightly it was in Terminal C and it was definitely only for Continental/now United passengers only.

 

[pampat]

You will definitely not need to collect your luggage! Get the train to Penn and have a wonderful few hours. You won't get to the Ferry and midtown if you want to enjoy yourselves, just plan on one thing and then go with the flow and see how your time goes.

We've done the same thing in Chicago, Boston, Philly and NYC.

Pam

 

[Old Swan]

Check with your airline but it's my understanding that bags travel straight through when returning to the UK (unlike when travelling outbound to the US, you will need to collect bags, go through customs and recheck bags on the way out) so no worries.

Hi

Thanks for the reply and the suggestion.

We emailed United customer service who replied within 20 minutes to confirm that bags will go straight through.

Even more impressed with United after that! Thanks for the advice

 

[Old Swan]

If you're booked on the same ticket, your luggage will be checked through to your final destination and you won't seen them until you're back in the UK

I would check with United to make sure you can check your luggage through to BHX

There is no left luggage anymore. Continental (now United) used to have such a service in EWR (maybe still in operation) but there were many issues with passengers unable to find an agent to retreive their bags ... so I would forget about that option

Your itinerary through NYC is tight, maybe even too optimistic.
You'll hit NY with the cab by the end of rush hour but still fairly busy, and go back to EWR during rush hour...
Did you consider the train to Penn Station ?

Remember that you'll need to go through TSA at EWR before being allowed in airside. And you won't have your checked luggage. No shopping then...

In the unlikely event that you need to claim your luggage, you'd have to recheck them, and this would mean being at the airport by 17:00
That would be even less time in NYC

Well, I understand you're comfortable with the risks, but that's a fairly huge risk for a very small amount of time in NYC.

Hi. Thanks for the reply.

Had a look at The Penn street station link. Great idea. I think we will take that.

I don't think we will have any funds left after Orlando for 18 days so not a problem about shopping

I'm a regular flier (42 flights last year) so relaxed about getting through airports and security with time. Not missed a flight yet - would hate this to be the first time mind! We will have another think about what we can reasonably fit in. Looks like 25 mins to get from Penn to the airport so if. Leave there by 4pm that still gives us oodles of time.

Looking forward to it! Thanks again for the reply.

 

[Old Swan]

You will definitely not need to collect your luggage! Get the train to Penn and have a wonderful few hours. You won't get to the Ferry and midtown if you want to enjoy yourselves, just plan on one thing and then go with the flow and see how your time goes.

We've done the same thing in Chicago, Boston, Philly and NYC.

Pam

We certainly will! Good to hear someone else has done it. Thanks for confirming the bags go through. One less thing to worry about.

 

[LauraDaveCharlie]

Several years ago when it was just the two of us, we were on Continental Airlines MCO-EWR-MAN. On the way back they needed someone to bump off and, as we did not need to be back at work, we took the opportunity!

It was absolutely fantastic!! It was like someone had given us an extra holiday we had never expected in NYC!! Continental put us up in a Newark airport hotel for the night and gave us meal vouchers and we got $1000 in Continental vouchers. We were booked onto a flight the following evening.

So when we got up the next day, we wanted to do something but didn't feel as brave as you and didn't want to go all the way into Manhattan. So we got a taxi to the ferry terminal in Newark where we could get a ferry to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, It was a glorious day and we sailed past the whole Manhattan skyline there and back and explored two great islands. Maybe this is more doable for you? With some lunch, it is a nice 5 hour round trip.

Have fun!