Boston area Disers

[4greatboys]

My ds wants to fly out to look at a couple of colleges in the area. We live in Texas. SWA flies there but the rate is not so great but I do see other cities that look pretty close. Which would be the closest for us to fly in on: Providence or Manchester? or is there another city that SWA services that would be closer?

 

[JennSaint]

Are you limited to Southwest ? Are the colleges you are looking at in Boston? If so I would fly directly into Boston. We have found that most of the time Boston has the lease expensive fares. I think that either Providence and Manchester would be about the same driving time to Boston.

 

[4greatboys]

Im not really limited to to SWA but they normally have the best rates in the area. Boston was one of the higher fares between the 3. Manchester was acutally the cheapest. He wants to see 2 colleges MIT and one other one that I cant remember the name of right now but I know its not in the Boston area.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Please find out the name of the other college.
MIT is in Cambridge, virtually in Boston. Additional advice will depend on the location of the second school, but...
Providence is 52 miles from Boston; Manchester is 50 miles.
You could conceivably get from Providence to Boston by train, train and subway, or bus - all time-consuming and not necessarily efficient.
You could take a taxi, car service or possibly shuttle from PVD or MHT to Boston - potentially expensive.
You could rent a car at either airport. Driving in Boston is difficult and parking is VERY expensive. Also, there could possibly be a surcharge for taking the rental car out of the state in which you rent it.

ATA does code-shares with Southwest - if you're coming from Austin or Houston, this could be a viable option which would have you fly in and out of Logan (less than two miles from Boston) at Southwest-like fares IF you book through Southwest. Sample: Houston-Hobby to Boston 1/11 - 1/15, $123 each way plus tax.
While Southwest may have the cheapest flights from your home airport to New England, you have to add in all the additional costs to see if you'd really be saving money by not flying into Logan on SOME airline.

Of course, if the other school turns out to be, I dunno, New Hampshire College, then flying in and out of Manchester would make some amount of sense.

 

[NUHuskies#1]

I agree with the previous poster that both airports are about the same distance from Boston. We are flying out of Manchester for a quick trip in December and got a terrific rate to Orlando. I have family and friends in Southern NH and have heard that the Manchester airport is very nice. American Airlines might have decent rate to Boston from Dallas, TX if your near there.

Anyway- if you are doing some college trips I would recommend flying into Boston directly. Most colleges, MIT, Harvard, Boston College, Boston University and Northeastern University (DH employer) are a short (15-30 min)cab ride from Logan Airport.

Good Luck! If you have any questions, please feel free to pm me.

 

[4greatboys]

Thanks! ds is taking the SAT today so I will ask him the name of the other school he was looking into.

 

[pearljim]

Don't forget Bradley in Windsor Locks, CT (few miles north of Hartford.) You would have a 45-60 minute drive depending on where in Boston area you were heading, time of day, etc.

 

[bicker]

Uh, you'd have to violate the speed limit pretty severely to get from Bradley to MIT in 45 minutes, or even 60 minutes! A better third alternative IMHO is Worcester.

 

[cranbiz]

Worcester has limited flights and is not the easist airport to get out to a major highway for someone who is not familliar with the area, I would stick to either Boston Logan, Providence or Manchester.

 

[bicker]

Is anyone flying in/out of Hanscom these days? That's perhaps the MOST convenient to some of the schools, especially Northeastern and Tufts.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Just one airline, to and from New Jersey. I'll see if I can figure out which airline and edit this post if I do.

Okay, I found it.
Actually, two airlines use Hanscom.
Boston - Maine Airways (a division of Pan-am) http://www.bmairways.com/ but their website is pretty sparse, flies between Bedford MA and Trenton NJ. Phone number 1-800-359-7262
And the other one is Linear Air https://www.linearair.com/RTS/home.aspx with scheduled flights to and from Teterboro NJ and White Plains NY, plus they do charters to 200 other cities on the East Coast.

 

[Joan S.]

Hi, If you fly into Providence(you really LAND in Warwick RI) you could rent a car or take a cab to the South Attleboro train station. This is the commuter train into Boston and once at this station you can get another LINE to the different colleges.This is all much easier than it sounds!! I have taken the Commuter into Boston gotten off at the Boston Station (which is the end of the line) and from here WALKED all over Boston! My son recently took the Commuter train into Boston,got on the next line and visited Boston College and Northeastern.There is also a Faster Train into Boston which leaves from Providence and ends at the same station as the Commuter train.Boston really is a Beautiful city especially this time of year,you may just want to stay an extra day and get to know the city if your son is REALLY interested in attending school here.If I can be of any more help. feel free to ask! Joan

 

[4greatboys]

Joan do any of those trains you talked about in Boston go to Hampshire? That is the university he wants to visit.

 

[pumpkinboy]

Joan do any of those trains you talked about in Boston go to Hampshire? That is the university he wants to visit.

Ah, well Hampshire College is way out west (not far in Texas terms, but a "good poke" by New England standards). In fact, Bradley (BDL) just north of Hartford CT might be a good airport to fly into the get to Hampshire College. But then you're still a minimum of 90 mins drive into Boston.

So perhaps you want to do a trip that flies you into BDL then head into Boston (drop off the car somewhere) and visit MIT in Cambridge, and then fly home from Boston Logan (which is maybe 4-5 miles from MIT, or one connection on the subway).

Good luck!

 

[4greatboys]

Thanks pumpkinboy. I hope its not snowy when we do visit. If so we will have to use some kind of public transportation since I have no experience driving in those conditions.

 

[Mainebound]

Hi, If you fly into Providence(you really LAND in Warwick RI) you could rent a car or take a cab to the South Attleboro train station. This is the commuter train into Boston and once at this station you can get another LINE to the different colleges.This is all much easier than it sounds!! I have taken the Commuter into Boston gotten off at the Boston Station (which is the end of the line) and from here WALKED all over Boston! My son recently took the Commuter train into Boston,got on the next line and visited Boston College and Northeastern.There is also a Faster Train into Boston which leaves from Providence and ends at the same station as the Commuter train.Boston really is a Beautiful city especially this time of year,you may just want to stay an extra day and get to know the city if your son is REALLY interested in attending school here.If I can be of any more help. feel free to ask! Joan

I have to agree. I am a native Rhode Islander and also a graduate of a college in Boston. It is VERY easy to get from Green airport to Boston by bus or train -- it is a quick 50-60 minute bus ride with no stops.