Flying into Boston Logan - what can we expect?

[mom2mikel]

We are flying into Boston Logan for Labor Day weekend in September. We arrive at 1:30 pm on Friday and fly back home Sunday evening.

Really general question -- how is the airport in general? Do all rental car companies require a shuttle to pick up the car?

If we are able to leave the airport by 2/2:30 pm on a Friday, how much traffic will we deal with heading to Lancaster, MA? Any tips? Roads to avoid?

How is security coming back? We are flying American if that makes a difference.

TIA!

 

[hockey_chauffeur]

Logan is very close to downtown & Cambridge, depending on where you are going you may not need a car which could be a good idea because road patterns in Boston can be confusing

There are shuttles for car pick up but the lots are on airport so it is not a big deal.

Arrival should be easy, maybe a bit of a wait to get luggage, cabs are usually available. Security delays on departure are not awful but do allow some extra time

 

[hockey_chauffeur]

Sorry just saw you are going to Lancaster -- Mass Pike west bound can be very heavy on holiday weekends. It could take 2 hours from the airport. Study maps ahead of time to get from the airport to the Mass Pike

Good luck

 

[goofy4tink]

You are going to find the traffic to be very heavy at that time of day on that particular weekend. The Mass Pike is going to be a parking lot until you get out of town for a bit. You shouldn't have any trouble finding the Pike from Logan..it's all very well marked. There will just be a ton of other people headed in the same direction!!
The car rental companies pretty much all use a shuttle service to get to the cars. I would figure on it taking you about an hour to get on the road from deplaning.

 

[mom2mikel]

Thanks!! We'll have our GPS with us - so hopefully that will help us navigate easier.

One question - google maps shows 2 different routes that are about the same time:

1: I-90 to I-495N
2: I-93N to I-495 S

Would one route be better than the other on a Friday afternoon?

Thanks again!!!

 

[brentalex]

In general we find the baggage claim to be very very slow. Not sure why but it is on every airline we ever use there. Takes a long time.
You will need to take a shuttle to any of the car rental places, nothing actually attached to the terminals. getting to the mass pike is easy from the airport. Just follow the signs to the Ted Williams tunnel and then follow signs for interstate 90, which is also the pike. Once you are in the tunnel you really are already on 90 and just need to follow it.

 

[Detailor]

Arrival should be easy, maybe a bit of a wait to get luggage ... . Security delays on departure are not awful but do allow some extra time

I agree with this. You should expect that it'll take longer than an hour from touch-down to picking up your car and being on the road.

Logan is a big, old, city airport and the luggage handling process is generally slow. The original layout of the airport just wasn't developed with idea of having to handle the volume of passengers and luggage that goes through there every day.

Once you have gotten your car it'll be mid-afternoon of a Friday beginning a holiday weekend. Generally traffic out of Boston at that time of day isn't too bad but on a holiday weekend you should expect the Mass Pike to be somewhat crowded. I'd think that you should expect traffic to be backed up at the toll booths. That should translate to slow going.

Dick Taylor

 

[brentalex]

Thanks!! We'll have our GPS with us - so hopefully that will help us navigate easier.

One question - google maps shows 2 different routes that are about the same time:

1: I-90 to I-495N
2: I-93N to I-495 S

Would one route be better than the other on a Friday afternoon?

Thanks again!!!

I would go with option 1. 93 north can be very bad and it seems to me that it is going a bit out of you way.
Another option could be to take 90 to 95 north and take that to route 2 west. Route 2 will be less crowded and once you get through the traffic lights in Concord it should be fairly easy.

 

[Detailor]

Thanks!! We'll have our GPS with us - so hopefully that will help us navigate easier.

One question - google maps shows 2 different routes that are about the same time:

1: I-90 to I-495N
2: I-93N to I-495 S

Would one route be better than the other on a Friday afternoon?

Thanks again!!!

Both would be okay on a regular Friday afternoon. Neither will be particularly good on a holiday weekend Friday afternoon.

Dick Taylor

 

[mom2mikel]

Thanks so much for all the info! We are only taking carry on luggage so hopefully that will speed things up.

Now I'm kicking myself for not booking the earlier flight!! Oh well - live and learn!

 

[goofy4tink]

DH says option 1. 93N is a real nightmare.

 

[debster812]

I think the Mass Pike would be your best bet as well. Getting through the city on the Friday of a Holiday weekend would be a huge drag.

Are you heading to Lancaster for the FC Stars of Boston tourney? There is not a lot else happening in Lancaster, unless you're visiting family.

 

[hroyale]

As everyone has already said: go with Option 1!
Avoid 93N on the Friday of a holiday weekend.
The Pike will be much less crowded.

While normally the advice to take the Pike to 95N and hop on Rt 2 might be a good one, 95N can be a parking lot on the Friday before holiday weekends. (That's why I work from home on Fridays now). If you have traffic updates on your GPS it might be worth seeing if 90 W past the Newton tolls is worse than 95N between the Pike and Rt2 at that particular time.

 

[buzz5985]

Do you have a Fast Lane/Fast Pass transponder for your car at home?? Take it with you and use it in the rental car - that will save you a lot of time missing the tolls. This is what causes the pike to back up on holiday weekends, people waiting to pay the toll.

I just looked and the transponders are now free if you don't have one. www.masspike.com. They will save you a great deal of time.

Janis

 

[mom2mikel]

I think the Mass Pike would be your best bet as well. Getting through the city on the Friday of a Holiday weekend would be a huge drag.

Are you heading to Lancaster for the FC Stars of Boston tourney? There is not a lot else happening in Lancaster, unless you're visiting family.

That's exactly where we are heading The fields look beautiful!

 

[debster812]

That's exactly where we are heading The fields look beautiful!

I figured as there is not a lot else in Lancaster. We may see you there. DS's club has not told us where we will be spending Labor Day this year. The fields and the complex are GORGEOUS. And, to keep this on-topic, transportation wise....

Make sure that you find out if you'll be able to park on-site at the fields, or if you'll be shuttling in from the Flea Market parking lots. Mass Youth Soccer has done a tremendous job with the actual fields, but the parking is still a work in progress, and for big tournaments, they only allow on-site parking for 2 coaches per team, and everyone else has to park at a Flea Market which is very close to the complex, and then take shuttles. It will add about 15 minutes to your 'commute' and you actually will get dropped off closer to the fields, than if you parked on site.

PM if you want any more info. Mass Youth's site has a great list of restaurants, etc that are close, that I can dig out of the website and link to you (the site is NOT terribly intuitive to me).

Have fun, and hopefully we'll see you out there!