Flying out of EWR - how early do we need to arrive?

[ncbyrne]

We are flying out of Newark, NJ (EWR). Our flight is on a Tues. 7:00 a.m. How early do we need to arrive if we check in online or at the kiosk?

 

[safetymom]

Do you have baggage to check? I would plan at least 1 1/2 hours. It's better to be sitting at the gate with extra time instead of running to the gate.

 

[ncbyrne]

Yes, we will be checking baggage. I am more concerned about the security check in. I can't find anything about it on the Delta or Newark Airport websites.

 

[salmoneous]

The thing that makes EWR "fun" is parking. If you plan to park in one of the economy lots it can be really tough timing things. If the "better" ecomony lots are full, and you end up in some of the far flung lots, it can take forever (OK, 45 minutes maybe) to drive out to those lots, park and catch a bus to your terminal. Especially that early in the morning.

Unless I had all the time in the world, I leared to park in one of the off-site parking lots (still took lots of time, but at least I knew how long), sucked-it-up and parked in one of the non-economy lots, or best fo all, hired a service to take me to the airport.

I'd plan on being inside the terminal by 5:30. 5:45 at the latest. But if parking yourself, I'd plan on dring into the airport by 5:00 (ouch!).

 

[tbrenk]

We are flying out of Newark, NJ (EWR). Our flight is on a Tues. 7:00 a.m. How early do we need to arrive if we check in online or at the kiosk?

I am from NJ an duse NEwark all the time. I would park using Avistar and take the shuttle. I would arrive at Avistar at 7AM. Better to be safe than sorry.

 

[Lewisc]

You can get a park n fly rate at Country Suites. Pay around $150 for one night and 7 days of parking is included.

My guess is you'll have to take the shuttle to EWR before the hotel starts serving the free breakfast.

Alternatively look at an offsite parking place such as Avistar.

 

[sue1013]

We always fly out of Newark and on the earliest flight of the day. DH hates the long waits on the tarmac if you fly out later at Newark. I arrive at the airport 2 hrs before flight time and we park at the airport in the economy lots take the shuttle to the terminal. We use curbside checkin worth the few dollars to us rather the lines inside. Have never had a problem with the time always plenty of time to get something to eat before boarding.

 

[Deemarch]

We park at Avistar Haynes. We usually arrive 1.5 hours before our flight and have no problem at all. Now, there is one difference, we take the 10, 11 or 12ish flight. No traffic, no tarmack waiting, ever...And we do this at least twice a year.

Good luck!!

 

[safetymom]

Have you checked the airports website. Usually they will have something on there mentioning the amount of time needed to clear security.

 

[Kycha]

You can get a park n fly rate at Country Suites. Pay around $150 for one night and 7 days of parking is included.

My guess is you'll have to take the shuttle to EWR before the hotel starts serving the free breakfast.

Alternatively look at an offsite parking place such as Avistar.

Check with the hotel. They may offer a "bag" breakfast. We stayed at the Hampton Inn in March and they gave us each a brown paper bag with a muffin, apple, water and mints because we would be leaving for the airport long before the breakfast started. Make sure to ask for the bag when you check in. It is sometimes difficult to find a desk clerk really early in the morning.

 

[ducklite]

Fairly regular EWR pax here.

The shuttles no longer drop you off at departures. They now drop you at some distant stop in Siberia and you have to take the monorail to your terminal. No skycaps, plan on schlepping your bags.

BTW--I like Avistar for parking as well.

If you have a lot of bags, it might actually be to your benefit to take a cab from whereever you park to departures to be dropped off right in front of your terminal, and check your bags with a skycap rather than schlepping them...

Security at EWR is surprisingly fast. Of course I think most of the screeners there are functionally illiterate and semi-comatose. We saw somebody get all the way to the point where you have to hand your boarding pass over as you pass through the metal detector, only to find out they didn't ahve a boarding pass. They had made it past two TSA people checking them before it was discovered. This was Christmas week two years ago, which was the longest line I've waited in at EWR ever. Normally it's a zero to five minute wait.

I'd plan on being at the car park at 5:15, 5:30 at the latest, that should be plenty of time.

Anne

 

[Kycha]

Fairly regular EWR pax here.

The shuttles no longer drop you off at departures. They now drop you at some distant stop in Siberia and you have to take the monorail to your terminal. No skycaps, plan on schlepping your bags.

Anne,
Is this a new development? Because our shuttle from Hampton Inn dropped us off at our departure gate in March. Now, on our return trip we had to take the monorail to parking garage P4 to catch our shuttle. What a pain. Next time I will definitely grab a cab to avoid that nightmare.

 

[Lewisc]

Unless its changed recently a tipped shuttle drive would disregard the airport policy and would drop you off at the terminal.

I was told if you ask nicely they'll probably drop you off at the terminal and if you ask nicely and tip the driver will certainly do it.

This was a hotel shuttle and not Avistar.

Fairly regular EWR pax here.

The shuttles no longer drop you off at departures. They now drop you at some distant stop in Siberia and you have to take the monorail to your terminal. No skycaps, plan on schlepping your bags.

BTW--I like Avistar for parking as well.

If you have a lot of bags, it might actually be to your benefit to take a cab from whereever you park to departures to be dropped off right in front of your terminal, and check your bags with a skycap rather than schlepping them...

Security at EWR is surprisingly fast. Of course I think most of the screeners there are functionally illiterate and semi-comatose. We saw somebody get all the way to the point where you have to hand your boarding pass over as you pass through the metal detector, only to find out they didn't ahve a boarding pass. They had made it past two TSA people checking them before it was discovered. This was Christmas week two years ago, which was the longest line I've waited in at EWR ever. Normally it's a zero to five minute wait.

I'd plan on being at the car park at 5:15, 5:30 at the latest, that should be plenty of time.

Anne

 

[ducklite]

Anne,
Is this a new development? Because our shuttle from Hampton Inn dropped us off at our departure gate in March. Now, on our return trip we had to take the monorail to parking garage P4 to catch our shuttle. What a pain. Next time I will definitely grab a cab to avoid that nightmare.

It seems to have started in late March.

Anne

 

[ducklite]

Unless its changed recently a tipped shuttle drive would disregard the airport policy and would drop you off at the terminal.

I was told if you ask nicely they'll probably drop you off at the terminal and if you ask nicely and tip the driver will certainly do it.

This was a hotel shuttle and not Avistar.

The shuttle I was on the first time I experienced this was a hotel shuttle, and I do tip. I was told unequivacably that they are no longer allowed to drop off in front of the terminal, and can get their permit pulled for doing so.

Fortunately I only had my roll-on and camera bag. But I was tired after a grueling photoshoot the night before that had run very late, and was just getting over being very ill. The last thing I wanted to do was hoof it like that.

Since then I've twice more been dropped off in Siberia. I felt bad for an elderly couple with a ton of bags, I'm not sure how on earth the airport expects people to get around when loaded for bear. I wonder if they aren't colluding with the carriers to try to force people to pack lighter?

Anne

 

[ducklite]

Check with the hotel. They may offer a "bag" breakfast. We stayed at the Hampton Inn in March and they gave us each a brown paper bag with a muffin, apple, water and mints because we would be leaving for the airport long before the breakfast started. Make sure to ask for the bag when you check in. It is sometimes difficult to find a desk clerk really early in the morning.

FYI, not all Hamptons offer this. (I think it's a great idea!)

We ran into one in our travels last week that didn't. Might have been in either DE or NC.

Anne

 

[ncbyrne]

I am the OP. We live in Cranford. We take the Pkwy to 78 to the airport and it takes us about 20 minutes. We always get a family member to drive us to the airport, or take a taxi, parking is never an issue. We are flying Delta. If someone drops us off in front of the Delta door, what time should we arrive?

 

[tbrenk]

If someone is dropping you off right at the door, I would arrive 5:30 AM

 

[dahirsh]

:

The shuttles no longer drop you off at departures. They now drop you at some distant stop in Siberia and you have to take the monorail to your terminal. No skycaps, plan on schlepping your bags.

Anne

As someone very familiar with Newark Airport, I must point out that in this case "Siberia" is less than one minute away from Terminal C and no more than 2 minutes away from the furthest terminal, Terminal A. The Airtrain runs about every three minutes 24 hours a day.

Deb

 

[ducklite]

As someone very familiar with Newark Airport, I must point out that in this case "Siberia" is less than one minute away from Terminal C and no more than 2 minutes away from the furthest terminal, Terminal A. The Airtrain runs about every three minutes 24 hours a day.

Deb

However you've got to schlepp your bags up either the escalator or elevator (which was quite broken the last time I was there). It's just very inconvenient.

Anne