I live more north, so I'm not as familiar with the affordability of neighborhoods close to JFK/LGA. I've heard Astoria is cool and has a lot of younger families, but I think the rent prices there have gone up a lot recently. You can look in Westchester county area like White Plains. I know several people that live up there, and I don't think it's very expensive by comparison. It's about an hour to JFK and about 40 mins to LGA depending on traffic. You can find cheap places in Yonkers, but it's kind of a hole. The Bronx is ghetto central and driving/parking there is a circus. Sorry I don't have more specific insight, but that's somewhat of an overview.

 

New City, Congers, Cornwall all in NY. These were areas I heard good things about and considered. $$$$ though, especially closer to the city. Expect to pay $15k-$25k annual property tax and double that for closing costs. Cornwall is near Westpoint, bit further north, little more rural, but several routes to the airports so you can hedge against traffic a bit. New City and Congers are closer but more expensive. Keep an eye on schools and such. Some neighborhoods more desirable than others.

For NJ, I was looking at Succasunna and Sparta areas. Same as above.

 

How old are you and do you like to live close to a lot of “stuff”? Are you looking to buy or rent?

I’ve lived in the Bronx, Queens, and Manhattan. I’ve been house hunting the burbs for a long time. You can save a lot on taxes and home price by not living in an area with “highly rated” schools.

Commute wise:

JFK is best if you’re out in Long Island, to avoid the Van Wyck nightmare.

LGA is best for CT and west Chester. Northern LI but the I-495 is terrible.

EWR is best for NJ and PA and West of the Hudson NY

 

Any current crash pad recommendations for a 220 guy? Is it beneficial to be closer to LGA, JFK, or are trips all over and thus should shoot for 1/2 way between the two? Also, any pulse on what I should expect cost-wise? Not looking for a dump, but also don’t need the gold plated solution.

 

Most 220 trips are out of LGA, though I suppose you could bid for the JFK trips with some seniority. JFK is more pleasant to operate out of in my opinion. With the NEPP, Delta is paying for your Ubers from the pad, so transportation from different locations isn't as much of an issue. There are pads near LGA as well as very close to JFK in places like Ozone Park, but most are traditionally in Kew Gardens. If you're commuting in to JFK, it's easier to get to Kew on transit or the Kew T Flyer than from LGA. Then, for trips, I just take an Uber to/from LGA. A decent pad in Kew is probably $250 to $300. Start with what you can get, then upgrade through word-of-mouth to a better pad. The really good ones rarely have openings and aren't usually advertised. Also consider how much you value livability versus utility. Kew has grocery stores, restaurants, easy access to Manhattan, etc. Other pad locations have less of that, but are right next to the airport. Also, you might not even need a pad. If you live close enough you can get by with hotels.

 

Can we get employee parking at LGA? And how would one go about doing that, cost?

 

That’s covered by the company so long as you aren’t using parking at another base. Contact the CPO.

 

Hello! I just got a CJO from Delta and was looking too see if anyone had information on driving to the NYC airports from Chester County PA (West Chester area).
Google says it's a 2-3 drive with the bridge tolls obviously.
I've heard it is still better than commuting; just wanted to see if anyone else is in a similar situation and whether they drive the whole way or hop on public transportation at some point, and the length of trips they bid to make the drive worth it

Much thanks!

 

I used to surface commute PHL-NYC, the public transport options aren’t great.
The most affordable would be to train it into center city, hop on mega bus/greyhound/Peter pan then train it to airport. Bus can be fast as long as not crossing the Hudson at a bad time.

Amtrak can be expensive, not much faster. Regardless, it’s at minimum a 3 stop affair to LGA or JFK and a really annoying way to save a few bucks. I had a car that got 40mpg and took route 1 to avoid the turnpike so all you pay is the Hudson toll. Also annoying but the only “required toll” of the round trip and not dealing with 3 connections to travel 110 miles

 

And be sure to get a New York EZ-Pass - gets discounts on the NYC tunnels and bridges, but you pay no more on the NJTpk. Turnpike tolls have tripled in the last 5 yrs to eye watering levels.