www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Mr. Srilm said it very well. One [significant] addendum - I would avoid MIA like the plague. You'll have to hike a mile & the lines to get back in the terminal can be huge.

In general I could depart one gate and be at the next gate in ATL in about 15 minutes, not stopping to pee. I wouldn't worry about the checked bags - if it's a legal connection & they miss, they'll get it to you within a day in SJO.

After Delta pissed me off (I was platinum, spending about $40k a year with them) I moved to Continental. I like IAH better than ATL (EWR can be a huge entry issue if you don't have the Global Entry) and earlier this week when I arrived in IAH I was through immigration, picked up my checked bag, exited customs, rechecked my bag, made it through the TSA idiots and was in the E terminal in just a little under 20 minutes. My platinum status with Continental helped at the TSA lines.

/dddick

From LGA, no kidding? I thought that was strictly domestic traffic.

Anyway, I was looking at fares out of NYC as well. There are also nonstops on TACA and LACSA (same company, different names?) in addition to the usual US-based carriers, and it was my hope that competition from more carriers would drive fares down. Sadly, not so much. The major win is being able to get a nonstop versus a 1- or 2-stop flight.

Getting to any of the NYC airports from suburban Boston is kind of a PITA. Boston Logan Airport is relatively convenient for me; I live where I can hop a bus downtown and get on the subway from there, and be at the airport in an hour for the price of a subway fare. Worst-case, a cab is maybe $50 if I have to get to or from the airport at an hour when the T doesn't run.

But getting to any of the 3 NYC airports would entail driving and paying for parking, or taking a long-distance bus into midtown Manhattan and then public transport out to Queens or Newark...expensive plus about 5-6 hours each way for the shlep. Kind of a last resort, really, and I'm not sure I'd do it except in the face of a real bargain-basement airfare.

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"Buy the ticket, take the ride." --Hunter S. Thompson

Houston, which is where I most likely have to change if I fly CO or UA, gets hurricanes a fair bit, too. To be sure, it's mostly Galveston that takes the hit, but I bet if a hurricane goes into the Gulf and heads for Houston, flight operations there are going to be shut down fairly quickly. Anyway, my plans are for the end of January, well after hurricane season.

Even if weather is clear at all the airports you're flying into and out of, if your plane is stuck at some other airport due to weather, your flight still might get canceled if they can't scare up another aircraft and crew someplace. If the aircraft to be used on a BOS->ATL->SJO trip gets snowed in at Detroit, for example, you're more than likely stuck.

My main concern as far as weather in late January would be a snowstorm affecting BOS, or JFK or EWR if I fly out of one of those. Nothing I can do about that short of taking Amtrak to Miami, or something.

_________________
"Buy the ticket, take the ride." --Hunter S. Thompson