www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Philadelphia’s 30th Street Train Station to San Jose, Costa Rica for only $250 r/t with Amtrak and United Airlines.

The itinerary begins at Philadelphia’s 30th Street Train Station where you will board an Amtrak train to Newark, before taking the AirTrain to Newark airport (all included in your ticket).
Here, you will board a direct flight to San Jose, Costa Rica with United Airlines.

You MUST check in and board the Philadelphia-Newark train at the beginning of the journey.
You can, however, skip Newark-Philadelphia train at the end of the itinerary.

There are many dates available from October to March. The price are going up gradually. Just got my booking confirmation and my $250 ticket includes the $29 exit tax as well.

Oops, almost forgot. Use Google Flight to search your dates. Philadelphia (all airports) to SJO

https://www.google.com/flights/#search; ... 2015-10-28

interesting... EWR to SJO direct for that day is 415$... i wonder if i could just book and fly from instead...
is there something in writing that says one must check in at Philly?

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its easier to fool people than to convince them they have been fooled- mark twain

Great deal!! For those looking for Halloween (27 Oct- 2 Nov) the price is $285. You cannot beat that coming from that area.

There doesn't need to be anything in writing. It's a connection. Once you fail to check in at Philly, the ticket is canceled. Same as a flight with a layover, but this first leg is a train ride instead.

It's the same as if you had a ticket from EWR to IAH to SJO. You can't just get on the plane in Houston if you didn't board in Newark. Once you miss the first leg, the ticket is canceled.

On the way back, you can just get off in Newark and not take the train back to Philly. Nothing they can do since you have used up the ticket already. But next time you book with that airline, you may have some essplaining to do.

Even if you have to take a train to NWK from PHL, it only takes an hour and costs $41. That is still a good deal. This may be a good alternative from the DC area also.

Same from NYC. About 90 minutes and $41 to get there.

Thanks Orange... Its been a while since ive ridden amtrak, i dont know what the check in procedure is...
i looked into it furthur... its a code share with amtrak... and even if you miss that EWR to Philly train ride you can get your Freq Flier account and status taken away from united...

looks like the EWR fares came down to 370$ too which is still a good deal...

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its easier to fool people than to convince them they have been fooled- mark twain

DC travelers can look into BWI southwest direct too...

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its easier to fool people than to convince them they have been fooled- mark twain

Looks like the "tables have turned". You guys in the NorthEast are getting better fares than we do from Florida!!
Good for all of you and good for business in CR as well. Superbowl weekend is the best time to be in CR (my opinion) if you are from the North. Start locking in your AirFare and rooms now and sounds like you will have more cash to spend on the ground. See you there!!

CI, good point. I have used SW from BWI to SJO and it works great. The cost for the same Halloween period is $345, so it is pretty much a wash either way.