Picking an Airport from the Valley
Start with the flight, not the airport. A cheaper fare out of Newark can vanish once you count 3 hours of round-trip driving, a PHL nonstop can spare a family the missed connection that ruins day one of a vacation, and JFK’s nonstops to Asia, Africa, the Middle East and South America can be worth the longer ride. Here’s how the main airports compare from downtown Allentown. The drive times are ranges for ordinary traffic. Rush hour, holiday weekends and snow all stretch them; the ABE, PHL and Newark pages and the JFK and LaGuardia section below show by how much.
| Airport | Usual drive | Worth the trip for |
|---|---|---|
| Lehigh Valley (ABE) | 10 to 15 min | Hub connections, Florida, quick business trips |
| Philadelphia (PHL) | 75 to 105 min | Nonstops, including overseas flights |
| Newark (EWR) | 75 to 105 min | United’s network; the eastern Valley’s nearest big hub |
| JFK | 2 to 3 h | Long-haul routes and airlines that fly only from JFK |
| LaGuardia (LGA) | 2 to 2 h 45 | Short-haul business trips, Canada |
| Trenton (TTN) | about 1 h 15 | A short list of leisure routes |
| Wilkes-Barre/ | about 1 h | Hub connections at different times than ABE |
Airport Pages for ABE, PHL and Newark
ABE, PHL and Newark each have a page of their own, listed below, with drive times, pickup times by flight hour, terminal notes and what to send for the ride home. JFK and LaGuardia share the next section.
Lehigh Valley (ABE)
The shortest run we make: ABE is about 15 minutes from our Orefield base.
Philadelphia (PHL)
Lehigh Valley rides to PHL Terminals A to F, and home again after you land.
Newark (EWR)
A straight I-78 run from the Lehigh Valley to Newark’s 3 terminals.
JFK and LaGuardia
We drive to both from anywhere in the Valley. JFK carries much of the city’s long-haul flying; LaGuardia is short-haul, with most nonstops within about 1,500 miles and international flights mostly to Canada and the Caribbean.
| Leaving from | JFK, light traffic | JFK, rush or summer Friday | LGA, off-peak | LGA, rush or Sunday evening |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allentown | 2 h to 2 h 30 | 2 h 45 to 3 h 15 | 2 h to 2 h 30 | 2 h 45 to 3 h 15 |
| Bethlehem | 1 h 45 to 2 h 15 | 2 h 30 to 3 h | 1 h 45 to 2 h 15 | 2 h 30 to 3 h |
| Easton | 1 h 45 to 2 h 15 | 2 h 30 to 3 h | 1 h 30 to 2 h | 2 h 15 to 2 h 45 |
Bridges or Tunnels
Each airport has 2 usual routes, and the chauffeur picks one from that morning’s traffic. To JFK, the Staten Island route crosses the Goethals and Verrazzano-Narrows bridges and follows the Belt Parkway; the tunnel route, slower whenever Midtown is busy, runs under the Hudson, across Manhattan and out the Long Island Expressway. To LaGuardia, the northern route takes the George Washington Bridge and the Cross Bronx Expressway, and the southern one tunnels into Manhattan and crosses the RFK Bridge. Buses aren’t allowed on New York’s parkways, so a group traveling by minibus comes in on the expressways and the pickup moves earlier to cover it.
Terminals and the Ride Home
JFK’s terminals keep changing as new ones open, so check yours in the airline’s app the day before and again that morning. At LaGuardia, Terminal A sits apart from B and C, so send the letter on your boarding pass. For the ride home, international arrivals at JFK can take an hour or more from touchdown to the curb, so send the flight, the terminal and your bag count. The Port Authority sets where prearranged cars may wait and load, and at LaGuardia that spot can be a few minutes’ walk from baggage claim. Westbound traffic on the Cross Bronx is slow most weekday afternoons, so a 4 p.m. landing means a longer ride home than a 9 p.m. one. For departures on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, in the week before Christmas and on summer Fridays, plan on a pickup 30 to 45 minutes earlier.
How an Airport Booking Works
Airport transportation in the Lehigh Valley is simplest booked both ways at once: one request, one written quote, and the return is settled before you pack.
Pick the Airport and Flight
Name the airport, from ABE to JFK or a smaller field like Trenton, plus the flight, the terminal if you know it, your pickup town and how many bags.
Drive Time and Flat Fare
We confirm the drive time and send a written flat price per vehicle, one way, based on how far your town is, the tolls on the route and the vehicle size.
Accept, Then Pack
Accepting confirms every leg you booked, out and home, each with its own pickup time, address and contact. After that, all that’s left is to pack.
From Sedan to Sprinter
Most airport quotes land on one of 3 vehicles: a sedan for 1 to 3 travelers, a premium SUV once the bags outgrow the trunk, and an Executive Sprinter that seats as many as 14 for teams; the fleet page lists what each one carries.
Business Sedan
Best for: airport runs, business travel, dinner and nights out
Premium SUV
Best for: families with luggage, ski weekends, executives
Executive Sprinter
Best for: team travel, airport groups, wedding guests
Seat counts are typical for each class and photos show the vehicle type. Your quote names the exact vehicle and its capacity.
Trenton Airport Car Service (TTN)
Trenton-Mercer Airport in Ewing, New Jersey, is a small field with a short list of airlines, mostly leisure routes that come and go with the seasons. From Allentown it’s usually about 1 hour 15 minutes, a bit less from Easton, heading east across the Delaware and down toward Ewing. The terminal is small, so drop-off and pickup move quickly. The real question is whether your route is flying that month, so check with the airline first, then send us the flight.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Airport Car Service (AVP)
Wilkes-Barre/
More New Jersey and New York Airports
Our service area also takes in 4 smaller airports, and the New Jersey and New York page covers pickups in both states. Send the flight for any of them and we’ll confirm the drive time along with the quote.
- Atlantic City (ACY), Egg Harbor Township, NJ: about 2 h 15 to 2 h 45 from Allentown. A short, seasonal list of flights that pairs well with a shore weekend.
- Westchester County (HPN), near White Plains, NY: 2 to 2 h 30, over the Hudson on I-287. A quick terminal, handy for trips that start in the northern suburbs.
- Stewart International (SWF), New Windsor, NY: 1 h 45 to 2 h 15. A small Hudson Valley airport with a handful of routes.
- Long Island MacArthur (ISP), Ronkonkoma, NY: 2 h 45 to 3 h 30, with the Long Island Expressway deciding which end of that range you get.
Bradley and Logan
Connecticut and Massachusetts are in our service area too. Bradley International (BDL), north of Hartford, is about 3½ to 4 hours from Allentown, and Boston Logan (BOS) is 5 to 6 hours. Those are long drives for a flight you could catch at Newark, so they make the most sense when you’re headed to New England anyway: a college move-in, a family visit, a group going to a wedding there. We’ll put the drive time next to the nearer options before you choose.
New Jersey and New York Airport Car Service, Both Directions
Not every airport ride starts in the Valley. New Jersey airport car service works the same way: a Princeton pickup for Newark or a Hoboken pickup for LaGuardia gets one route and one written quote, and so does a Manhattan hotel run to JFK.
Airport Limo Service or a Sedan?
Plenty of people ask for an airport limo service when what they want is a quiet ride with space for the bags. Stretch limos have little trunk room, so for most flights a sedan or SUV does the job better. A limo makes sense for newlyweds leaving for the honeymoon, or anyone traveling light who wants the occasion. Need a car for the whole day around a flight? Hourly black car service is usually the better fit. Need a car at the other end too, in Orlando or Denver? Ask; we book those through operators we work with in that city.
What Airport Rides Cost
Your pickup town, the airport and the vehicle set the number; send them through the quote form and the price comes back in writing.
