Flying to Orlando from Bradley, JFK or LaGuardia

Every Fairfield County family planning a Florida trip runs into the same question, and most of them answer it by opening a flight search and sorting by price. That is a reasonable instinct and it is usually wrong, because the fare is only one of four numbers that matter.

The four numbers

• 
  The fare — the only one most people look at.
• 
  The drive, in real terms. Not what the map says at 2am, but what it says at 5am on a Saturday in February.
• 
  Parking, multiplied by the number of nights you're away. On a week-long trip this is not a rounding error.
• 
  The stress cost, which is real even though you can't put a number on it. A calm airport with young children is worth actual money.

The New York airports

LaGuardia is usually the shortest drive from most of Fairfield County and has a dense domestic schedule, which means genuine choice of departure times. The rebuilt terminals are a significant improvement on what came before. The catch is traffic: the drive is unpredictable in a way that makes early departures stressful.

JFK adds drive time and adds the possibility of a longer walk once you're inside, but it opens up more carriers and often better fares. If you're pairing Orlando with anything international later, it's the more useful airport to be familiar with.

Newark is the one people skip without checking. Depending on where you are in the county and which crossing you'd use, it is sometimes the best combination of fare and schedule on the board. Worth a look every time.

Bradley

Bradley is a longer drive for most of Fairfield County, and the Orlando schedule is thinner. What you get in exchange is an airport that is dramatically easier to move through: shorter security lines, less walking, simpler parking, and far less of the low-grade chaos that makes the New York three exhausting with a stroller.

For a couple travelling light, the New York airports usually win. For two adults, two children, four bags and a car seat, Bradley very often wins — and the families who switch tend not to switch back.

Westchester, briefly

Small, close, and pleasant, with a limited route map. It won't always serve your destination, but when it does it is the easiest departure in the region by a wide margin. It costs nothing to check first.

How I'd actually decide

Add the four numbers rather than comparing one. A $90 fare difference disappears entirely against a week of airport parking plus an extra tank of fuel. Then ask a separate question: what time do we have to leave the house, and who is going to be awake for that?

And if you're cruising instead

Skip the flight entirely. Manhattan, Cape Liberty in Bayonne and Boston are all drivable from Fairfield County, which removes the single biggest cruise risk — a delayed flight causing you to miss embarkation. For a first cruise I'd almost always start from a drive-to port for exactly that reason.

Tell me your dates and party and I'll run the real comparison for you rather than the theoretical one.

Adriana Martirano · Magical Travel Society