Thoughts/suggestions for flights from NYC to Porto?

[HeatherJourney]

Greetings! I will be traveling with my daughter to walk the Camino Portuguese from Porto in July. The dates are a bit flexible, but not completely so.

I’ve been researching flight tickets, and have used the Google Flight Matrix as well as Kayak alerts to try to find the best options. We live near New York City, and could fly out of any area airports. From what I’ve seen, JFK is most likely.

I was planning to fly into Porto, as that is where we will begin our walk. However, prices to Madrid are quite a bit cheaper. But then, we would need to get transportation from Madrid to Porto, so I’m not sure if the time and expense would be worth it.

Currently, the best prices JFK - Porto are on TAP Air Portugal. Does anyone here have experience with them? We would fly coach, but could we choose our seats ahead of time? How far in advance do you normally purchase your Camino flight tickets? Any other words of wisdom?

Also, for the return to Porto from SDC, I would prefer to take a train. I don’t enjoy bus rides, and for some reason I deal with motion sickness on busses but not on trains. Do I need to book that ahead of time?

Thank you in advance, Pilgrims!

 

[trecile]

I live on the west coast, but I've had a couple of direct United flights to Newark from Porto.

I have also flown on TAP Porto - Lisbon - San Francisco. I was able to choose my seat even though I booked through the United website.

 

[dbier]

Experience with TAP Portugal in 2021 and 2023, Madrid to IAD and then IAD MADRID-IAD. Went through Lisbon each time.

Other than transiting through Lisbon customs, I would highly recommend TAP Portugal. Comfortable, clean, good service, and depending on the fare class you choose, you can absolutely pick your seat, check a bag, etc. And TAP Portugal allows up to a 72 hour stay over if flying from Madrid back to the US, in either Lisbon or Porto.

I can't answer for trains from SdC to Porto...check RometoRio for possibilities.

 

[Bala]

Personally, I would always choose a direct flight into my destination city over anything involving a transfer. But if you're interested in checking your options, Rome2Rio is your best source. A quick look just now showed a single non-stop flight from Madrid to Porto, leaving about 10:30 am and costing $222 USD. Cheaper fares all seemed to involve an additional plane change and lengthy journeys. Surface transportation was less expensive, but time consuming. As with so many decisions it's convenience vs time vs money, and very individual.

I haven't flown TAP (although we're planning a trip next winter on them). As I read their website, advance seat assignment is available. There are additional charges for extra legroom and so forth.

I haven't traveled Santiago to Porto, but there have been various threads about the options. Hopefully someone will come along to offer first-hand experience, or you can use to forum search function to locate past discussions.

Happy planning! It's half the fun.

 

[TravellingMan22]

Experience with TAP Portugal in 2021 and 2023, Madrid to IAD and then IAD MADRID-IAD. Went through Lisbon each time.

Other than transiting through Lisbon customs, I would highly recommend TAP Portugal. Comfortable, clean, good service, and depending on the fare class you choose, you can absolutely pick your seat, check a bag, etc. And TAP Portugal allows up to a 72 hour stay over if flying from Madrid back to the US, in either Lisbon or Porto.

I can't answer for trains from SdC to Porto...check RometoRio for possibilities.

TAP has a strong reputation in Europe and has done for a long time, probably on a par with national carriers of some other major European countries. They have gained a reputation in recent years for aggressive pricing, and I think their prices down to Africa have enticed a few of my friends. So I would have no concerns from thatstandpoint amd would take a price of it fits your pocket.

I am not from the USA, but I believe Kayak and Google flights are the way to investigate and then book direct. We tend to use skyscanner in Europe and you can check that too. Rome2Rio tends to be a better tool for showing modes of travel rather than prices/schedule in some cases. It once saved me getting 3 flights to get between two cities when there was a direct boat!

From a skyscanner standpoint you can search USA to Europe (don’t know about kayak and co) to see what the fares are. I am not advocating you go via the west coast!! But given there are a number of airports near you it may throw up a few thoughts.

 

[Vacajoe]

TAP is a fine airline - book them without worry. It is not worth the savings to fly into Madrid and then make your way to Porto - it’ll take too much time and cost too much money. Only do it if you plan to visit Madrid for a few days. Instead, consider flights to Lisbon as an alternative to Porto (though I have found Porto to be cheaper most of the time). Lisbon is a great city to visit and making your way to Porto from there is quick, easy, and cheap by train or bus.

As for booking trains ahead of time, you can if you know the date you’ll be traveling. Sometimes fares remain rock solid up to departure, while occasionally the prices will climb as you get closer to your travel date. Book ahead and you won’t have to worry about that.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I have flown TAP twice when they started flying out of Chicago; once to Porto and the other to Barcelona, and had no issues. Both were round trips and the meals were better than I get on Iberia when flying to Madrid.

 

[Amachant]

Greetings! I will be traveling with my daughter to walk the Camino Portuguese from Porto in July. The dates are a bit flexible, but not completely so.

I’ve been researching flight tickets, and have used the Google Flight Matrix as well as Kayak alerts to try to find the best options. We live near New York City, and could fly out of any area airports. From what I’ve seen, JFK is most likely.

I was planning to fly into Porto, as that is where we will begin our walk. However, prices to Madrid are quite a bit cheaper. But then, we would need to get transportation from Madrid to Porto, so I’m not sure if the time and expense would be worth it.

Currently, the best prices JFK - Porto are on TAP Air Portugal. Does anyone here have experience with them? We would fly coach, but could we choose our seats ahead of time? How far in advance do you normally purchase your Camino flight tickets? Any other words of wisdom?

Also, for the return to Porto from SDC, I would prefer to take a train. I don’t enjoy bus rides, and for some reason I deal with motion sickness on busses but not on trains. Do I need to book that ahead of time?

Thank you in advance, Pilgrims!

Don’t worry! You have lots of options…

My husband and I flew from the west coast to Lisbon. Stayed a few days to acclimate and be tourists, then took the train to Porto to start our Camino. We did take a train from SDC to Porto, and a few southern most coastal cities, before returning to Lisbon to fly out again.

We did not have any reservations for any of our train travel. I’ve use Rome2Rio to help with all of my big and small travel planning, all over the world.

Buen Camino!

 

[Nanners]

I live in a suburb of NYC. Last year both Delta and TAP had direct flights to Porto from Newark, NJ, but there were no direct flights from JFK. We flew TAP to Porto. I've previously flown TAP to Lisbon. For whatever reason, TAP flights are usually a couple of hundred $ less than the competition. It appears to be a perfectly fine airline. Not sure where you live in the NYC area, but I take Amtrak or NJ Transit directly to the Newark airport stop. It's very convenient. The Madrid airport is large and spread out, often requiring the use of shuttle train to get around or transfer between flights. I prefer to fly direct. Less opportunity for things to go wrong.

 

[HeatherJourney]

Thank you to all for your helpful replies. I appreciate it! It sounds like TAP will be just fine and I’ll probably try to go straight into Porto.