Nantucket Flights

Hello, I will be flying into Boston this summer, and then I%26#39;m trying to find the best way to get from Boston to Nantucket.

Because I%26#39;ll already be arriving into Boston via a cross country flight, and because I%26#39;m travelling with my one year old son, I%26#39;m inclined to fly from Boston to Nantucket rather than try to drive and take the ferry.

However, all of my searches pull up only flights on Cape Air, and roundtrip tickets are almost $300 each! This seems quite excessive, but I can%26#39;t find any other flights. Is this because it%26#39;s currently the offseason? Will more airlines post flight schedules (for June, in particular) later?

Also, does anyone know if Cape Air shares a terminal in Boston with United or American or any of the big airlines?

The only other option seems to be to make my way to Hyannis, but the time and expense of getting on a bus to then get on a fair is almost $150 total per person for such a trip.

A car%26#39;s not an option because I%26#39;ll be in Nantucket for a week, so the cost of a weeklong rental plus ferry charge also won%26#39;t be cheap.

Any advice is much appreciated.

Nantucket Flights

Do you have to fly in to Boston? I think that you will have better luck and more choice of flights flying from New York, Kennedy airport.

Nantucket Flights

While you may be able to find a slightly better deal at some point, I%26#39;d say that $250-300 per person round-trip is typical for BOS-ACK. I am not aware of another carrier on this route besides Cape Air, and that is their standard fare. From what I remember, they don%26#39;t do as much of the weird dynamic pricing that other airlines do. There may be an occasional sale, but pretty much the fare is the fare. (You can get a 10-pack of one-way commuter tickets at a discount, however, if you think you%26#39;ll be back again soon to use the rest of them up.)

Cape Air uses Terminal C at Logan, which is also used by United. American is in terminal B.

JetBlue and some other airlines fly to ACK from the New York area (JFK in particular for Jet Blue) and the competition should mean lower fares, but it sounds like that may not be an option for you.

As you mention, there is a bus (Plymouth %26amp; Brockton) from Logan Airport that will take you to the dock area of Hyannis, where you can catch the ferry. This is not necessarily that inconvenient, but -- especially with a young child and their gear in tow -- be sure to check the schedules, as the bus is not always perfectly coordinated with the ferry. You may also have to walk 5-10 minutes from the Hyannis transportation center to the dock. (There is also a local shuttle bus in season, or you can take a $5 cab ride.)

One option *might* be to do a one-way car rental from Logan to the Hyannis airport (HYA). You could then take a quick 20-min. flight from HYA to ACK (about $100 roundtrip) or take a short taxi to the ferry dock. If you get a good deal on the car rental, this could be a cheaper option. I%26#39;m not sure how convenient it would be, especially if it means installing a child%26#39;s car seat in the rental car.

In summer, parking at/near the Hyannis docks is around $15/day, and taking the car on the Steamship is over $300 and often difficult to arrange without reservations well in advance.

Other people might have some creative ideas, but it%26#39;s hard to get around the fact that getting to Nantucket is expensive. You will definitely have a nice time on the island, so hopefully it will be well worth it.

Thank you both for your help. Unfortunately, you%26#39;re confirming what I was afraid of!

I have some business to do in Boston, so most likely I will have to fly into Logan. However, if things are significantly cheaper via JFK, maybe I%26#39;ll be able to work out a one way deal through New York.

Jet Blue%26#39;s summer schedule has not yet been posted, so I%26#39;ll just have to wait until they open up past April and see.

Thanks for taking the time respond.

Last year Jet Blue had some flights from Boston-Nantucket. Most were in the AM so they are hard to make the same day. : (

More options out of NY.

The high speed ferry is a great way to start out a trip.

You can rent a car for a day drop it off at the Hyannis airport,

do the same on the way back to Boston.

This takes time and with a 1 year old I don%26#39;t think so but it can be done.

I bet the flight from LA to Boston/NY could cost less than Boston/ NY-Nantucket

Funny how that works.

In terms of flying to Nantucket, ';fog happens'; (as the well-known bumper sticker says) which often means backed-up and/or cancelled flights, especially in early mornings and evenings. You can increase your odds of avoiding fog delays by booking Nantucket flights between, say, 11 am-3pm. No guarantees, though.

We go to Nantucket every summer from Chicago and have tried all flight variations. Sometimes it is cheaper to fly through Providence than it is through Boston, although more recently, we have had better luck through NY area airports.

However, one warning which is as someone earlier said, fog happens on Nantucket - a lot. One memorable trip on Delta through La JFK, Delta cancelled our flight, the last flight of the day due to ';weather';. Because Delta had only two flights a day and because I did not have elite status on Delta, by the time we got to the front of the rebooking line, they were rebooking on flights TWO days later, and because they blamed it on whether, they would not rebook on other airlines which had seats that evening and the next morning (none of those airlines had cancelled their flights that evening.) Long story short, we had to buy two one way tickets on US Air for 6am the following morning out of La Guardia, and spent the rest of the night in the airport. This is not something you want to do with a baby, so if you have a choice, choose an airline with multiple flights to Nantucket during the day so that your rebooking options are greater if you run into problems. Right now, our airline of choice is Continental through Newark, which has multiple flights, plus a few weeks ago we got roundtrip tickets from O%26#39;Hare to Nantucket for about $250 each.

I think the Plymouth and Brockton bus will go to the transporation center in Hyannis, which is about 1/2 to 1 mile from either the HyLine Terminal or the Steamship Authority. There are taxis there though so it shouldn%26#39;t be an issue. I%26#39;d opt for the bus (which leaves from South Station on Atlantic Ave. to Hyannis, then a cab to the HyLine High Speed ferry. It%26#39;s worth the trouble to get to the Nantucket though; it%26#39;s so beautiful there plus since it%26#39;s an island, you feel as though you%26#39;re 1,000 miles from the mainland.