<p>Hoping against hope here: My daughter loves everything about U of I and Iowa City, and is in the process of applying this summer. But there's one thing she's not crazy about, and that's getting there. We live on the West Coast, and there is really no alternative to flying. On her visit Daughter flew into Rapid City, and from what we can tell the only types of planes that fly into that airport are those little planes with two seats on side of the aisle and one seat on the other (I'm sure there's a generic term for these, but I'm not sure what it is). </p>
<p>I know they are as safe as the big jets, but they tend to bounce around a lot, and they frankly make all of us nervous; so we would be interested to know if there are any other options. It would appear that Quad Cities also only gets little planes, but I haven't checked into this thoroughly (I would love to be proved wrong!). But even if there are bigger planes, is there any kind of transportation between Moline and Iowa City? </p>
<p>Is anyone on here from the West Coast? If so, are you just flying into Rapid City, no sweat? If you're not, how are getting to Iowa City? Thanks for any suggestions you might have.</p>
<p>Hi glorious9th,
We travel to Iowa City from the East Coast but I think the issues are the same. We use Chicago as a hub so yes we fly on a small plane to Cedar Rapids but the flight from Chicago is not even 40 minutes. I would think you would fly from the West Coast to Chicago as well and then connect. Flying a really small plane all the way from Boston would not be fun but that does not happen. Overall its a bit of a pain to get to Iowa City but the travel won’t happen very often and its worth it for such a great college town.</p>
<p>The OP means Cedar Rapids, not Rapid City…correct? Des Moines isn’t too far from IC either. </p>
<p>It’s funny about the small planes. After living in a city where most of them are the type with only one seat on the left and two on the right I am used to them. Now I prefer them to the giant planes where people are packed in like livestock. I don’t think there is a difference in how one experiences turbulence–it has more to do with the weather patterns.</p>
<p>Yes, Sally, I did mean Cedar Rapids! That’s embarrassing! In my defense, I wasn’t along on the visit to U of I, but I really wasn’t suggesting shuttling my daughter from South Dakota to Iowa City on a regular basis! </p>
<p>It’s interesting what you say about small planes, Sally. I haven’t ridden on one for a very long time. I’m a big guy, and in theory sitting on the side of the aisle where there’s only one seat seems appealing, but my wife tells me that she doesn’t think I would fit, that I would feel very claustrophobic. Not that I’m going to have to worry about this too often–the point of this thread is about my daughter. </p>
<p>And thanks to Bigdoglover for the suggestion to change planes in Chicago. For us it’s a little out of the way of course, but it might be the least bad option. This time the plane change happened in Denver, which was a considerably longer trip.</p>
<p>Trust me, there are all sizes of people on even the smallest flights. The seats and legroom are the same (meaning, inadequate) once you sit down. The “ceiling” can be kind of low so very tall people may have to hunch a bit. But look at the upside–you’ll never be stuck in a middle seat. :)</p>
<p>As for Chicago being out of the way, remember that in air miles these differences are pretty meaningless. You just want the most options, which from the west coast will almost undoubtedly mean a non-stop to Chicago or Minneapolis-St. Paul and then the short connecting flight. I checked and it is only a one-hour flight from MSP too. So depending on what carrier you use, you have that option as well. I personally prefer MSP (generally, Delta) to ORD (United) and believe the on-time record is better there.</p>
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<p>I don’t know what the “official” term is, but I would tend to call those commuter jets or regional jets. Keep in mind that unlike a full-size aircraft in which you can carry on a rollerboard, you typically can’t carry on a rollerboard with these. That will be important for your daughter to know as she travels back and forth, and you may want to instruct her about paying attention to whether they will gate-check the bag, expect her to pick it up as she exits the airplane (e.g., on the tarmac) or whether they will put it through with other checked luggage on the carousel.</p>
<p>Good point, PG. Daughter was not happy that she had to surrender her musical instrument that on larger planes she was able to carry on with her. Another downside to the small planes, I’m afraid. We’ll check into the Minneapolis connections as well as the O’Hare connections, per Sally’s suggestion, to make the flights as short as possible.</p>
<p>D2 will be attending Iowa in the fall and flying from northern CA. Chicago is 300 miles away and I haven’t found any reasonably priced shuttle services to Iowa City yet. Megabus does offer their cheap daily services from Chicago to Iowa City, but getting over to the airport from he bus terminal sounds a lot more stressful than flying into Cedar Rapids. There’s always the hope that someone will be driving to Des Moines for holiday breaks, and she will be able to tag along for the ride to that airport. Not sure if those airplanes are any bigger, though. If anyone from the area can offer any other tips, please let me know!</p>
<p>I would NOT count on the Megabus to get your D from Chicago unless you have no other choice. 300 miles is a long way. This summer my kids have been using the Megabus to go up to the Twin Cities from Wisconsin and they have been finding it pretty unreliable (especially compared to the CoachUSA bus that goes to O’Hare). A lot of your daughter’s trips home are going to be in the winter. If there are weather issues, I would much rather have my child stuck in an airport waiting for a connection than being on a bus that may or may not be able to make the journey on snow-covered roads.</p>
<p>It is a very quick 240 mile drive to Ohare from IA City. Less than 4 hours. There are quite a few students who do this frequently so I think once your student is settled in after the first time or two there would be many offers on ride share.</p>
<p>Although it costs a bit more to fly into the eastern Iowa airport between Cedar Rapids and Iowa city there are many, many flights daily to Chicago and it is only about a 35 minute flight in the air. It is such a short flight and I fly it frequently. I really haven’t been bothered by bumps. There aren’t any mountains to cause turbulence and at the gate they’ll stow your luggage and you just pick it up when you exit the plain. Pretty darn convenient actually.</p>