<p>I am a prospective Cornell student, and my parents are afraid that I will never be able to come home from break because (1) I don't plan on owning a car, (2) Ithaca does not have a major airport, and (3) I live 12+ hours away from Cornell. This is the one school my parents really do not want me to attend, simply because they fear they will never see me again. :/</p>
<p>I have considered taking the Cornell Weill med school bus to NYC and flying home via Southwest, but I'm not even sure if undergraduates are allowed to take the med school bus. How do you normally travel to and from Cornell? Is there some inexpensive form of transportation that could at least take me to NYC?</p>
<p>You can fly out of Syracuse or Ithaca. During breaks, there are shuttle buses going to Syracuse or you can get a car service. My daughter’s roommate of 4 years from NW went home for every school break. My two nephews go back to CA 2-3 times a year. The bus you are referring to is campus to campus bus, anyone can take it. My younger daughter takes it to come home all the time. </p>
<p>Hello! I’m a rising sophomore at cornell. There are greyhound buses at ithaca that can take you to rochester ny (international airport) or NYC. Between greyhound, short line, and campus to campus (which undergrads can take!) you can definetly get to a major airport. Ithaca airport also flies to NYC. A greyhound to rochester costs $25 and from there you can catch a connecting flight! Inbox me if you have other questions!</p>
<p>Cbear, nice to hear about the bus to Rochester. Southwest flies out of Rochester, and this could be a cheaper option for my daughter (going to Reno, NV). Would that bus be an option in the winter snow?</p>
<p>Didn’t mean to hijack your thread, OP, but people travel from all over the country (and world) to attend Cornell, so it must be doable :)</p>
<p>Do you guys recommend flying to Ithaca airport, or flying to NYC and take bus to Cornell (200 airfare cheaper to NYC)?
Ithaca seems far from Cornell, is there a shuttle/bus/cheap transport between Cornell and airport everyday? </p>
<p>The Ithaca Tompkins airport is only 15 minutes or so from Cornell and I think it would be a lot more convenient to fly to JFK or LaGuardia before transferring to your destination. You could also take the bus, but it’s around a 4 hour drive. It depends on whether you value your time or money more, haha.</p>
<p>And Ithaca is not far from Cornell at all! Cornell is IN Ithaca. The airport is a little further off but I’m sure there are shuttles that can get you there. </p>
<p>I would say so, unless it was truly awful, the greyhounds tend to run (my friends took similar buses back to boston in mid December in a snow storm)! </p>
<p>Upstate NY get a lot of snow, but they clear the road very fast and efficient. It includes Ithaca road. My kid had a little Mini Cooper on campus, she was able to get the car out on the road soon after it stopped snowing. </p>
<p>I would say for 200 and it is your first move to Cornell, I would fly up to Ithaca instead of trying to catch a bus for another 4 hour ride. I would book it soon because seats are very limited from NY to Ithaca.</p>
<p>My D is a rising sophomore. We experimented with lots of combinations this past year. Flying out of Ithaca was the most convenient, but flights were cancelled the day before Thanksgiving and she was one of the few that got out of this tiny airport late that day. In winter, might be better off flying from Syracuse. </p>
<p>There’s a bus to Syracuse from campus for all breaks that is $25 per ticket; she found that very convenient and had more flight options to Syracuse. Tickets go on sale for this bus 30 days before travel, so that’s a little inconvenient as we have to book airfare long before that.</p>
<p>For winter break, she took the greyhound to Rochester and flew home via Southwest; taxi service was very slow in Rochester at the bus station and a nice lady at the bus station ended up taking several Cornell students to the airport after they’d waited 2 hours for a taxi and were about to miss flights. We also found that SW couldn’t get her into Rochester (from Denver) in time to get a cab to the bus station to catch the last greyhound back to Ithaca. This was her least favorite.</p>
<p>Delta and US Air both fly into Ithaca, so that’s now our preference when the flight cost isn’t much higher than going to one of the surrounding airports. </p>
<p>To get from campus to the Ithaca airport, she took the bus (free) several times – but it gets full, so plan ahead and don’t wait for the last second. When arriving in Ithaca late at night, she caught a cab. </p>
<p>comom2013, this is useful information for us. I’m sure we’ll try various options, even considering flying in and out of San Francisco or San Jose,.since Reno to Ithaca is so pricey (and Syracuse is not much better). </p>
<p>Just be careful booking the last flight out of those airports to your destination. A friend’s son ended up sleeping in the Syracuse airport the night before a holiday break after his flight was canceled. It wasn’t worth going back to Ithaca and rushing to make the early morning flights. Try to get earlier flights when possible to leave some room for changes. My son has an easier commute and gets a chartered bus home for breaks most times (though those get delayed, too, they do get here eventually). </p>