There I was at Hartsfield-Jackson airport, pondering how best to get to my downtown Atlanta hotel. I could take a cab for $32, a shuttle for $16.50, or the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority for $2.

No contest. I rode a clean, safe MARTA train to within two blocks of my hotel and, since I had only a carry-on bag, easily walked the rest of the way. I had saved enough for a down payment on an extravagant meal, complete with mint julep, at Pittypat's Porch.

Atlanta isn't alone.

"I always take the El from O'Hare," a Chicagoan told me. "Not only is it cheaper, it's a lot faster during rush hour."

Public transit may not be for those weighted down with luggage, but it is available at city airports from Boston to San Francisco.

Go to the Web site of the airport or public transit system to find out whether such travel is available, and where at the airport the transit station is. (For D/FW, go to trinityrailwayexpress.org; Love Field, www.dart.org/riding/lovefield.asp; Atlanta, marta.com and atlanta-airport.com; Chicago, transitchicago.com and ohare.com; Boston, massport.com/logan and mbta.com; Philadelphia, septa.com and phl.org; Minneapolis-St. Paul, metrotransit.org/rail and mspairport.com.)

Pack a snack: Don't travel without a sandwich or snack in your carry-on. After my 10:50 a.m. flight sat on the runway for more than two hours, I figured I could stave off hunger by buying a sandwich on the plane. But everyone was ravenous by then, and anything resembling food sold out before the flight attendants reached my row. There was no time to eat at the airport, either, as I scurried to make my connecting flight. I was finally able to buy food on my second flight, but it had been 11 hours between bites.

Richard P. Carpenter,

The Boston Globe

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