Travel
Coming By AirOur airport is Bradley International Airport (airline symbol BDL), the closest one to Amherst even though it is technically just over the border in Connecticut. It serves Hartford (CT) and Springfield (MA), and is usually shown on airline schedules simply as Hartford (sometimes as Hartford/Springfield). Do not book passage to Boston unless you arrange for connecting bus or train travel as well. Boston (Logan Airport) is three hours away, and our pickup range does not extend that far.
International Passengers
Most passengers coming from another country will go through US customs either at an intervening stop (Chicago, New York, etc) or at their Canadian city of departure (Toronto, Montréal). Canadian passengers will need proof of identity, for which a passport is the normal expected form. Noncitizens of Canada, or citizens of other countries, may need a visa as well as a passport; application for visas must be made several months in advance. Check with your local US consulate or visa office, for this and other relevant regulations.
Schedule Considerations
You may have a choice of flights. Here are some considerations to help you choose.
If you are going to make the Friday evening dinner, you will need to arrive at Bradley not later than 4 PM, and 3 PM is safer. The normal van time to Amherst is about 90 minutes, and you must add a rush hour factor after 4 PM. If you want to stay through lunch on Sunday, your return flight should leave not earlier than 4:30 PM (5:30 for international visitors). To see schedules of all flights to and from Bradley, click here.
Our usual pickup service (the Valley Transporter van), leaves Bradley Terminal A (USAir, United, and now also Delta; Northwest, Lufthansa) at 30 minutes past the hour, and the same vehicle leaves Terminal B (American, some Canadian airlines) at 45 minutes past the hour. If your arrival is at 21 minutes past the hour, your chance of making the van connection is thus a little better in Terminal B. If you miss it, the worst that happens is that you have to wait an hour for the next van. Your van reservation will automatically be transferred.
The van, like most airlines, has a luggage limit of 2 pieces and 1 carry-on per person.
There are many on-line air ticket agencies, and most airlines also sell tickets on-line. One on-line agent we have used with success is Expedia
Airport Layout
Bradley is a relatively small airport. It is divided into Terminal A (recently reconstructed and expanded) and Terminal B (a little junky, but serviceable). There is a short passage on the upper (departures) level which connects the two, but it is now available only to ticketed passengers who have passed through airport security. The terminal map which was formerly available at the Bradley web site is not presently in service.
Your Airport Pickup
Terminals A and B end in similar baggage claim areas. The plan is to pick up your luggage in the carousel, and then notify the van service that you are ready. If you arrive in Terminal A, the Valley Transporter service desk is opposite Baggage Carousel #6. If you arrive in Terminal B, the Valley Transporter desk is in a cluster of transportation desks somewhat to the left of the pickup area (as you face the street).
Go to the Valley desk. A courtesy phone at the desk will connect you to either Valley or the Thomas Transportation service. Pick up the phone, press the button for Valley, and let the Valley dispatcher know that you have arrived, and that you are ready with your baggage. The dispatcher will confirm your reservation, and tell you when your van will arrive.
If your flight is late, and you have arrived at Bradley but not yet gathered your luggage, and want to assure Valley that you are on your way, you may call their toll-free number 1-800-872-8752 on a pay phone or on your cell phone. Use that same number, from your US or Canadian departure point, to inform Valley if your flight has been delayed or rescheduled. They will adjust their pickup schedule.
A few minutes before that arrival, go out the door and wait at the curb with your luggage for the van (with new security regulations, the driver can no longer enter the terminal to collect you). The van will drop you at the entrance to the Campus Center Hotel (Level 3) after an approximately 90-minute ride.
In a few cases, you will be met by ourselves, a UMass student, or a WSWG conferee who happens to be driving by that way at the appropriate time. Unless you coordinate by cellphone, that person will park in the parking garage and come in person to meet you at the chairs in or near the carousel area. If you are not known by sight to the person who is picking you up, it can help to have a sheet of apricot-colored copy paper folded in three and protruding from your jacket pocket (or otherwise discreetly visible); this token can also be waved in the air to convey identification at a distance. We will enclose a sheet of the right color in any mailing which we may send you shortly before the Conference.
To notify Valley of changes in your arrival time, call their toll-free number (1-800 872-8752). If your personal pickup does not show, or if other connections seem to have been missed, check with Project Headquarters (1-413 584-1810) for advice.
If your personal ride has definitely not appeared, you can call Valley and ask to be included in their next pickup; request that the cost be charged to the Warring States Project (we have an understanding with them that such requests will be accepted).
Another alternative is the Peter Pan Bus, which has service between Bradley and the UMass campus (for the UMass stop, see the Campus Map). The Peter Pan information desk is near the Valley Transporter desk in both terminals. Again, you should be out on the curb a few minutes in advance of their scheduled arrival. The driver will accept cash payment for the fare. You may wish to print out that schedule from the Bus page. It includes all runs which go direct to the UMass campus, near the Campus Center hotel.
Other Communications
If we need to reach you at the terminal, we cannot do so by contacting the airport paging desk, since that telephone line seems to be perpetually busy. (You can however ask from within the terminal to have your ride, or your passenger, paged). For these situations, notify us in advance of your cell phone number if you will have it with you (be sure to turn the phone on only after you exit your plane). The Hartford to Amherst highway is entirely covered by digital phone transmission service. You can thus call us with any questions or updates (at 413 584-1810) in either digital or analog mode, from the airport or at any point en route to the Campus Center. If you wish to call ahead to the hotel desk, that number is 1-413 549-6000.
Have a pleasant trip, and thank you for including WSWG in your travel plans.
For Those Meeting Bradley Passengers
To reach the airport from Amherst/Northampton, go south on I-91, through Springfield and into Connecticut, past Enfield and across the Connecticut River. You want to be in the second lane from the right as you cross the bridge. The exit for Bradley is not the first you meet past the bridge (which is why you don't want to be in the right lane), but the second; watch like a hawk for the airport logo and for Exit 40 (so numbered both north and south). From here or coming from the south, the airport exit puts you on a connector road going west (which in part coincides with State Route 20). That road slims to two lanes immediately past the I-90 off-ramp. Be alert to avoid getting in a mandatory exit lane as the road thins out.
You will meet arriving passengers on the lower level, at the chairs adjacent to, or near to, the baggage pickup area. Unless you are in close cell phone communication with your passengers in the minutes prior to arrival, so that they are guaranteed to be waiting for you on the curb outside that area, park in the new garage adjacent to Terminal A (you cannot leave an unattended car at the curb; it will be towed) and cross over to the terminal. Have with you the apricot-colored recognition sheet that we recommend above for arriving passengers.
Thanks for being of assistance to the Conference in this way.
14 Sept 2005 / Contact The Project / Exit to Conferences
