By Lindsay Tice,Staff Writer

You can get there from here.

But if you’re going to New York City, the trip may cost more than $1,000 and take 28 hours.

A Sun Journal survey of airlines found huge differences in the fares from Portland to New York City, both for LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy airports.

Round-trip on Delta could cost $426 in April, for example. Round-trip on Continental could cost over $1,180 for the same day.

That’s because New York City is a hub for Delta. Its regional planes fly in and out of the city all the time.

Continental doesn’t have a hub in New York City. So to get there from Portland, Continental.com tells travelers the cheapest route is a $1,180 fare that stops in Georgia, Texas, Louisiana and Ohio.

Travelers leave at 1:27 p.m. Wednesday. They arrive at the JFK airport at 5:10 p.m Thursday.

Fares are slightly cheaper – $994 – and the trip is slightly shorter for travelers who want to wait a month and fly to nearby LaGuardia.

With just three stops, the fight takes about eight-and-a-half hours.

Northwest, which doesn’t have a hub in New York City either, sends Maine travelers to Michigan before flying them to JFK. The trip takes about six hours. It costs $996.

Northwest doesn’t even list the option on its Web site. Orbitz and other travel sites do.

“We know people aren’t going to buy it. We don’t compete in that space,” said Northwest spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch.

For its travelers, Continental offers a solution: New Jersey.

“You can take a train,” said spokesman Martin DeLeon. “You’re 15 minutes from Manhattan.”

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