Is ORY a good airport?

Lots of people ask me if landing in ORY is a good plan.
If you're flying to Paris directly from the States, your only option to fly directly to ORY is OpenSkies. The BA affiliate is now fully integrated in the One World alliance and fares are offered on AA.com.
The Paris-based airline offers 3 flights a day from JFK and EWR all of them to Paris Orly.

If OpenSkies is an option you're considering , I would encourage you to try and select their premium product which really is recycled business class seats from Lufthansa. 

Now when it comes to Orly, most parisians would probably say they prefer Orly because it is a smaller and less crowded and that’s the reason OpenSkies decided to make it its home.

Let's get into details:

Overview:

ORY is definitely closer to the city. It’s one of the original Paris airport (along with Le Bourget) and was the main hub before CDG opened in 1974 (CDG actually celebrated its 40th birthday last week-end.) Today, it’s mainly a domestic airport but still has some flights to North-Africa + OpenSkies to JFK and EWR. The south terminal is the most interesting with its vintage 1960’s candelabra. You’d expect seeing Georges Pompidou and Lyndon Johnson smoking a cigar together at one of the gates…

Unfortunately, I think OpenSkies flies into and out of terminal west now (less interesting but functional).

Transportation:

Train: The RER doesn’t go directly into the airport and requires a connexion with an air train called OrlyVal which takes 7 minutes to travel to the Antony RER station (a litle like JFK and Jamaica station.) 

Once at Antony, line B will bring you to Chatelet in 20’.

Car/taxi: Outside of rush hours, the commute to the city with a cab is a breeze and can take as little as 15’ and cost around €30 or even less. Totally different story during rush hours. 

Bus: The “Cars Air France”, which is reasonably cheap, take you to Montparnasse station, Invalides and Étoile/Champs-Élysées. Busses are comfy.

Other things to consider:

Openskies’ used to send its customers to the Icare lounge which is small but nice and has a good food selection. Last time I heard (when my mom took OpenSkies to JFK last Thanksgiving), customers were sent to the BA lounge which is nice but has the inconvenient of being pre-security.