Amtrak's Northeast Corridor runs directly to Newark and Baltimore / Washington, and SEPTA's Airport Line (R1) leaves from 30th Street Station and other Center City stops, with four airport stations that cover the spread of terminals at Philadelphia International.

The local Airport Line may save you money if the alternative is airport parking over many days. The Amtrak to the Newark or Baltimore / Washington airports is unlikely to save you money on your trip, though it will save wear and tear on your car. And on you - especially when you deplane to come home, and may not feel like driving to Philadelphia from another city.

I took the trains to all three airports to see just how smoothly things are going these days. The answer: All three are hassle-free rides, and you can get inside the air terminals from the trains with ease.

Philadelphia

The ride from Center City to Philadelphia International costs $11 round-trip and takes about 25 minutes. All four airport stops are designed to get you into the terminals quickly. You're up an escalator or elevator and, in less than a minute, inside the airport.

I have only one problem with SEPTA's Airport Line. The trains display no signs to tell riders which airlines leave from each of the six terminals. I'm not surprised; signage has never been one of the city's strong points until recently, and Center City now has all sorts of signs and maps posted. It's time for SEPTA and the airport to do the same inside the trains.

In place of signs, the Airport Line conductors offer a recitation of the airlines that operate from each train stop. I could barely hear it, partly because the conductor was far from energized as his voice trailed off at each reading, and the sound system's volume was low. If I'd not been so familiar with the airport, and if I'd had a couple of suitcases in tow, I would have done what travelers do. I would have freaked.

Now for the flip side: I've been on this train a number of times, and I'm impressed with how much the conductors know about the airport. I've asked them lots of questions, and they've always been accurate and helpful in their answers. Still, wouldn't some signs add to everyone's ease?

Newark

The ride on Amtrak to Newark Liberty International takes about an hour, and the standard-train round-trip fare from Philadelphia is $106. I could have paid a lot less by driving or taking SEPTA to Trenton's rail station, then hopping a New Jersey Transit train to Newark International: $25.30 round-trip. But I didn't feel like making the effort.

What is it with bad signage? At the Newark International Airport train station, nothing says anything as simple as "This Way to the Airport." So follow the "Station" signs, which lead you up a flight of stairs (or an elevator or escalator) and into the Amtrak/NJT station. Just show your train ticket to an agent at the gate to board the spiffy monorail into the terminals.

The computerized monorail, called the Airtrain, runs every three minutes and stops at the three air terminals and the parking lots. It takes from 8 to 12 minutes to get to the terminal you want, and a recording recites the list of airlines at each terminal - while you peruse a nice wall map of the Airtrain system, which lists each airline for each terminal, thank you very much.

Baltimore / Washington

My fare was $90 on a standard Amtrak train to Baltimore / Washington International, the first airport in the nation to connect with major train service, in 1980. (Long before that, Clevelanders were enjoying high-speed rides to their airport, on a trolley.) The link from Amtrak into BWI remains old-fashioned: It's a big bus, like the ones that ply long-term parking lots in major airports.

In fact, the Amtrak station area also serves as a remote parking lot for the airport, and the bus comes alongside the lot, across the street from the station, every 10 minutes during most hours.

It takes about 10 minutes to reach a terminal once you're on the bus. And no, there are no airline signs, but there is the personal touch. The driver asks everyone on board which airlines they're flying, then announces when to get off. It's not a zippy monorail or a smooth commuter-train right to the station entrances, but it worked two decades ago and it works now.