With the opening of the new New York LaGuardia Central Terminal building to replace the old terminal C, United, American, Air Canada and Southwest have a new home at one of the most important airports in the country.
I’ve been overall pretty negative on the renovation project because my fear has been that it would slow down travel, not make it better. A reader shares a report that confirms my fears. He concludes, “LaGuardia now requires an additional 30 minutes to get to the gate.”
It’s beautiful but woo, the walk. After security you take an escalator and go through the mall (retail area). Then take the ramp down toward the old terminal. Then the escalator down to the main level, turn the corner and walk.
First, a few photos of the approach and landside area.
The new facility is funded in some measure by convincing passengers to part with more money on shopping. That’s why they funnel you through retail shops, and have added higher-end retail with the potential to generate higher sales – so the percentage taken off the top can pay back construction costs.
Here’s the shopping arcarde:
The point of an airport is to get somewhere. The best airports are the easiest to get to and get through. They make your travel more efficient, rather than adding to an already cumbersome and stressful experience.
The best airports are close-in to the city center, and once you get there security is near the entrance and gates are near security. There’s enough runway capacity to handle flights, and surrounding airspace isn’t congested, minimizing delays.
For local passengers the most important things are:
- How easy is it to get to and from the airport? (distance from city center and connectivity)
- Once there, how quickly can you get through security and to your gate?
- How congested is the airport facility? Does it have wide enough taxiways and enough runway capacity so planes can get in the air and on their way quickly? (throughput)
For connecting passengers, how quick and easy is it to transfer between gates? How efficiently can an airport handle connecting baggage? And of course throughput matters to connecting passengers too — twice as much since they’re both arriving and departing by air. Everything else is secondary.
That’s why complaints about New York LaGuardia’s aging facility just didn’t matter to me. The roof leaks? Call a roofer. Ceilings are low? Who cares, you’ll be in the sky soon.
LaGuardia has spent billions of dollars on the waiting room but the fundamdental challenges of getting there, and getting into the sky aren’t made better. And it seems to take longer to get through the airport than before.
Lipstick on a pig.
I agree. I understand shopping stores if it’s duty free but LGA is primarily a domestic airport with a few flights to Canada.
I wish they had spent the money improving public transport to LGA instead.
Airports are morphing into shopping malls with a few gates attached at the perimeters, aren’t they? I’ve always felt I could find the retail in any city I am in, but when I go to the airport I want to get somewhere. I guess lots of people enjoy the shopping, though, or it wouldn’t be so profitable in airports.
Wow writing an article based on a reader report.
Why don’t you actually go there yourself and try the walk.
I did LGA-ORD last week and the additional walk was 5-7min brisk or maybe 10-12 leisurely.
Everyone has their own speed. But to say it takes 30min is not accurate.
So what US airports do you like?
so you’re using videos of a terminal during a pandemic where some stores aren’t open to say it’s bad ?
If LGA is bad wait till you see JFK T8 – still super long corridors, esp at the island concourse, and nothing much to buy or look at.
And it’s thoroughly amusing that you’re trying to measure LGA as a connection-oriented airport. If you want connections, it’s the Delta terminal next door, not the pictures you’re showing (AA’s LGA even pre-pandemic doesn’t really facilitate any connections that can’t be better handled via PHL)
so you’re using videos of a terminal during a pandemic where some stores aren’t open to say it’s bad ?
If LGA is bad wait till you see JFK T8 – still super long corridors, esp at the island concourse, and nothing much to buy or look at.
And it’s thoroughly amusing that you’re trying to measure LGA as a connection-oriented airport. If you want connections, it’s the Delta terminal next door, not the pictures you’re showing (AA’s LGA even pre-pandemic doesn’t really facilitate any connections that can’t be better handled via PHL)
Wait until the disastrously planned LaGuardia AirTran begins construction. A simple subway extension with a one-seat ride to Manhattan was rejected for a backward people mover to a station on the LIRR and hopelessly overcrowded 7 train. And of course, it’s being built at 5x what it would cost in Europe or East Asia by the PANYNJ. Meanwhile, Paris has its second and third transit connections to CDG and second connection to Orly under construction right now……….
Gary, if the reader who provided you the report was flying on American, they are still operating out of their old Concourse D. The path the get there for the moment is convoluted to be sure, but it is temporary. Once the rest of the gate area is finished and AA moves into the new space, the walk will be less arduous. And I agree with @Pete. Thirty minutes seems like a very slow walker.
I work at LGA and i respect your opinion on this but i think your article does not reflect the reality,
1st off all you go to the airport to take a flight, not to be shopping around, if you do then that is on you if you miss a flight
2nd, regarding the long walk to the old terminal, that is something temporary that will be fix when the open the new connector and new gates
3rd, even tho there are barely some passengers these days i really believe traffic and congestion wont be as bad as before and out of all the airports i have been(which has been a lot) there are always some sort of traffic or congestion
With Pete on this one. My friend flew out of the new headhouse last week and said it was 7 minutes from security to gates at a moderate speed. That ends up being almost negligible for a “door-to-gate” time since security will (in theory) be quicker with one shared facility as opposed to the four separate facilities at the old CTB. Plus, the reader was flying out of the old gates which are still temporarily being used. In 2 years, there will be a second pedestrian bridge leading to the western concourse which should cut that amount of time down.
Also, the new CTB is replacing terminal B, NOT terminal C.
I’ll be there in a few hours.
I assume this is the completion of the new terminal B, not terminal C?
It wouldn’t take 30 minutes to walk from the airport entrance to the end of the runway, so unless the reporter is mobility impaired this sounds like an exaggeration. As for the need to funnel people through a shopping mall to get to the gates, we have “run government like a business” to thank for that. On my last trip through it was certainly nice to have the Shake Shack available.
I liked the old LGA (it was close by and fast) and I imagine I’ll like the new one better. The old one simply had no place to wait for your flight if you weren’t in a lounge, and no place of the security queue.
You should change the name to the article to include the word “I” because this is all a personal point of view.
It’s not worse than before, I don’t even travel to NYC ever, but when I was thinking about it I knew to avoid LGA because of its old past. It has a terrible reputation across the entire nation and theses renovations are set out to change that once complete.
@Gary You forgot to add “being able to fly nonstop to where you want,” on the list of local passenger wants. Lift the range restriction!
con·fir·ma·tion bi·as
noun: confirmation bias
the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one’s existing beliefs or theories.
I, too, have recently flown from LGA and the new terminal. Your reader’s report is nonsense – it is certainly not worse than before, and on almost every metric of the passenger’s experience, it is vastly improved.
The 65 foot/20 meters high skybridge above the future taxi lane between the headhouse & gate pier is reported to be 420 feet/128 meters, or slightly longer than 2-blocks (using the 200 foot/61 meters length) of a typical midtown Manhattan numbered block, and from pics I’ve seen, includes a pair of “moving sidewalks”.
As a trade-off for a new taxiway that if it delivers on the promise to reduce congestion and increase the speed for aircraft to travel between runways and gates seems, an additional 2 blocks distance seems hardly exceptional, and possibly even worthwhile (although that cannot be determined until remaining construction of the new passenger terminal and gates plus demolition of the old central terminal building and gates is completed in a few years’ time).
As to the new shopping mall, apart from hoping to cash in on having a captive audience in general as many airports do, with the long ago obsolete, intersecting runway configurations being completely ignored as part of LGA’s $8+ billion passenger terminal modernization, what won’t change is the impact of high winds, low visibility, summer afternoon and evening thunderstorms, coastal storms deemed “Nor’Easters” (heavy downpours & high winds) or of course, snow storms & blizzards when we have the occasional colder winters instead of the warmer, rainy types like this year’s was, in causing the types of delays and cancellations (especially for the smaller aircraft operated by the mainline affiliate carriers) that have long plagued LGA.
So, that mall sure won’t lack for passengers with unexpected time on their hands to fill while they wait out whatever delays that are sure to come whenever the Covid19 pandemic is behind us, and passenger volumes recover to pre-pandemic levels.
Also, while no much has been seen or heard regarding elimination or modifying/amending LGA’s 1,500 miles perimeter rule for a while, given Delta’s decades long desire to have that restriction/obstacle lifted (that in the past it wanted so much it argued the case all they way up to the United States Supreme Court, where it lost), it’s hard to imagine that Delta committed the $4 billion (or basically half of the total cost) NY Governor needed to make his vision of redeveloping LGA become reality without an “expectation” (be it the proverbial “wink & nod” or some other sort of “assurance”/quid pro quo from the Guv) that the 1,500 mile perimeter rule flight restriction will remain unchanged in perpetuity.
So, if/when the perimeter rule is modified (perhaps in a manner resembling Washington Reagan National/DCA where a limited proportion of slots are reclassified as beyond perimeter, but using a different methodology than the pre-deregulation era Civil Aeronautics Board “Route Proceeding” used for DCA), with the passenger mix possibly/likely seeing the addition of some transcons to LAX, SFO, SEA, LAS, PHX, SLC, PDX or SAN, it’s also possible that the changed passenger mix will expect the types of facilities and amenities, including shopping, commonly found at NYC’s other 2 airports, JFK (where Terminals 4, 5 & 8 already have shops & dining options LGA has long lacked) and Newark (which is getting a new Terminal 1 to replace the dilapidated Terminal A in another year or 2 to go along with United’s Terminal C, which already has far more modern shops & dining options that LGA has long lacked) and flights beyond the 1,500 miles restriction are modified (or eliminated, although with many smaller cities already expressing concerns they’d either be dropped or see significant frequency reductions as slots are switched to “beyond perimeter” cities through their local political leaders and Federal representatives, and a small, but very vocal group of NIMBY’s near LGA in Queens also already adamant in their opposition to the larger aircraft and higher traffic/pollution they fear on local roadways if 50-76 passenger RJs are replaced by much larger mainline aircraft [after all, even a 162 passenger 737 or similarly sized Airbus A320 are twice or thrice the capacity of the 50-76 seaters that were widely used at LGA pre-Covid19 pandemic], it’s hard to imagine complete elimination of the perimeter rule at LGA) – LaGuardia will need to offer the types of amenities, including shopping and dining options that are found at JFK and Newark on the NYC end of their trips, or of course, exist at the “beyond perimeter” airports they’re accustomed to having at that end of their trips.
Simply put, as LGA’s role in the NYC constellation of airports changes to (likely) include longer haul destinations that haven’t been served nonstop on a daily basis for decades owing to either aircraft performance limitations when jets such as DC-9s, 727s, 737s, BAC-111s simply lacked the range that 4-engine jets such as the 707, 747 and DC8 (or others) offered that could not be used at LGA in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, or since 1984 when the current 1,500 miles perimeter rule was implemented by the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey (which is controlled by the Governors of both states), so too, should its amenities also reflect that the airport is comparable to the types of airports and passenger mix found at JFK, Newark, LAX, SFO, SEA and elsewhere instead of remaining the amenity starved “junior NYC airport” consigned to serving mostly small towns east of the Mississippi River aboard small aircraft, major airlines’ fortress hubs – or of course, the major cities in Florida.
So, the addition of a mall with shopping and dining options commonly found in major airports around the country or the world (even if LGA isn’t getting a Foreign Inspection Station that would allow for flights to Europe or Latin America) seems more than appropriate for it to become a “World Class Gateway” as promised by Governor Cuomo.
What we really should be doing is everything possible to completely derail the goofy “AirTrain” our newly self-appointed Mass Transit “Expert” (aka Emperor Cuomo) yet still is seeking to cram down our throats that virtually every bona fide transportation expert deemed a complete waste of scarce resources when it was first unveiled years ago at a cost then of “just” $500 million – let alone the most recent estimated cost of $2.5 billion that’s sure to explode ever higher given how boondoggles of this type typically turn out in NYC.
That useless and preposterous,
“Silly Little Trolley” as The NY Daily News called it last year in an Editorial calling for that waste of time and money White Elephant to be killed off ASAP is what we should be complaining about – NOT that the “price” for a much better than originally feared it would be based on the extremely disappointing and underwhelming interiors (especially that tacky, nasty brown floor versus the beautiful interiors and floor at the recently opened headhouse) of the 1st set of gates that opened in December 2018 at LGA that looked more like the interior of the shopping mall at the Port Authority Bus Terminal than most people’s definition of a “World Class Gateway”, or the prison-chic look of Delta’s horrible looking jailhouse exterior, but fortunately, very nice interior, for its newest gate pier that opened last year – at the “New LGA” is a longer walk from curbside you gates that as long as it may be, still won’t be anywhere near as long as the walk to the gates beyond the Delta SkyClub on the B pier at JFK T4; Detroit Metropolitan; the walk to many gates at United’s Terminal C at Newark; or the eternity at London Heathrow Terminal 3 for the Virgin Atlantic & Delta gates – or any of the other major airports where long treks are commonplace!
JMHO.
This post is not worthy of one who self-anointed ‘Thought Leader in Travel’.
Biased opinion is what this piece (and many like it going back to when ‘LGA Renovation’ was still just a concept) can be understood to be and should not be confused with or taken for reasoned analysis.
It is like a physician who diagnoses a patient with a terminal illness without ever having seen the patient.
To clarify:
That’s an “expectation” that the (antiquated) 1,500 miles perimeter rule at LGA will be modified/eased as the quid pro quo for Delta providing the other $4 billion (or basically half) needed to make Governor Cuomo’s “vision” for the airport a reality in the above – with apologies for any confusion the original wording may have caused!
Howard Miller makes several good points–most of which within a single record-breaking 240-word semtence.
Sure you didn’t leave anything out?
When you emerge from security at Heathrow Terminal 3 there’s a map above you that shows the maze of shopping in front of you and then on the far side of the maze, an arrow with “To Gates”.
I’ve always wanted to climb up there and put a sticker of a mouse next to “You Are Here” and some cheese next to “To Gates”.
Completely agree! Roof leaks, call a roofer. Low ceilings, that’s part of history. The entrance lobby was a little small for crowds, though.
The new terminal, I presume (haven’t been there) is a nightmare for old people who walk with difficulty but are not yet wheelchair bound. Lots of walking.
The worse waste is the coming AirTrain that goes east, not west to Manhattan. Billions wasted. That’s enough to run lots of buses for decades. That’s like the Seattle light rail which takes longer than the previous bus owing to the bus route was a straight shot to the airport instead of detouring to out of the way neighborhoods. But so what, rich people are paying.
Yeah the terminal definitely needed a refresh but the biggest problem with LGA IMHO was the access to the airport. If traffic flow has been improved I have no problem taking a longer walk to my gate. On the other hand if it is still gridlock getting in and out of the airport then all the upgrades at the terminal in the world won’t matter.
BTW – does the subway system now connect to LGA (I don’t count the bus transfer from a station a couple of miles away). That alone would do a world of good.
SOOO… You complain about how BAD LGA is… But, when the newest airport facility in the USA, perhaps the world at this point in time is opened. It’s too big? Are you the same group of people who complain how small and cramped LGA is? This airport is revolutionary for the demand that LGA held, and will hold post COVID. Now is the time to accelerate airport rebuilds. No one is there and flexibility is greater.
And so you have to meander thru shopping? Boo hoo. That statement makes you the same person who doesn’t want to pay for fees. So, shopping absorbs it.
Pick your viewpoint and quit acting like a politician in your stance in things. your writing is starting to be more opinionated than based on fact.
@gleff
“The roof leaks? Call a roofer. Ceilings are low? Who cares, you’ll be in the sky soon.”
Seems to me if the airport is chronically delayed as you say, you *won’t* be in the sky soon, yes? And if that’s the case, don’t you want a nicer place to wait it out?
@SCOTT KATSINAS
Unless I missed a sentence break in that ultra long paragraph, the word counter in my text editor says this is 332 words.
A final note RE “getting there” & “into the sky” as being among the most important elements:
1.) Getting to/from LGA would be vastly improved by building the type of 1-seat/1-fare DIRECT rail link to/from Manhattan that’s also fully integrated with the extensive rail networks serving the city & region that allows for a more seamless transfer than the goofy Silly Little Trolley (aka “AirTrain”) our newly see self-proclaimed mass transit “Expert” Governor Cuomo (in his infinite wisdom, of course ) is cramming down our throats despite widespread criticism from bona fide transportation experts, and residents, both of whom share a desire for NYC, and the surrounding tri-state region, to have the same type 21st century mass transit options that cities larger, comparable to, or even smaller than NYC have long had such as: Chicago (both airports), Washington Reagan National, London (Heathrow, Gatwick & others), Paris, Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Tokyo (Haneda & Narita) & more have long had.
You can’t really call NYC “the capital of the world” (as NYC fancies itself) as long as it has those goofy, 3rd rate “AirTrains” serving its airports.
Yeah, sure, the JFK AirTrain is better than no train – or the pokey “Train the the Plane” (then a bus) was back in the day.
But, that’s not saying to much in general terms – and when compared to cities the world over is as complete joke.
At least anyone who has taken these half-baked, 3rd rate goofy, silly little trolleys at either JFK or Newark airports knows that what with the schlepping of bags (checked, carry on, computer, doggie and/or baby strollers & all wipes, diapers, etc.) up & down escalators (assuming they’re actually working AND going in the direction you’re going too, because the geniuses decided to put ONLY ONE – yep, JUST ONE – escalator at the LIRR Jamaica station per platform. So, if that escalator is going up when you need to go down, and that train you’re hoping to make is rolling into the station (or already there), you’re screwed either dragging (and destroying) your bags down the steep steps from the AirTrain’s mezzanine level to the LIRR platforms (It’s much, much worse to/from the below ground subway to/from the goofy AirTrain) while watching the LIRR train you wanted to be on pull out of the station without you; or must search for one of the super slow elevators to arrive elsewhere on the mezzanine if dragging your bags, toddler or doggie down the steep steps isn’t an option.
And again, that’s assuming the elevator is actually working since they’re NOT known for their reliability, either.
I’ll leave out the part about the urine, vomit, other odors plus grease and grime one often encounters when using any of the elevators (pre-Covid19 pandemic at least) at any mass transit station, be it commuter rail lines or plain old subway in NYC.
Trust me, that’s not an exaggeration as EXACTLY that happens a LOT at that station, especially on the return legs when even to Penn Station, if it’s late at night on a weekday or Sunday night, a missed train can mean a much longer wait stuck at Jamaica station than is desirable when all you want to do is get home – and that’s when the weather is nice since a 20-30 minutes wait at Jamaica station for a missed train late at night is bad enough in the spring, summer or fall, but is much worse in the winter when it’s cold and the wind is whipping across the platforms there.
And that’s just half of the misery that accompanies these goofy and pathetic, 3rd rate “trains“.
Then there’s the chaos of befuddled tourists trying to figure out how to use the vending machines to pay the now $7.75 each way, per person just to get to/from a REAL train or subway at Jamaica (or Amtrak/NJ Transit trains at Newark), where upon one must then pay ANOTHER fare to continue their journey to wherever they need to get to/from.
Ugh! It’s utterly preposterous.
Of course, our Imperious Mass Transit “Expert” might understand that much better if he ACTUALLY HAD TO DO THAT HIMSELF instead of being royally ensconced inside a police vehicle that’s blaring a siren to avoid being stuck in traffic for 90 mins to 2 hours as mere mortals must do to/from JFK at peak hours – or of course looking down at the little people in their little cars barely crawling along the Long Island or Van Wyck Expressways like ants to/from JFK from his helicopter!
Oh, and if anyone has actually found themselves trapped aboard these goofy AirTrains when the break down (as I have
a few times), then for sure they’d know just how 3rd rate these goofy, silly little trolleys really are – unlike, say the Guv.
That’s for the getting to/from part; now let’s briefly highlight the “getting in the air” part in point #2.
2.) Getting into the air quickly:
Sorry, NOT possible for ANY improvement for that at LGA as long as the long ago obsolete, 7000 foot, intersecting runways from mid-last century (or earlier) remain completely unchanged.
Want to get in the air faster at LGA?
Well, unless one is born recently, and even then that’s doubtful, that’s so NOT going to happen in our lifetimes barring the sort of enlightened political leadership and citizenry that our country does NOT seem poised to have anytime soon.
I know. I know. Such a depressing thought.
But hey, we can’t even build an ordinary rail line to/from our airports comparable to what many cities the world over have long had, so the likelihood of reconfiguring the runways at LGA barring a miracle along the lines of Moses parting the Red Sea is pretty much nil.
Just saying!
Yeah, yeah, I know – not exactly very impressive or inspiring for a city that calls itself “Capital of the World”.
But, on a much happier note to end this discussion, the recently opened new passenger terminal headhouse at LGA actually turned out to be much better than I feared it would based on the dowdy interiors of the gates in the pier that opened in December 2018, or as the exterior appearance is concerned, the prison like awfulness that is Delta’s new pier that opened last year that barbed wire and all, including the lighting stanchions that were seen prior to the recent reveal for the headhouse, which, as noted, and as a truly refreshing surprise to this observer, is quite beautiful (especially the interiors featuring the gorgeous artworks commissioned, or the exterior of the airside facing side of the headhouse which has all of the curves and angles that makes one know they’re at an airport instead of the landside exterior which is far less impressive and just as well could be the outside of a suburban office building, an high end mall (like it is) or a bus terminal (minus the roadways of course), and which is such a disappointment when compared to the fabulous interiors and gorgeous architecture on the airside exterior.
So you are crying about a longer walk that will disappear once complete but you fail to mention the backwards AirTrain?
You’re a hack
Amazing that shuttle buses are being used to take passengers between terminals. It probably was an after thought because the distances between terminals are long and it does take extra time to move around. I waited 20 minutes to get on shuttle bus to new terminal to take another American flight nice not all American flights arrive at new terminal.
@rollie fingers – “the backwards airtrain” further makes my point.
To Mr. Howard Miller, I disagree strongly with your representation of the experience of using the AirTrain to connect between JfK and the the LIRR station at Jamaica.In my 50+ transfers over many years it has never taken as long to get from the exit turnstiles of the AirTrain lobby to the platforms for LIRR trains as it did to read your post. You are correct that each platform has only one escalator, and almost always is operated from platform level up to concourse level that leads to the AirTrain lobby. The six elevators available to service the eight LIRR tracks are not what one would find in the Waldorf-Astoria, but are available to serve the several hundred thousand people that pass through the Jamaica Station complex every day. Pristine, no, but for a ride that lasts about one minute and twenty seconds is survivable. You are correct that at times the wait to purchase the fare to exit the AirTrain is a nuisance, but rarely longer than five minutes. I was also surprised that you evidently would wait on a cold, windy platform in the winter ( only one enclosed waiting room per platform ) and not wait in the heated, enclosed confines of the AirTrain lobby.
Faults it may have, but it is far better than the previous experience of having to drive to JFK.
LGA = 2 runways that cross each other, surrounded by the most congested airspace in the world.
Most pilots are reminded of their carrier landing days while landing there complete with complimentary swimming lessons if you miss, or you can play in traffic. (Grand Central Parkway)
LGA should have simply been closed. Beefing up JFK would have made more sense. At least it has can handle large planes, and has 4 parallel runways.
It will be nicer to sit and wait, and wait, and wait there, but in reality doesn’t everyone go to an airport to travel?
Not surprised it turned out to be a white elephant, as the new LGA is a project by Kathy Haley, who is infamous for her out-of-touch mindset and ineffective leadership at Union Pearson Express, Toronto’s airport train dedicated to air travellers only, another white elephant built with taxpayer money in Toronto.
The Union Pearson Express downtown station was built to accommodate four retail concepts. In 2015, it opened with three retail concepts: a coffee shop, a pub-restaurant, and a gift shop. Both the pub-restaurant and the gift shop closed long before COVID.
Not to mention, the impractical, dry-clean-only designer fashion worn by crew members as uniform onboard the train, which was planned to be launched at Toronto Fashion Week.
And the fact the trains were bought without tendering process and came with crankshaft failure on diesel engine that caused fire onboard a train with many passengers.
Union Pearson Express only found success after becoming a commuter train service with terminus at airport, uniforms replaced with practical workwear, and trains recalled by manufacturer.
Read The Points Guy review of the new LaGuardia. Much more objective from somebody who actually visited the terminal. Also Kudos to all the employees, contractors, vendors and most of all the passengers who have had to endure
Unending hardships for the last two years I’m sorry that that the airport was not moved closer to the city center as you keep harping on, that the ATC delays will probably continue, that the AirTran is still a major issue but take it for what it is a beautiful major new terminal! It’s a little bit of a walk to the D gates ( until the new bridge is finished). C gates are a lot easier to get to now. Store prices are high but no more than LAS, ORD, LAX, MIA etc.etc.. Dedicated group check in centers to keep the major groups away from the ticket counter. Wider alleyways to now allow for simultaneous taxi in and pushbacks of aircraft. So much more but your only initial issue was whether the bathrooms would remain clean.There is still another two to three years of construction to go so I’m sure we can expect more premature / uninformed articles.
As a retired airline pilot having flown into LGA for 40+ years, this airport is one of the
most dangerous in the country. Should the airport itself been improved? Of course.
Runways lengthened ? definitely. However the politburo of new york spends money on a
revenue generating terminal that looks pretty. They followed the same formula as the other
“worlds dangerous airports”, DCA and SNA. Build a marble-floored terminal and everyone’s
impressed!
C’mon! The additional distance from the old terminal curb to the furthest gate compared to the distance from new terminal curb to new concourse is at most the length of 10 cars. No reason to be lazy. Do our health and waistlines a favor: walk.
Remember when we didn’t want a bus terminal experience? When flying was really unique? How far we’ve slid, now we just want to get in and out and yet we demand a high quality experience…
Having used this new terminal last weekend I totally disagree.
Currently – if you fly into the OLD gates, which I did – yes it’s a long walk because they are all the way to the side of the new head house and where the new gates will be. Those will be gone in 6mo or so, and then you have super close gates.
A review on the new LGA should be that. A review of the NEW LGA, not the 70% mark to completion.
30 minutes is a HUGE overestimate. I arrived at the D concourse (the old gates) and timed it at 12 minutes (including 5 escalators) from gate to curbside bus stop. It will get somewhat better when the other new concourse is built.