Tag Archives for new york laguardia.
The Atlanta-bound passengers were part of a larger party. You can hear another passenger saying, “Come get Aaliyah, she’s fighting” and “Aaliyah, stop, stop” then a man and woman approach the battling ladies who hit each other in the head. One throws the other woman up against the jetbridge wall. And a crew member calls for backup.
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.”
There’s been a lot of coverage this week of the opening of the new New York LaGuardia Central Terminal building (a.k.a. “headhouse“). The old terminal B was ugly, the new terminal B is bright from natural light and new. So, shiny things.
The truth about the new project is there’s only one thing about it that really makes the travel experience better, and that’s only going to last a short period of time: new restrooms.
The point of an airport is to get somewhere. The best airports are the ones get are easiest to get to and get through. They make your travel more efficient, rather than adding to an already cumbersome and stressful experience. That has little to do with how much high-end retail there is (airports offer expensive shopping for their benefit, not for yours).
That means 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 taxiway space and runway capacity to handle flights, too, minimizing delays.
Effective today the Port Authority of New York New Jersey is limiting access to Newark, LaGuardia, and JFK airports to “ticketed passengers, airport employees, and other with a need to enter for airport business.” Clearing security is already limited, so these new restrictions focus on pre-security areas of the terminals.
To be sure, the plan is a hair-brained one. There won’t be a direct link to the city. It’ll take passengers away from the city before sending them back to it. And it’ll add congestion to the already crowded 7 line, trading airport road congestion for public transit congestion. Complaints about the plan though merely prevent anything from being done.
We’re looking an AirTrain to Willets Point as the best available option because we’re bad at doing major infrastructure projects in this country. And Ocasio-Cortez’s opposition, four and a half years in, illustrates why that is.
As far as I can tell only American schedules LaGuardia departures before 6 a.m. While it’s desirable to get out ahead of other airlines to be first in the departure queue at the crowded airport, those flights push back and… wait. It’s unclear to me the benefit of pushing back more than 5 and 10 minutes early.
You’d never expect a U.S. airport to be nominated for the country’s best public restroom. At Dallas Fort-Worth, for instance, when they renovated the A terminal they didn’t even refresh the bathrooms and when they re-do terminal C they’ve scaled back the budget so there’s no money to do the restrooms there, either.
However a new restroom in Seattle’s North Satellite terminal is a finalist for American’s best. And so is a restroom in the refreshed New York LaGuardia Terminal B. Say what?
Things got so bad yesterday that “the Port Authority shut down Terminals C and D to all traffic except Port Authority buses.” There were children walking down the highway, like refugees, hoping to escape the war zone for the airport.
Today? Things could even be worse.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
