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“) which serves United, American, Air Canada and Southwest. The old terminal B was ugly, the new terminal B is bright from natural light and new. So, shiny things.
Credit: Port Authority of New York New Jersey
There’s new restaurants, and upscale brands, because more passenger spending means more money to cover the new building costs. And there’s new high-end retail, because more passenger spending means more money to cover the new building costs. But no airline passenger ever said “what this airport really lacks is a sufficiently high-end shopping experience.”
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. That’s genuinely great, but you know the restrooms won’t be well maintained and kept clean because the airport is still overseen by the Port Authority and they still use substantially similar contractors.
Credit: Port Authority of New York New Jersey
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.
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? That’s a function of both 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 – in other words does it have the necessary 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 — perhaps even 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’s problems – even after spending billions of dollars on a new waiting room – are:
- Getting there by means other than car. Public transport options are bad.
- Throughput. New York airspace is congested (and FAA has been terrible about fixing this) and LaGuardia needs another runway, which would require building into the water.
New terminals? Who cares. In fact central security will likely mean more time from curbside to get. Remember that this new building doesn’t mean more flights. The airport is slot restricted. Better use of space is nice, so is fewer bottlenecks as planes try to get out to a runway. There may be better food options for when you’re still stuck on the ground due to endless delays that the project has done little to alleviate.
It says a lot – When most people I know in New York, fly out of Newark, NJ, instead of JFK or LaGuardia. Unless you are centrally located to either, they are often the worst options. The traffic alone on the main stretches can easily turn a 35 minute trip, into 2 hours.
I never use LaGuardia, and only bother with JFK when flying to obscure international destinations, that are poorly serviced out of Newark. (And that list has been diminishing a lot recently)
While I agree on those points, it is nice not to have to use your raincoat or umbrella while INSIDE the terminal.
While I would agree an airport is NOT a shopping mall, and its main function IS to get people to planes, having a new government project that worked out, is great looking, and functions is not something to complain about. You and other bloggers go on and on about SIN and HKG and how the experience at those airports is great. Until COVID hit, LGA was getting MUCH better with new lounges, restaurants, more open space, etc. I am sure this new building adds to that.
I wonder if more homeless people will go there and sleep there rather than at JFK terminal 4.
Oh how I miss reading Gary bitching about #FirstWorldProblems. Most of your content is just completely irrelevant, and more-so these days.
I agree that the new terminal did nothing to improve travel between The City center and the airports. I think the $Billions would have been better spent developing a rail link to LGA (call it Phase 1) and then continuing to JFK (call it Phase 2), integrated with the existing subway system. And no doubt it would have cost many $Billions more than the terminal replacement/upgrade and taken years longer. Having said that, a lot of people taking taxis or shared MOD (mobility on demand, e.g. Uber or Lyft) aren’t aware of the M60 express bus from LGA to Manhattan ($2.75/person), specifically to Lexington and 125th street (Harlem) where you can then pick up the subway express #4 or #5 trains, or the subway local #6 (free transfers from the M60 to any) and then get to just about anywhere in The City.
Just wonderful to eliminate the stairs from the original LGA terminal.
As far as bathrooms, although they will eventually deteriorate at LGA, nothing could be worse than at NY’s Penn Station. Apparently Amtrak, the owner of Penn Station, wants to provide the same repugnant smells there as found on its trains, particularly in the coaches, where travelers have no idea how to use the toilet.
@joelfreak “ Until COVID hit, LGA was getting MUCH better with new lounges, restaurants, more open space, etc”
When LGA was falling apart there was a burger king. You waited in line for no more than two minutes ordered your whopper or your breakfast, got it and paid. 5 minutes tops. You could reliably grab lunch or breakfast and bring it to the plane even if boarding had already started.
Then they upgraded the terminal and added gourmet burgers and and iPad ordering. There’s a chef standing in front of a grill doing nothing. But you can’t ask him to make a burger. You have to use the iPad. Then inexplicably it takes a minimum of 15-20 minutes to get the burger.
Did I mention that that was at an airport?
Gary,
The airspace around the whole midatlantic is congested. This is far more than an NYC problem. Once those routes are blocked by thunderstorms, there’s no getting around them so things grind to a halt. And the big issue with thunderstorms is that they’re hard to predict more than a couple of hours out.
As for a third runway at LGA, I have a feeling it won’t do that much for the airport. The only addition that would move the needle is a parallel to runway 13/31, which is needed for high wind operations when 4/22 can’t be used. A parallel 4/22 won’t help at all.
@Mark E
My recollection from back in the day is that the Port Authority greyhound bus terminal bathrooms are in fact worse than Penn Station.
Another Port Authority disaster. Another building designed to be a mall and not a transit hub. Just wait until it runs 4x over budget like Oculus Instagram Mall (oops, that’s actually the WTC transit hub)
For me, the fact that the Amex lounge will now be after security is an “I care” event.
Let’s see how soon you will see RATS running in this NEW terminal.
Don’t underestimate New York City.
I care! Love NYC and will enjoy a bright, attractive airport with a few decent places to eat/drink and a lot more bathrooms.
If the writer can’t appreciate that, don’t visit NYC or drive your own jalopy.
Hey joey–have YOU done anything at all to HELP the homeless?
I didn’t think so.
One actual advantage of the new terminal is that it’s directly off the highway (according to press reports).
With the old terminal you turned off the highway right in front of your terminal then drive all the way down to a different terminal and back, waiting at a half dozen lights before pulling up. It was maddening.
You need to get your facts straight before criticizing the project. A little knowledge is dangerous. The new terminal is not ran by the “same contractors” but delivered under the Public-Private-Partnership model where the winning private concessionaire (consisting of Vantage Airport Group, Skanska, Meridam, amongst others) is responsible for the design, build, financing and 30-year operations and maintenance of the terminal.
Looks like a beautiful new home for the homeless. Turning to shit in 3-2-1.
Does anyone know if there is still the convoluted system at LGA for picking up a rental car: Blue or Purple bus to Terminal A, then wait for rental car bus, then take rental car bus to building? Or have they started allowing the rental buses to come through the terminals now like a NORMAL airport?! This is one of the reasons I avoid LGA.
@Raffy here I am referring to *cleaning contractors* not design and construction
Sean NY3 – doesn’t seems like you have been to LGA actually – you only “went down to a different terminal” if flying Delta
@joelfreak: who gives a rat shit about the terminal. It takes too long to get to the terminal. Maybe you miss your flight. And too long to the plane. And too long to take off. It is still LGA, and that sucks!
@Gary – a link to the recent SNL sketch would be fantastic here.
It was a great (but unrealistic) sketch about LaGuardia that I’m sure you’ve seen.
@Gary – two new benefits you don’t address (beyond aesthetic improvements):
1. There should be Clear I’m assuming in the new headhouse (there wasn’t before in the individual old Central Terminal piers)
2. Planes can taxi underneath the walkways between the headhouse and gate terminals…believe this will help w/congestion, from what I’ve read
Amusing the comments about the legacy bathrooms – I would consider them “not bad” compared to the 3rd world country experience that is the EWR C bathrooms (until some of the recent updates)
What’s happening at LGA is all positive for travelers and even remarkable by NYC standards that the airport has been transformed so quickly. Nothing’s perfect at any large airport — but this is a refreshing positive step for New Yorkers & travelers that will soon be returning to NYC.
Just drove past the new airport on our way back to NYC. It is amazing the transformation and how fast all the new construction has happened.
As for the terminal, I am not a “mall shopping” type of guy. I would rather see some type of sleeping pods or showering facilities at all airports for those long nights when flights get cancelled.
La Guardia airport is a great project, it doesn’t need another runway, the airspace is restricted and that won’t change… Bitter article with a lack of knowledge in aviation…. Do better
@Oscar Bolano – proper investment improving the FAA ATO is far bigger priority than a new terminal
New terminals inevitably lead to vastly increased walking time from kerb-side to aircraft door.
Sometimes bigger is not better!
@Gary No mention of the LaGuardia range restriction as a problem?
@glenn t – I’m guessing you aren’t a regular LGA flyer…it might be a bit longer, but it won’t be “vastly longer”. It’s not JFK T4.
@Alex – not a problem, you have EWR/JFK if you want to go TCON or TPAC/TATL. Happy to have amazing frequency east of the Mississippi and DEN as a bonus for UA flyers.
@UA-NYC Just because you can fly out of the other airports to transcontinental destinations doesn’t mean that LGA should be restricted. The Bay Area also has three airports, and all of them serve or have served transatlantic destinations. The market should dictate where the planes go, but cigar room NYC politics.
@UA-NYC~ I had other airports in mind for that comment. My last experience at LGA was arriving at midnight after a PDX-JFK non-stop turned into PDX-DFW-LGA adding an extra 8 hours to the hop.
I was only looking for the exit at that point, silently cursing my situation.
@gleff
Strawman argument, yes? Infrastructure projects and airspace projects are generally paid out of completely separate pots of money.
So you can certainly claim that reducing delays is a higher priority than a nicer place to wait them out, but these are completely different projects funded by completely different sources. A quick Google search links to Cuomo saying 75% of the project is paid for with private funds. That money would never go to airspace projects.
Crazy they didn’t tear it down and put all that money on improving connectivity to JFK, including high-speed train.
Hong Kong (among other cities) did it, and it worked very well. New York does not need 3 airports!
The only way bathrooms stay clean is if a cleaning person is stationed there, not come by every hour or two. I think it’s doable, but a bit more expensive, but worth every penny. It would also help if passengers’ behavior were , shall I say, ‘civilized, for lack of a better word. A high percentage of passengers are not courteous, they just don’t care and make a mess of the stalls, you name it, they do it (and I’m not speaking of the homeless).
@Dan – LGA happened and happened quickly because it was made a priority by Governor Cuomo after getting attention from then-Vice President Biden, it’s about priorities. This wasn’t ‘pre-existing allocated money’ that couldn’t be spent some other way. Nor was this ‘free’. Is bright light nice? Sure. Does it materially improve travel through LaGuardia? Not really.
This has got to be one of the most nonsensical posts I have read on this site. It is one thing to have strong opinions that one can at least back with facts. To have such strong opinions and have nothing more than one’s long-standing biases against something is truly sad.
@Gary was against a LGA rehabilitation project before there was even such a project. And then when there was one, he assured us that it would not succeed or was not well thought out or something negative to that effect . Now that the project has produced a shiny new terminal, it is who: who cares?
Well, I do care because I live in the city, I fly a lot with UA and I strongly prefer to fly out of LGA than out of EWR. There was nothing more depressing than waiting to catch a flight out of or returning home and the first sight was of “old” decrepit LGA. Many of the airport’s so-called problems could, in fact, have been due to the poor shape in which “old” LGA was. So, let’s wait and see, and then complain! To complain based on one’s preexisting biases, without any proof that the alleged “offenses” are even real, does a disservice to everyone.
Since my normal airline, Southwest, flies to LGA, that’s the airport I’ll use. I plan my arrivals after the worst traffic and have found the bus to Penn Station satisfactory. When I used to travel on business I’d take cabs to and from.
I’d also add to the point about public transit – taking the bus from Jackson Heights takes around 15 minutes max, not dissimilar to a parking lot or inter-terminal shuttle at LAX or Heathrow or some other major airport. Getting to Jackson Heights takes 20-25 minutes from pretty much anywhere in Manhattan on the myriad of subways that go there.
It’s not an express service, but it rarely falters; it’s also cheaper than a car service, and usually just as quick if the traffic is bad. Moreover, if you’re running late, a cab costs around $10 from Jackson Heights, making the last bit even faster.
I agree that an “AirTrain” is a waste of money, but that view is not helped when people talk about how hard it is to get to LGA. It really isn’t.
“I agree that an “AirTrain” is a waste of money, but that view is not helped when people talk about how hard it is to get to LGA. It really isn’t.”
Absolutely. It takes me 15 minutes to get to LGA from where I live. I would lounge around at home and then just hop into a car service/yellow cab/Uber/Lyft and I am there with plenty of time to spare. To get to EWR, I would have to get to NY Penn Station across town and then wait for a NJ transit train, and then do the reverse, maybe after a long-haul fight, when I could plan my itinerary to return to LGA and be home in no time after I land.
UA-NYC says: “Sean NY3 – doesn’t seems like you have been to LGA actually – you only “went down to a different terminal” if flying Delta”
@UA-NYC is that line supposed to be self-contradictory?
And even on that point, you show that you haven’t been there during construction, when they changed the whole traffic pattern several times and you would drive all the way past your terminal and loop back at least once wherever you were going.
My favorite terminal was always the Marine Air terminal Trump/Delta shuttle side. Bland and cheap, before 9-11 you could pull up in front less than 30 minutes beforedeparture, go inside and buy your ticket, head down the ramp, grab a free FT and some magazines on the way, and still have time to buy a cup of coffee to go with the free bagel Delta handed you on the jetway. Plus there was an awesome family-run deli on the other side of the round terminal building.
I would take that over a soaring atrium (paid for with my tax dollars, so no I’m not “grateful” as other commenters here think we all should be) any day of the week.
@SeanNY3 – I’m a monthly LGA flyer for 15 years…I know it pretty well.
If you were to do a tour of the whole airport – sure, you could hit 6 lights no problem. Not if you’re just going straight to your specific terminal.
I find public transportation to LaGuardia easy to use. There’s a direct bus from the nearest subway stop..People sometimes argue the bus can be stuck in traffic, but then your taxi would be too. I think the biggest problem is that with all the reconstruction at LaGuardia, they’re not building a dedicated bus lane on the airport grounds. Snce the bus serves multiple terminals, the Port Authority itself is making the bus slow by not ensuring it can run between terminals easily.
What I’m really excited for is the new SLC…completely new terminal, all old buildings will be razed. And if there’s a good thing from limited travel currently, they’re ramping up plans to demolish the old rather than piece-meal it. Oh, and they’re saving $300M+ now too…
If LGA gets some love that makes life easier then great. Delaying to argue about how to best do it and how to spend the money just results in more delay and higher cost.
(Writing as a LGA flyer for over 40 years, monthly or more for the past 20 years.)
What a nasty, disingenuous, and hypocritical post, and (majority of) comments.
They built completely and brand new terminals and concourses and parking structures while keeping the old airport fully functional, in New York City which is among the most congested and expensive real estate in the world. There was no option (like DEN) to build a new airport on empty land and there is not virtually unlimited space (like SLC). The option to close the airport for 3-4 years was unthinkable. Not a perfect solution, but most definitely the best solution. So the vast majority of criticism of things (bus lanes, rental car buses) during the construction of the past few years is petty and unwarranted.
Gary writes that the most important objective of an airport is swiftly moving people and airplanes through it. He’s neglecting that fact that this is the USA and it’s all about the greenbacks, so retail opportunities are ultimately as, if not more, important than expediency. It’s not realistic to expect the same security through time as flying on a private jet. With new security machines and more security lanes, and no bus or train rides between security and the gates, it’s possible that time through security to the gates will be faster than the old terminal and faster than many other airports. And based on the amount of time and energy Gary and the other bloggers and all of us devote to airport lounge access and reviews, it seems that security through time is far from the primary consideration. Many flyers strive to get to the airport hours prior to flight time, a few minutes longer from security to the gate is of little concern.
“… there’s only one thing about it that really makes the travel experience better … that’s only going to last a short period of time: new restrooms. … but you know the restrooms won’t be well maintained and kept clean…”. Come on, give us a break. That’s like one of us writing “Gary’s blog sucks because next year he be writing about flying on propeller airplanes”. The old terminal restrooms could not have been cleaned by Mr. Clean himself, their design was as antiquated as the rest of the airport and not conducive to cleaning. The new restrooms might just have been designed to be more easily cleaned and even Gary, in his infinite wisdom, cannot predict the future.
“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.” Geez Gary, give it a rest. The aging 1964 facility had many significant problems and, due to NYC being among the most congested airspace in the world, you’re not always “in the sky soon”, delays are common. It’s like writing that a 1964 car’s only problems are lack of lack of automatic air conditioning and lack of seatbelts.
The new LaGuardia is a very welcome change and a vast improvement over the old LaGuardia. Short of decreasing the population of the NYC metro area by 10 million people, the congestion and delays and restrictions are not going away. All things considered, they (the politicians and builders) for once, actually did a very good job. Please Gary, give credit when and where credit is due.
I have been traveling from MIA to LGA frequently for years. I was amazed how the airport could remain open during construction. I would look forward to seeing the progress every two weeks. The New Terminal B is a truly NYC experience. The tile mural that highlights all things NYC was fun to explore. Once clearing TSA I was happy to see a Juniors and Zaros. These will be great for travelers to pick up a last minute remembrance on NYC. The large screens display iconic landmarks and panoramas of NYC that make this native New Yorker both proud and nostalgic. All of this helps the traveler start or remember NYC from ticket counter to departure gate. I judge an airport not only by getting to the gate but also by what I can occupy myself with if there is a weather or air traffic. Unlike the regional airports that serve the NY/FL routes, there are places to sit, to walk, many selections to grab a bite and even look at all of the art. An airport should be reflective of the city it serves. The rail links will come, and the TSA screening kinks will get worked out. To this last point, the conveyor luggage mover process in the TSA screening area needs to be tightened up so that a traveler’s luggage bins can stay closer together; the randomness of the conveyor process results in a queue waiting for luggage past the x-ray equipment. I expected hiccups on day two; I will be less enthusiastic if those issues persist. For me, my first journey through the new LGA Terminal B was a wonderful, nostalgic NYC experience.
No matter how much construction went into modernization of LGA it’s still a dump because of the area it’s in and the people who live and travel there. All those trash people need to be cleared out of the area before it’s not a 3rd world airport anymore. LGA rail access project needs to be scrapped.