LaGuardia Airport (LGA)

East Elmhurst, Queens, New York, NY

www.laguardiaairport.com

LaGuardia Airport began its aviation life in 1929 as a private landing field named after aviator Glenn H. Curtiss. WPA-funded construction on a commercial airport began in 1937, with the official dedication on 15 October 1939 (Wikipedia 2019).

The Central Terminal Building (Terminal B) was dedicated on 17 April 1964, with expansions in 1967 and 1992. Terminal D was build in 1983 and originally shared by Delta and Northwest. Terminal C opened on 12 September 1992. (Derner 2014).

LGA has struggled with capacity issues throughout its existence. In 2014 then-vice-president Joe Biden remarked that the facility was more fitting of a third-world country. In 2015, Biden joined NY governor Andrew Cuomo for an announcement of a $4 billion phased reconstruction of the entire terminal to bring it up to 21st century standards.

The first new gates in Terminal B opened on 1 December 2018, and when I traveled for family visit in July of 2019 I was surprised to find my flight on Southwest served in the new facility.

Below are some scenes from the old and new terminals from a number of different trips in the 2010s.

07/18/2019 09:41:54
Coming: A Whole New LGA (1:41)

07/18/2019 09:42:28
Coming: A Whole New LGA (1:41)

07/18/2019 09:43:40
New terminal B (1:43)

07/18/2019 09:46:26
New terminal B (1:46)

07/18/2019 09:48:55
New terminal B (1:48)

07/18/2019 09:51:05
New terminal B (1:51)

07/18/2019 10:16:39
Southwest 2455 LGA to DAL (2:16)

07/18/2019 10:21:45
Terminal B gate 53 (2:21)

07/18/2019 10:23:34
Terminal B gate 53 (2:23)

07/26/2019 22:30:37
Southwest 751 at LGA

07/26/2019 23:55:32
Blue line bus = wrong bus

11/21/2018 08:16:01
LGA Southwest ticket counter

06/27/2017 00:00:32
Estimated taxi wait time from this point is 10-15 minutes

11/23/2018 18:42:57
Asian Chao, LGA
40.774717, -73.871568

06/11/2016 13:21:14
Shuttle @ Penn Station

06/05/2015 14:44:36
Waiting for the NYC Airporter

Next: The Long Island Railroad