Originally Posted by Robert Leach

Not by a long shot. ATL can get bogged down during thunderstorms, but JFK has multiple problems.

Namely:

1. Congested ramps and taxiways (i.e., just getting the plane pushed back from the gate and out of the terminal area seems to take forever, then it's a very slow trek to the runway)

2. Congested regonal airways (i.e., even if you can get the plane to the runway, the departure may be delayed because there are only so many traffic routings available to/from the northeast corridor).

3. Congested local airways (LGA is very nearby)

3. IMO an understaffed and/or undermotivated ATC system

4. IMO a ground operation that is sometimes chaotic as well, perhaps from understaffing.

In general (and this is not specific to Delta by any means), as soon as the government realizes that it takes just as much airspace to handle a 50 seat jet as it does a 300 seat jet, and implements policies and procedures to give preferable treatment to the larger aircraft, then things will improve. For example, if every carrier at LGA would offer one flight every two hours to its hubs on a 250 seat plane, rather than one flight every hour on a 125 seat plane, it would tremendously help relieve the airway congestion in the northeast.