maortega15

How's the construction progress coming along? Haven't driven through the GCP in a minute.

andrewesque

I flew out of a LGA on a 7 pm flight last Thursday, 11/11. Airport traffic via the 94th St entrance was dreadful.

I took the M60 from Astoria Blvd. The scheduled travel time is roughly 15 minutes but it took me ~45 minutes to get from the Astoria Blvd N/W to Terminal B. It was roughly 20 minutes to get from Astoria Blvd N/W to 94 St/23 Av, and then another 25 minutes to crawl into the airport. It didn't look like a cab would have saved much time from the 94 St/23 Av entrance onward as all traffic was creeping at a glacial pace through the one lane approach.


On another note, I am flying out of LGA again on an 8 pm flight the Tuesday before Thanksgiving (I know, I know -- it was unfortunately the best option for me and someone else is paying for the tickets so I didn't have too much leeway.)

As I anticipate the traffic will again be awful, I'm contemplating getting a cab or the bus to 94 St/23 Av and then walking to Terminal B from there. I see that a blue dotted line for pedestrians is outlined on this map -- can anyone confirm this is a viable route? (I am traveling light, but am thinking about the presence of sidewalks, etc.)

ijgordon

It's probably okay (it is marked "pedestrian route"), but I'd guess that the full length of that blue dotted line would take you 15 minutes to walk. May not really save you much time, but I guess you can play it by ear.

You can also try a satellite / street map view to get a sense, although recent construction changes probably wouldn't be shown.

dhammer53

Follow the red line, but don't walk left at the bend. Continue straight. There's a light and a cop there. When you cross, there's a pathway in front of the building that will take you straight to the old taxi stand and into the airport entrance.

The dotted blue line was accurate 2 weeks ago.

dh

ibrandsguest

I was shocked at the traffic mess when I flew out of LaGuardia this past weekend. At 6:30am, after sitting in traffic approaching the B/Central terminal for 20 minutes, I just got out and walked to the B/Central terminal and then over to the C terminal. I would have missed my flight if I hadn't been willing to trudge through traffic on foot.

Can't AA do anything about the LGA traffic mess? I'd think that this traffic would make the Shuttle to BOS and DCA completely uncompetitive, time-wise, compared to the Acela, and that AA would be losing some business because of it. I'd think that both Delta and AA, as major tenants at LaGuardia and with time-sensitive Shuttle flights, would be livid about the traffic mess.

Or is the old US Airways terminal unaffected by traffic, and, if so, is there a way to enter the airport and go straight to the old US Airways terminal, bypassing the mess around the B/Central terminal?

discoverCSG

I don't think there's anything AA can do about traffic congestion at LGA.

Well, they could stop flying to LGA, which would make for less traffic on the ground trying to get to/from the terminals.

Or, they could only operate the one flight you want to fly, and kick everybody else off the flight, which would have almost the same effect and you'd get there more quickly.

Until then, LGA is going to be a congested mess, landside and airside.

ibrandsguest

It's not just general congestion that I'm talking about; LGA has been generally congested for years; I've been flying to/from LGA regularly for almost 20 years.

What I'm talking about is the absurd traffic jams leading up to at least the B/Central terminal and maybe others--leading to sitting there in stalled traffic for at least 30 minutes, seeing lots of people trudging through stopped traffic on foot due to the traffic, and the like. If I understand correctly, there is a parking garage under construction which has caused the normal roads at LGA to be blocked and traffic to be diverted.

I expect only the worst from the Port Authority, but surely the at LGA roads could have been re-worked for smooth traffic flows despite the construction. Charlotte, NC's airport has been under construction for years, including with parking lots turned into parking garages, but it's always been pretty smooth.

Microwave

The problem at LGA is one for the city and/or the port authority to sort—unfortunately, asking whether AA can influence it doesn't make it into an airline-specific issue. As such, I am going to ship this off to the New York City forum for further discussion and possible consolidation.

~Microwave
AAdvantage forum co-moderator

ijgordon

Correct, not specific to AA.
Here's the relevant thread in the NYC forum:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/new-y...nightmare.html

Score8

I think of the last 10-12 times at LGA, the traffic has been pretty bad, but not so much that I missed anything. There was one time in the afternoon, where I had the uber driver drop me off downstairs at the edge of C rather than going all the way around.

ibrandsguest

What is AA doing about this? I'd say that AA and Delta would be more impacted by this congestion than other airlines due to their shuttles. If you add 30 minutes of sitting in LGA traffic to the total trip time, the Acela becomes a winning proposition, not flying.

ty97

I don't see what AA (or DL) could do about this. They aren't in charge of the construction nor the traffic patterns. I guess they could lobby PANYNJ to stop letting pick-up/drop-off vehicles in and to institute a shuttle from off-property instead, but I don't see that happening.

ibrandsguest

I'd think that AA and DL, as the two largest tenants at LGA (as far as I know) would be lobbying hard for roads at LGA to be re-worked and for some type of shuttle service.

Let's say Nordstrom has an anchor store at a mall where there is major construction--I'd certainly expect Nordstrom to have a lot of say-so over the construction process and could weigh in on construction that would impact its business. I wouldn't expect Nordstrom to just sit there and let access to its store be blocked for months. Same for AA and LGA.

ijgordon

Do you really think they're not involved?

FlyingNone

Time to rethink using another airport. LGA will be under construction -- estimated to complete about 2020. 1000 lbs of .. into a 50 lb bag.