New York La Guardia Airport Arrivals (LGA)

LaGuardia Airport is located approximately eight miles from Midtown Manhattan, and is one of the three busy airports found in New York City. LGA is it’s official IATA code, and it was previously known as the Glenn H. Curtiss Airport, the North Beach Airport and the New York City Municipal Airport – LaGuardia Field. Today the airport handles over 23 million passengers per annum, and is one of the best gateways to this famous area of the United States. Arriving passengers have access to a great variety of facilities, and to various ground transportation options as well. The airport is welcoming, and quite easy to navigate.

The airport can be reached directly by air from many cities in the United States of America. One of the main airline companies that fly to the airport is Delta Air Lines. Their flights are available from Atlanta, Jacksonville, Charlotte, Denver, Detroit, Miami, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Orlando, New Orleans and Nassau. There are also many flights available by Delta Connection (operated by companies such as Comair, Compass Airlines, ExpressJet, GoJet Airlines, Shuttle America and Pinnacle Airlines) from Boston, Chicago, Portland, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Nashville, Houston, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee and many other areas. Flights by Delta Air Lines will arrive at Terminal D, which is also referred to as the Delta Air Lines Terminal. This building has been specifically designed for Delta’s Boeing 757 and Boeing 767 aircrafts.

Along with Delta, another main airline company of the airport is American Airlines, arriving from cities such as Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Miami and St. Louis. Passengers of this airline company will arrive at Terminal B, which is the Central Terminal Building, and the largest area for passenger facilities at the airport. It consists of four concourses (A, B, C and D). It is six blocks long with a four-story central area and two three-story wings. Concourse D is used by American Airlines, Concourse A is used by JetBlue Airways, Air Canada, United Airlines and United Express and Concourse B is used by Air Tran Airways, Spirit Airlines and Frontier Airlines. Flights by American Eagle will arrive at Concourse C, which is also the arrival point of the many airline companies that make use of Concourses A and B. The Central Terminal Building has many shops and restaurants, Wi-Fi connections for $4.95 per hour and currency exchange services by Travelex. Welcome centres are also available in all terminals.

Terminal A, or the Marine Air Terminal, is home to Delta Shuttle, and Terminal C is also referred to as the US Airways Terminal, and is used mainly by US Airways, hence it name. US Airways offers flights from Charlotte, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. WestJet is present at Terminal C as well, with flights from the Toronto-Pearson International Airport in Toronto, Canada. Flights coming from eight airports in Canada are treated as domestic flights, as these airports have US border preclearance facilities. The airports include Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Montreal and Halifax. Terminal C covers a total surface area of 28,000 square metres, and was opened in September of 1992.

Passengers on LaGuardia arrival flights who are connecting to another flight may need to transfer to a different terminal. There are shuttle buses that run between the terminals, or the walkways can be used. The buses are free of charge and available approximately every ten to fifteen minutes from the lower levels of the airport buildings. They are referred to as Route A and Route B.

In New York City, LaGuardia Airport is located alongside Flushing Bay and Bowery Bay, in the northern part of the borough of Queens. The other main boroughs of the city are Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn and Staten Island. The airport is also nearby to the neighbourhoods of Whitestone, Astoria, Flushing and Jackson Heights. Just west of New York City is Jersey City and Newark, and Long Island stretches out to the east of the airport. The road out from the airport is the Grand Central Parkway, which connects to other main Interstates of the city, such as the I-278. Arriving passengers who are in need of transport can rent a car from one of the LaGuardia Airport car hire companies. They include Avis, Hertz, Budget, National, Enterprise, Dollar and Auto Europa. There are shuttles available from the terminals for transport to the rental companies’ pickup/drop off locations.

Driving in the busy city centre of New York City is not recommended for tourists, however, there are many other wonderful areas that are ideally explored in a privately hired vehicle. Magnificent coastal areas await along the north and south shores of Long Island, and further north, motorists can head for New Rochelle, Greenwich and Stamford. Along the Interstate 95, Philadelphia can easily be reached from New York. All parts of New York City are also well connected by the extensive subway system, which is one of the largest and oldest in the world. Although there is no train station at the airport, several public buses offer transport to the nearby subway stations. Arriving passengers can arrange to travel by private shuttles as well, shared-ride services or by hotel shuttle, should they be staying at one of the nearby places of accommodation. Taxis are also a convenient way to reach any part of the city, and are available from outside of each terminal building.

Live LaGuardia arrivals flights can be viewed online, or the airport can be contacted for further information. Arriving passengers can go to the Welcome Centres for information regarding tourism, transport and accommodation in New York City.