Gothamist: The FAA Wants Millions of More Folks At La Guardia

Oddree

Sun, 27 Aug 2006 12:41:30 -0500

Whether LGA allows for more planes or more seats, what first must be attended to is how the airport deals with the additional luggage. My boyfriend - a touring musician - and I flew out of LGA this weekend, going to Dallas. My boyfriend commented that he has NEVER seen such long lines and chaos at the self-service check-in stations; we realized that this is the result of passengers checking bags once again. The desk agents were completely inundated with luggage and questions (rendering the "self-service" element completely useless). Upon returning to LGA, we and our fellow passengers had to wait for an hour at the baggage claim area. There were only two active belts; there were at least 3 flights designated to each belt. Despite the increase in luggage volume, I am sure the airports have not hired more baggage handlers, as a couple of new bags appeared on the belt only every ten to fifteen minutes. We were fortunate enough to have our luggage come sooner rather than later; there were a couple hundred people still searching for their bags by the time we left.

flight stewardess fan

Sun, 27 Aug 2006 11:24:03 -0500

I love flying in those smaller jets and turboprops. Until, I just read today a Comair commuter jet just crashed after take off in Kentucky. Plane was intact but on fire. Believed to have one survivor, 47 may have died.

Sean

Sun, 27 Aug 2006 10:44:26 -0500

What I don't understand is the Port Authority rule barring flights longer than 1500 miles from LGA, arguably to divert more traffic to Newark and JFK. Shouldn't the market determine what flights fly from where?? (Also, the article says that planes as big as 767's can fly out of LGA. I assume that's the biggest plane that can use LGA's shorter runways, but then again, those are the planes that are regularly used to fly to LA anyway.)

Fuat

Sat, 26 Aug 2006 18:08:29 -0500

I thought LGA's runways were relatively short and couldn't accomodate some of the bigger planes.