Virgin America get a ceremonial squirt with its inaugural flight from Dallas to New York La Guardia (Photo: Virgin America)
Virgin America’s first flights into New York’s close in LaGuardia Airport arrived yesterday. The new nonstops originate from Virgin’s new mini-hub at Dallas Love Field (DAL) and are currently on sale for just $89 each way. Virgin now offers four daily roundtrips on the important business route. Southwest Airlines offers three daily roundtrips.
The new service provides an additional one-stop transcon option for travelers who might prefer to skip the traffic and hassles of JFK or Newark for the close-in ease of LaGuardia, even though total flight time is longer.
For example, Virgin’s one-stop (same plane) flight from SFO via DAL departs at 7:20 am and arrives LGA at 5:35 pm and takes about 7 hours. Southwest’s one stop flights are routed through Denver or Chicago Midway and take about the same amount of time.
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LaGuardia Airport is the closest airport to Manhattan
From LGA, the trip to Manhattan via cab or car is about 25 minutes vs 45-60 minutes from JFK. (Cost is $30-35 plus tip and toll from LGA and a flat $52 plus tip and toll from JFK.)
Virgin’s return flight from LaGuardia to SFO via Dallas Love takes 8.5 hours, departing LGA at 3:45 pm and arriving SFO at 9:10 pm.
By comparison, Virgin’s nonstop SFO>JFK takes 5-6 hours (depending on winds), departing SFO at 7:00am and arriving JFK at 3:35pm. Return flights take about 6.5 hours due to winds.
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At LaGuardia, Virgin and Southwest both use the main “Central Terminal B.” This week the Central Terminal celebrates the opening of a the first batch of nearly 60 new food and specialty stores which are part of an $18 million re-do of the aging terminal. Long term, LaGuardia could get a multi-billion dollar makeover.
Maybe one day there will be nonstop flights between west coast cities and La Guardia (click here to read more about that). But in the meantime…Would you fly Virgin via Dallas Love to get to NYC or vice versa? Leave your comments below.
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ATL Steve, you said exactly what I was thinking….This used to be Atlanta-centric site, yes it was nice to know what’s happening somewhere else, esp. if it concerned SkyMiles program, hotels, etc. So when I see “new way to get La Guardia”, I’m thinking Delta finally got some competition on ATL-LGA route (current r/t fare for November – over $300, December – almost $400). And I all see is Dallas-LGA flights…disappointing.
Me thinks world’s largest airport and HQ of one of the largest airlines deserves it’s own “ticket”.
Hey Steve: Thanks for your feedback, but we had to expand our outlook… remember that if you click on the ATL tab at the top of the blog you’ll find info tailor made just for you. Please keep reading! — chris
Sure enjoyed this site more when ATL was the focus rather than SFO. I don’t have much reason to go there other than on vacation every few years
Definitely wouldn’t choose a stop to land in LaGuardia. Every time you stop you add more exposure to delays.