Construction of a new, grander LaGuardia Airport is causing headaches for travelers. (Image: New York Governor’s Office)
In the latest airport developments, construction at LaGuardia is causing headaches for travelers; Delta consolidates its operations at London Heathrow; Atlanta’s new tunnel, Chicago Midway makes life easier for international travelers; and big upgrades are coming to Nashville.
Construction has finally started on the massive reconstruction of New York’s LaGuardia Airport – a multi-billion-dollar, multi-year effort – and The New York Times is reporting that it is not going smoothly. It said that the beginning of construction has led to massive traffic tie-ups for vehicles approaching the terminals, with travelers sometimes abandoning their rides and walking through the traffic jams to make it to the terminals. Travelers are being advised to plan on arriving at the airport at least two and a half hours before their scheduled departure time. “Such traffic debacles have become so common that seasoned fliers and travel bloggers have recommended avoiding LaGuardia altogether, perhaps for years to come,” the newspaper said.
Delta is moving all its London Heathrow departures to Terminal 3. (Image: Heathrow Airport)
Delta is making a big move at London Heathrow on September 14, consolidating all of its departures in Terminal 3. Delta flights to Boston, JFK and Seattle already fly out of T3; joining them on the 14th will be flights to Atlanta, Philadelphia, Detroit, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Salt Lake City, which now depart from Terminal 4. Delta said it is making the move so that its own flights and those of its joint venture partner Virgin Atlantic are all under the same roof. However, Terminal 4 remains the base of operations at Heathrow for Delta’s SkyTeam global alliance partners.
A dramatic new canopy and a new tunnel are part of Atlanta Airports $6 billion in improvements (Photo: ATL)
Atlanta airport officials have announced that a new “plane train” project will extend the airport’s underground train line west from its current endpoint under the main domestic terminal to the ground transportation/car rental train/MARTA station area. It will involve construction of a 600-foot tunnel, plus evacuation stairways and other equipment. Earlier this year, the airport announced $6 billion in upgrades over the next two decades, including eye-catching, translucent canopies outside the domestic terminal.
Citing a big increase in routes to Canada and Mexico from Midway Airport in recent years, the Chicago Department of Aviation said it has upgraded and expanded the availability of self-service Automated Passport Control (APC) kiosks at the airport. Besides increasing the number of kiosks from six to 10, the devices have been enhanced with fingerprint readers, light bars and more language options. The Midway APC kiosks can be used by Canadian as well as U.S. passport holders. Midway’s Federal Inspection Service area has also added a Global Entry kiosk for members of Customs & Border Protection’s trusted traveler program.
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Nashville Airport will spend $1 billion on terminal expansion and other improvements. (Image: Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority)
The Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority has taken the wraps off a billion-dollar capital improvements program for the Tennessee airport. The project – estimated to take five to seven years to complete – includes construction of a new parking garage and an International Arrivals Building, both due for completion by 2018; expansion of the ticketing and baggage claim areas; adding more gates and passenger concessions to Concourses B and D; and building a spacious central entrance hall to be called the Grand Ole Lobby. The long-term plan also envisions the eventual construction of a 200 to 300-room hotel at the airport, and the addition of a “multi-modal connector to link BNA to a future Nashville transit system.”
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The move from T4 to T3 is long overdue for Atlanta fliers. For two reasons: the Heathrow Express from Paddington…no more having to change trains to T4 (which, depending on timing, can add an add’l 20mins to trip.) Second: use of Virgin Clubhouse. The T4 Sky Club Lounge (Gate 10) is one of the worst Sky Club’s. Food awful, kids allowed upstairs…
The bad part of the move? No more Yotel.
This tunnel will also be part of the infrastructure addition for the new “fabulous” on-site hotel, which will be built where the shuttle buses go, alas. What I fear is a LaGuardia-style mega-shutdown of the place when they built those translucent canopies over the moving traffic pickup/dropoff points. ATL officials know how to do one thing well : inconvenience and hassle due to poor planning, A+
I bet it’s a sign of Delta expanding its use of CLEAR. Business travelers are the ones who are most likely to get to the airport via rail or rental car.
Only catch is that is that there’s a ceiling on business travelers visiting Atlanta and I dunno if it’s high enough to build an expensive rail link.
Thanks. I’ll keep my ears open. I have a few friends at the airport but the extension was a surprise to me.
Delta term 3 Heathrow does not sound like an improvement esp with the lounges!!!!
For regular Delta elite passengers, moving everything over to T3 is a mixed blessing. Easier in that everything is in one building, Faster on the train (and every Piccadilly line train to LHR stops there) and Diamonds/Plats win with access to the Virgin Clubhouse. BUT Terminal 3 is the worst building by far and pretty crummy compared to T3. Plus it will mean the loss of the SkyTeam lounge. So if you are ElitePlus showing up with your whole family (i.e. more than 2 people) or if you are just merely a SkyClub member, you lose big time. Delta really needs to fix the Lounge situation. Never mind BA but AA, UA and even AC all have their own lounges at LHR.
On Saturday, Sept. 7 (Labor Day weekend), it took us 32 minutes from Long Island City to LGA we arrived at 7:30 at LGA for a 9:50 AM flight.There was no abnormal bad traffic. We could see the torn-down parking structures.
There were no problems or long waits for us checking bags and going through Pre-check security. We spent a lot of time reading, eating, and waiting. We could have arrived an hour later, probably.
That week the New York Times had an article with dire stories about people leaving their cabs and black cars and walking across major roads to get to the terminals because of the long delays. For several days before our flight the LGA website warned people to allow extra time to get to the terminal, but the announcements were generic and uninformative at best.
This situation will probably change from day to day during this long and ambitious expansion. For now, I would advise getting there early and having work to do in case it’s easy to get to and through.
Yes, that’s what it sounds like to me, Jeff. We are working off scant info provided by the airport, but I envision the tunneling from current baggage claim stop out to connect under Marta Station & Car Rental Center train.
LGA’s traffic situation is utterly predictable. The solution is very easy. Ban all private cars to LGA now and shuttle people in from parking lots at CitiField. Introduce new shuttle busses to various places in manhattan and you’re good to go.
Don’t quite get the train extension at ATL. it is my home airport so I’m quite knowledgeable of the layout. Are they going to close the current last stop (baggage claim not the infamous “T” stop people get off of) and extend it down to the ground transportation area? Need some more info if you got it Chris.