25 Airport Innovations that LaGuardia Should Rip Off
Suffice to say LaGuardia doesn’t have a large fan base and many will be overjoyed to see the airport get an overhaul. (Photo: iStock)
At last — the much-maligned LaGuardia airport is being rebuilt, New York’s governor Andrew Cuomo announced Monday, with Vice President Joe Biden in attendance. (Who can forget Biden’s slam on the airport in 2014, when he referred to LGA as “some Third World country”?)
Work on the new LaGuardia will start next year, to a tune of $4 billion, and we here at Yahoo Travel couldn’t be more excited. But before the plans start being drawn up, we’d like to suggest some ideas that LaGuardia could steal from our favorite airports around the globe.
1. Great toilets! You’ll find them at Japan’s Haneda airport: they wash, they wipe, they do everything but walk your dog. And best of all, they’re CLEAN. As in spotless. No longer do you have to try and sneak into a first-class lounge to pee in sterility.
Have a long layover? In Doha, you can enjoy a juice and lounge by the pool. (Photo: Vitality)
2. A pool: Qatar’s over-the-top Hamad International Airport in Doha has a spa with the tagline, “the perfect venue for restoring energy and balance when flying.” The highlight: a heated pool. This is what LaGuardia — and almost every single airport in America — is missing, a place of calm and serenity and scented candles.
3. Open a Shake Shack: Let’s face it, the food at La Guardia pretty much sucks. But nothing says N.Y.C. fare like a Shake Shack with a line out the door. If anything can make flying more pleasant, it’s this kind of comfort food.
4. Or expand beloved New York pizza joints: Dallas-Forth Worth offers multiple barbecue restaurants to show off its’ local cuisine; Los Angeles International took ink.sack from Melrose Avenue to its international terminal. This is a prime opportunity for LaGuardia to ditch the chain restaurants.
Related: Every Important U.S. Airport, Ranked by Its Food and Drink
5. Or go gourmet: Japan’s Narita is home to the best restaurant ever… for regular people! Sushi Kyotatsu is widely recognized as the world’s top airport restaurant with an often-hours-long line to get in. It’s that good.
6. Build a hotel beyond security: Have a 13-hour layover or a flight that just got delayed indefinitely? No worries at Istanbul’s TAV Airport hotel, which has you covered with 45 rooms inside the airport (which means you are near the gates and no going through security lines). Even better: The rooms rent out by the hour.
7. Copy the Asian airlines: I.e., amazing airport lounges with spa-like conveniences, nap rooms with full-sized beds, great food, and huge shower rooms with good soap and other amenities.
This might just be the best way to beat airport stress. (Photo: FlySFO)
8. Puppies! In an effort to try to relieve the stress of flying, San Francisco International Airport has introduced an army of furry pals: Wag Brigade, a jaunty group of 14 dogs and their handlers who patrol the airport seeking out hugs, petting, and kisses from frazzled travelers.
Related: How to Spot an American in Any Airport
9. Get your om on: Another innovation at San Francisco’s SFO: two 24-hour, no-fee Yoga Rooms that travelers are actually encouraged to use. And just in case you weren’t relaxed enough, the airport also has four XpresSpa locations, showers, art exhibits, a medical clinic, and Reflection Room. And anyone who’s flown through LaGuardia knows that it’s going to be in need of some Zen during this transition.
10. Charging stations: No lazy phone charging at the airport in Brussels, Belgium. If the bars on your cell are running low, you hop on what looks like an exercise bike and the pedaling charges your phone (or other device). Green and good for you!
An airport blowout from Warren Tricomi at the existing LGA. (Photo: Jo Piazza)
11. Make our hair look better: Ok, we will give LGA a little credit for the Warren Tricomi salon with its expert blowouts…but they wanted to charge one of our editors $65! How about a Blow or Drybar, with blowouts that people can actually afford?
12. Build a beer garden: We love the beer garden in Munich. After all, a cold brew makes for happy fliers everywhere.
Related: 7 International Airport Hotels You’ll Actually Want to Stay In
12. Beauty to the rescue: Is there anything worse than leaving on a trip and realizing your forgot your mascara? No worries. The Benefit beauty product vending machines at JFK have got you covered. Even if you don't need anything, who doesn’t love a makeup fix on the go?
13. Fresh flowers: Who doesn’t want to get lei’d when traveling? Let’s install a lei-vending machine like the one in Maui. Sure, it’s not a local custom in Queens like it is in Hawaii, but the flowers smell delish and it’ll put you right into vacation mode.
An outlet for every chair, just as it should be at the San Jose airport. (Photo: Jo Piazza)
14. Outlets, please: Silicon Valley’s San Jose airport is crisp and clean with electrical outlets everywhere. These particular outlets are built right into the arms of the chairs at the gates. It’s a nice touch.
Related: The Best and Worst Airport Security in America
15. Running tracks: The pathways at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport are color-coded to intuitively show passengers where to go — and they double as a running track. A race track in an airport is the perfect way to introduce visitors to the quick “no-time-to-waste” pace of walking in New York City.
16. Stress-relieving massages: Need to relax in between flights? The Timeless Spa at Dubai International Airport is there for you. The masseuses have hands of magic and — bonus — the treatments are reasonably priced.
Pancakes don’t get much better than this. (Photo: Alaska Airlines)
17. Pancakes! One of our contributors went on a personal quest to check out the in genious pancake printing machine in the Alaska Airlines Board Room lounges at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. Every airport should be so inspired. And why not take a cue from the pancake machines and create an entire food court full of self-serve vending machines: perhaps french fry and pizza vending machines as well.
18. Free Wi-Fi, of course! If they can pull it off at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, LGA certainly can, too.
19. Quickie city tour for long layovers: If the likes of Istanbul and Iceland can show off their city sights to passengers waiting for connecting flight, why not offer a bus tour of the Big Apple? A drive around Central Park would be an obvious choice, though for the worst layovers, we’ll give bonus points for a Broadway show.
21. Install a putting green: Any flight delay is more palatable when you can work on your stroke, as you can do at Palm Beach International. Better yet, there’s a real golf course in Hong Kong.
Related: Airport Drama — Study Reveals Top Traveler Frustrations
22. Spectacular shopping! You can’t beat the shopping at London’s Heathrow, and it recently got even better with the opening of Terminal 2, where there are free personal shoppers who will meet you at security to help you select gifts, guide you through the stores, and provide styling tips. Another innovation we love: boarding information is displayed in changing rooms.
23. Build a scenic bridge over the planes: The new LaGuardia will need to give passengers reasons to look up, but it could also inspire them to look down. Denver’s airport has a 345-foot pedestrian bridge that hangs right over the tarmac and offers scenic views.
24. Open a pet area: Take a page from JFK’s book, which is creating a luxury pet terminal. Think about it: A large indoor dog run with a skylight, water fountains, and treats where dogs can play before and after flights. Not to leave out cats, maybe they can have a few dozen individual “cat pods,” complete with litter boxes and walking space to stretch out.
A rendering of a new garden at Singapore’s Changi Airport. (Photo: Safdie Architects)
25. Grow a garden: Singapore’s Changi Airport is already pretty amazing, but like LaGuardia, it’s also going through a massive multi-billion-dollar expansion, including a five-story dome topped by an indoor garden where travelers will be treated to the calming sounds of a cascading waterfall that will pour from the dome’s roof. Can’t you picture that at LGA?
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