Is LaGuardia the best airport in the US? Forbes Travel Guide thinks so, and so do I. This week it named LaGuardia the best US airport for the third year in a row, in an industry vote among nearly 9,000 well-traveled people, from luxury travel advisors to the incognito inspectors who rate Forbes' hotels and restaurants.
It's a remarkable title for an airport that was once a national punchline. In 2014, then-Vice President Joe Biden said that if you were blindfolded and dropped at LaGuardia, you'd think you were "in some third world country." He wasn't the only one who felt that way.
Airports · New York
From Punchline to Best in the US
Contrail
How It Turned Around
LaGuardia didn't get better by tweaking a few gates. It was almost entirely rebuilt in an $8 billion project that started in 2016, with brand-new terminals replacing the cramped, low-ceilinged halls New Yorkers used to dread. Forbes singled out its modern design and its art, curated with the Public Art Fund and the Queens Museum. This year it added Capital One Landing, a lounge built around food from chef José Andrés.
As someone who lives in Manhattan and flies far more than most people, I notice the difference every time. There’s real food worth eating before a flight, and the fountain in Terminal B, with its jets of water dancing in the middle of the terminal, is one of the few airport features people actually stop to watch. It’s the rare airport where the time before your flight doesn’t feel wasted.
Across the Hudson
The award lands in an awkward week for the region's other big airport. Newark was short on air traffic controllers for two days in a row last week, forcing delays that averaged more than an hour. On the second day, high winds also stopped flights to all three New York airports for part of the afternoon.
That contrast is the real lesson. Newark's biggest problem lately has been a shortage of air traffic controllers, which no terminal upgrade can fix. But LaGuardia proves that investment changes how people feel about traveling through a city. A good airport doesn't just move passengers. It's the first and last thing visitors see.
What the Award Does and Doesn't Mean
It's worth knowing who voted. Forbes' panel leans toward luxury travel professionals and frequent fliers, so the award says more about design, comfort and service than about on-time rates or prices. LaGuardia still has delays, and its terminals can't make the runways any bigger.
Delta also had a good week. It won best US airline, and its Delta One lounge at JFK was named the best airline lounge in the country, so New York came out well beyond LaGuardia too.
The Bottom Line
LaGuardia earned this. Ten years ago it was the airport New Yorkers apologized for. Now it's the one other cities should study, and three wins in a row suggest it isn't a fluke.
