Racing through LaGuardia: The fastest way out of the airport and into an Uber

It's no secret that New York's LaGuardia Airport (LGA) has gone from worst to first in just a matter of years.

It all started in June 2020 with the opening of the brand-new Terminal B, now home to Air Canada, American Airlines, JetBlue, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines.

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Two years later, Delta Air Lines' shiny new Terminal C opened, and it brought a host of improvements to the passenger experience, including a stunning check-in area, the world's largest Sky Club and some beautiful new gate areas.

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Both of these new terminals have been applauded for the improvements that they bring to the passenger experience, except in one area: convenience.

The old LaGuardia might've been like a "third-world country," as President Joe Biden once famously said, but at least it was easy to navigate. It never took more than a few minutes to get from the gate to the curb.

Nowadays, you better wear your walking shoes, or maybe even hiking boots, if you're planning to traverse through LaGuardia.

Alternatively, you can forget everything I just said and fly from LaGuardia's "other" terminal, the often-forgotten Marine Air Terminal.

Traveling through this facility, which was built in the 1940s, is still a breeze. Getting from the gate to the curb takes just a few minutes, and the so-called Terminal A even has its own exit to the highway — bypassing most of the airport's traffic.

So what's the catch? You have to fly Spirit Airlines or Frontier Airlines, the two carriers that now call the Marine Air Terminal home.

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Here at TPG, we set out to put all three LaGuardia terminals to the test. Would flying Spirit actually shave off a considerable amount of time from the gate-to-curb journey? And just how inefficient has the "new" LaGuardia gotten?

We'll answer all those questions and more below.

An unexpected lesson

Though we set out to see which LGA terminal would be the easiest to traverse, we also got a lesson on air traffic delays and how they can cascade throughout the afternoon.

The three racers were all flying three different airlines from Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) and were all scheduled to arrive at LaGuardia within 45 minutes of each other.

Strong winds at LaGuardia led to a nationwide ground stop, and the perfectly crafted race hit a snag.

The first racer, Mimi Wright, TPG's social media manager, managed to get in the air right before the ground stop was issued, taking off on Delta Flight 5803 just a few minutes after her scheduled departure time of 11:48 a.m.

Scott Mayerowitz, TPG's executive editor, pushed back from the gate at 12:09 p.m. aboard American Flight 2902, but then sat in the "penalty box" near Charlotte's air cargo facility for about an hour. At least Scott had great views on his approach into LaGuardia.

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Finally, Zach Griff, TPG's senior reporter, was scheduled for a 12:30 p.m. departure on Spirit Flight 1353, but the flight received a wheels-up time of around 1:45 p.m. from air traffic control. Zach sat at the gate in Charlotte for an hour before finally pushing back and getting airborne at 1:41 p.m.

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Even though the arrival times were all scattered, our hypothesis was quickly confirmed: LaGuardia's dated Marine Air Terminal remains the airport's most convenient terminal.

The curb-to-gate experience

Terminal A (Spirit)

The Spirit flight landed on LaGuardia's Runway 22 at 2:51 p.m.

Because of the location of the runway, it took just four minutes to taxi to the Marine Air Terminal, which is located in the southwest corner of the airport, far away from any of the other terminals.

Even if Spirit had landed on a different runway, it's worth mentioning that the Marine Air Terminal doesn't suffer from the same ramp congestion that sometimes delays flights from LaGuardia's two other terminals.

Once parked at Gate A6 at 2:55 p.m., the boarding door opened 11 minutes later because of a malfunctioning jet bridge.

Terminal A doesn't offer much in the way of passenger amenities — you'll find a small restaurant, a set of restrooms and some seating in the airside area, as well as a Dunkin' Express just past security.

But that also means that the walk to the arrivals curb takes just minutes. Zach clocked in a total of 205 steps, measuring roughly one-tenth of mile, for the walk from the boarding door to the curb.

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Better yet, he didn't have to take any stairs, escalators, elevators or moving walkways — the entire gate-to-curb journey was about as close as you'll get to flying privately from LaGuardia.

Despite the "race," Zach couldn't help himself but laugh at the BuzzBallz (Spirit's signature cocktail) marketing posters lining Terminal A's hallways.

There are only two baggage claims in Terminal A, and getting to the curb is a straight shot from the terminal exit — there are no twists, turns or stairs to worry about.

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Terminal B (American)

Scott's arrival at the gate was almost as quick as Zach's.

After landing on Runway 22, the American Airlines Airbus A321 made a quick left turn and headed to Gate 12 in Terminal B. When constructing the new terminal, airport designers built two high bridges allowing jets to taxi around the entire gate area. (Those high bridges are also the reason for all the escalators and much of the walking.)

The new design typically means much less ramp congestion, which helped Scott's jet promptly pull into the gate. The ground crew was waiting for the plane — it's not always that way — and minutes later he was racing through the terminal.

The walk to the Uber pickup spot in Terminal B is the longest – roughly half a mile of walking up two escalators and then down two.

There was only one moving walkway along the whole journey, although there were plenty of shops, restaurants and bathrooms.

Scott is a very fast walker, who takes these races very seriously. (Even when he's not racing, his family complains about his "airport speed" and asks him to slow down.)

Although he and Mimi traversed almost the same distance, he power-walked his way in five fewer minutes than she did. For most travelers, expect the walk to take closer to 15 minutes.

Terminal C (Delta)

Mimi's journey to Terminal C was slightly bumpy due to turbulence, but she landed safely at 1:11 p.m. Although the plane touched down early, it meant there wasn't an open gate. After 24 minutes of taxi time, the Embraer E175 pulled up to Gate 88A — one of the new gates that's connected to Delta's revamped LaGuardia terminal by a temporary walkway.

The door wasn't open until about 1:39 p.m. and shortly after, Mimi was walking down the jet bridge. She took a quick restroom break and started her trek to the exit.

Through winding hallways with signs promoting "A Whole New LGA," Mimi walked ... and walked ... and walked — 974 steps to be exact. After 14 minutes, she arrived at the curb and called an Uber.

In her excitement to be the first to arrive at the meetup point — the clock tower in Grand Central Terminal — she accidentally summoned the Uber to the departures level instead of the arrivals level, but even with the mishap, her Uber arrived only five minutes after calling (but it would've been much faster if done right the first time).

After an uneventful 24-minute Uber ride, she was the first to arrive at Grand Central and even had enough time to get a late lunch before the other two racers arrived.

Calling a car and getting to Grand Central Terminal

Terminal A (Spirit)

Traversing through Terminal A isn't just convenient in terms of the number of steps you need to take.

Once you're at the curb, you don't need to worry about the roadway congestion that you usually find in Terminal B or Terminal C.

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That's because there are a whopping 12 traffic lanes arranged around a roundabout that serves as the drop-off and pickup curb area. Plus, with just a handful of flights operating from Terminal A, it never gets too busy.

Zach's Uber arrived in three minutes, and when it did, he didn't have to call his driver to figure out where he was and then wonder whether he had located the right car. Zach's Uber was the only one to arrive at Terminal A in a three-minute span, so it took less than 10 seconds to locate the driver and get on the way to Manhattan.

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Once in the car, it took just one left turn followed by a right turn — a total of four minutes — to get onto the Grand Central Parkway. That's downright impressive for LaGuardia.

Terminal B (American)

The key frustration with the trek is that once you get to baggage claim there are yellow taxis right outside but the Uber and Lyft pickup area is still several minutes away in the parking garage. Normally, Scott hails an Uber well in advance of arriving in the garage since it can take 10 minutes or more for the cars to typically arrive.

But for the sake of research, he waited until arriving at the garage and was shocked at how quickly a car arrived – less than three minutes later. It was 2:45 p.m. on a Thursday, and the airport was pretty empty. More importantly, there was no wait to get out of the garage. In the past, during peak hours, Scott has waited five to 10 minutes in his Uber to just get out of the garage.

So, for the sake of the race, this was shockingly easy and quick. But that is not the typical experience here, and Scott has recently been eyeing the yellow taxi line and picking that if it is shorter.

Terminal C (Delta)

Exiting Terminal C wasn't horrible, but it wasn't extremely convenient either, especially considering that Mimi arrived at one of the old Delta gates. The claustrophobic hallways twist and turn, and it wouldn't surprise Mimi if passengers got tired of rolling their luggage through the parts of the terminal that had carpeting.

Make sure you look at where you are requesting the Uber because the departures level was one of the few default selections in the app, and it's easy to run on autopilot if you're experiencing a groggy travel brain. If the pickup area were busier, Mimi could see the wait being a lot longer for an Uber, especially if it is coming from the departures zone.

All in all, it took almost the same amount of time from wheels down at LaGuardia to deplaning (40 minutes) as it did for Mimi to get from the plane to the arrivals curb to Grand Central Terminal (43 minutes).

Bottom line

As surprising as it may seem, flying Spirit or Frontier to LaGuardia Airport is the fastest way to get from the gate to the curb.

Both ultra-low-cost carriers operate from the airport's historical Marine Air Terminal, and while the facility doesn't offer much in the way of passenger amenities, it is undoubtedly the most efficient of LaGuardia's three terminals.

If you luck out with an on-time flight, the airport experience is a breeze when passing through Terminal A.

Meanwhile, terminals B and C are busy winning awards for how beautiful they are. That said, the makeover comes at the expense of efficiency. Based on our race, it takes five times longer to traverse these new facilities — and that's when you're hustling and don't hit any roadway traffic or congestion.

Of course, your mileage may vary depending on which gate you're flying from and how quickly you walk, but there are no two ways about it: The new LaGuardia may be beautiful, but it's definitely not winning any awards for efficiency.

For more TPG races, be sure to check out:

• What's the fastest way to get from New York to Washington, DC?
• What's faster? Watch us race from Barcelona to Madrid by high-speed train and plane
• What's the quickest way to get to Boston from New York?
• Watch us race from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem by high-speed train and Uber

Additional reporting by Mimi Wright and Scott Mayerowitz.