Airport Terminals

Dazzling milestone for New York’s LaGuardia Airport

Airport Terminals,

The new, 850,000-square-foot, four-story, state-of-the-art Terminal B Arrivals and Departures Hall at New York’s LaGuardia Airport (LGA) opens to the public on Saturday, June 13.

And it is a winner.

A key part of the LGA’s ongoing $8 billion rebuild, the new facility has local concessions, modern restrooms, and a New York-inspired shopping district.

Passengers flying on American Airlines, Air Canada, Southwest Airlines, and United Airlines will be using the new terminal at LGA, which has impressive new permanent public art installations.

What’s in the New Terminal B at LGA


The new Terminal B departures level has four check-in islands with 75 individual check-in kiosks and a central oversize bag check-in station.

There are 17 large restrooms. And 16 security lanes with signs showing passenger wait times. There’s also new state-of-the-art technology for screening passengers and baggage.

At the arrivals level, there are nine large new baggage carousels.


The 17 retail and food/beverage concessions include many local favorites.

Among them: Eli’s Essentials by New York food legend Eli Zabar, Chef Marc Forgione’s new Mulberry Street restaurant, and Junior’s Cheesecake.

Contactless ordering available from the in-airport food delivery app At Your Gate.

LGA’s new Terminal B also has great public art

Public Art Fund and LaGuardia Gateway Partners, the developer and operator of Terminal B, chose great public art pieces for the new LGA Terminal B.

The key pieces are by Jeppe Hein, Sabine Hornig, Laura Owens, and Sarah Sze.

Take a look:

Those aren’t ‘lost’ balloons up on the ceiling but Jeppe Hein’s work “All Your Wishes.”

The piece includes dozens of colorful and reflective balloon-shaped steel sculptures distributed, as if floating, throughout the terminal.

The bright red bench sculptures that are both whimsical and useful are also Hein’s work.

Sabine Hornig’s “La Guardia Vistas” is a pair of interlocking cityscapes made up of more than 1100 photographs of New York City.

The work’s title refers to Fiorello La Guardia, founder of the airport and New York City Mayor from 1934 to 1945. And the piece includes 20 quotes from and about La Guardia.


Laura Owens’ pop-art-ish tiled mosaic mural celebrates New York City and covers the airport’s largest interior wall.


And “Shorter than the Day,” by Sarah Sze, is a monumental sculpture made of hundreds of images that form a sphere that appears to float in mid-air.


Things are definitely looking up for LaGuardia Airport and for anyone traveling to or from New York.

Listen up at LAX

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Airports serve as the front doors to their cities and many do a great job of rolling out the welcome mat for visitors.

Some airports do it with art. Some airports do it with “Welcome to” signs.

And others do it with recorded messages.

Los Angeles International Airport has been welcoming visitors with its “Voices of Los Angeles” project. The program greets passengers with recorded messages from notable and well-known local figures.

Since the inauguration of the Voices of Los Angeles program in July 2019, passengers and visitors at LAX have been treated to welcome messages recorded by entertainers, sports figures, musicians, actors, and chefs. The common theme: they all have what the airport calls “the spirit of Los Angeles.”

Now there are three new familiar voices in the line-up:

TV and film actor Danny Trejo – who also owns several restaurants, including Trejo’s Taco at LAX;

Academy Award-winning actress Allison Janney;

And former LA Lakers basketball star Earvin “Magic” Johnson.

Give a listen:

These messages are now playing on the overhead public announcement system in each terminal. New voices and new messages will continue to be rotated in on a regular basis.

Who would you like to hear welcoming you to LAX?

While you were sleeping big things were moving at SEA airport

Airport Terminals,

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) is building a new International Arrivals Facility (the IAF) which has a 708-foot-long aerial walkway as one of its features.

When in place, the walkway will look like this and be the longest structure over an active airport taxiway.

Pretty impressive, right?

But as impressive is what it takes to make the project happen.

For example, overnight on Thursday, the center span of that elevated pedestrian walkway was – very carefully – moved down the closed center runway to its new home.

Here are some of the tweets SEA shared as the process unfolded.

And here is the aerial walkway in place!

Tampa Int’l Airport expands gate pass program

Airport Terminals,

TPA’s All Access program goes daily

The Saturday-only gate pass program that Tampa International Airport (TPA) launched in May is going so well that starting January 18 the airport will being offering non-ticketed visitors access to the airside terminals every day of the week.

Why go to the airport if you don’t have to?

In addition to accompanying a friend or loved one to the gate or being there when they get home, a gate pass to an airside at Tampa International Airport offers the chance to plane spot, dine in one of the airport’s top-notch restaurants or shop in the stores.

Not sure what’s there? TPA has a handy dining and shopping guide on its website.

TPA’s All Access program operates from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and issues passes to 25 people per airside each day. (Each airside – A, C, E and F – has its own security checkpoint).

Visitors may sign up online 24 hours in advance and, if approved, go to the Information Kiosk on Level 3 of the Main Terminal on the day of their visit to show a photo ID and pick up their pass. After that, visitors go through the security checkpoints at their chosen Airside, just like regular ticketed passengers.

As we’ve reported before, airport visitor pass programs are definitely now a trend. Non-ticketed passengers can apply to visit Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT), the still-shiny-new Louis Armstrong International Airport (MSY) and Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW).

No doubt other airports will begin offering gate pass programs soon too!

Detroit Metro Airport gate pass program permanent

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Courtesy Detroit Metro Airport

Gate pass programs expanding

The pilot DTW Destination Pass program at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) which allows non-ticketed passengers past the security checkpoint began in October and was supposed to end this week.

But so many non-ticketed visitors are interested in visiting DTW airport to shop, dine, check out airplanes and spend more time with friends and family starting or ending their travels that airport officials have decided to keep the program going indefinitely.

“We understand that our facility is more than just an airport—it is a place where memories are made,” said WCAA CEO Chad Newton, “One participant of the program shared with us that she was able to bring her 3-year-old nephew to the airport to greet his parents and see airplanes for the first time.”

The DTW Destination Pass program is limited to 75 visitor passes per day. Passes can be used from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Check the DTW website for details about applying for a pass.

Where else can you get an airport gate pass?

DTW is just the latest airport to welcome non-ticketed passengers past the security checkpoint.

Art at SEA airport

In December, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) brought back and made permanent the SEA Visitor Pass program, which gives non-ticketed guests access to the secure side of the airport.

Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) started the trend by introducing the myPITPass program in August 2017. That program operates Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Tampa International Airport (TPA) began offering its All Access pass in April, 2019, welcoming guests on Saturdays.

Photo La Gourmetreise, Courtesy New Orleans & Company

And Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY) began welcoming non-ticketed guests into the new terminal on December 4.

The MSY Guest Pass is offered seven days a week, with a limit of 50 visitors Monday through Friday and 100 visitors on Saturdays and Sundays.