LaGuardia Fails Again

Reader Marty Hawrysko e-mails about his experience at America's worst airport:
As a long-time follower of yours having never been to New York, I admit that I at best, had previously only skimmed through your rants in regards to New York's LaGuardia Airport. This past Tuesday night however, I had plenty of time to re-read those posts with my full attention while stuck at Gate B for several hours at that terrible airport.

On that night, most of the problems I experienced were the result of Southwest as opposed to the airport, but the overall experience didn't leave me feeling warm and fuzzy about LaGuardia.

One perfect example. When the Southwest customer service representative at our gate was making an announcement about our particular delayed flight, she instructed that concerned passengers may also address their questions over at Gate B5. A few seconds after, the rep from B5 got on the loud speaker and said "don't you be sending anyone over here. I'm getting off in a few minutes and I'm out of here."

That was said on the loud speaker! While this individual was a Southwest employee, I'm thinking such demeanor supports your position on how the overall attitude at LaGuardia is beyond piss poor.

The other irony, which was a Southwest issue.... our flight from New York to Chicago was delayed because our specific plane never left St. Louis. We were told severe weather in St. Louis prevented that plane from taking off. Apparently, Southwest thinks so little of their customers that they don't realize how easy it is for someone like me to instantly find out that the weather in St. Louis at that moment was 70 and sunny. Nor have they figured out how easy it was for me to search "Southwest St. Louis" on Twitter and connect with stranded St. Louis passengers who were supposed to be New York bound, who also confirmed that no inclement weather existed. By the way, those same people were also told their flight was cancelled because of weather.

Through the thick of it all, a replacement plane eventually did arrive, and after a mechanical issue with that plane was resolved, we finally did board and made our way out of LaGuardia.

As for LaGuardia, the folks working the curb-side check-in made sure to take their sweet own time while checking in bags, the security folks were overly unpleasant, there's still no free WiFi and still not enough outlets or seats to accommodate the amount of people expected to be there when a flight is full.

On the bright side, the Southwest flight crew's sense of humor made a return, even if it was for one night only.