By Matt Chaban 5/02/12 4:09pm

Planes Trains & Automobiles

LaGuardia has gone to the dogs...

Grounded! LaGuardia Voted Worst Airport in America by Travel + Leisure Readers

Another week, another list of the worst airports, another crash-and-burn for New York. As The Observer explored earlier this year, New York City, despite its apparent status as capital of the world, has some of the worst airports therein (though also some of the best).

The reasons are complicated, but the case remains the same, and it was just reaffirmed by Travel + Leisure, who surveyed its readers for the first time to determine the best and worst airports in America. Topping the bottom of the list was LaGuardia, and JFK and Newark came in fourth and fifth, respectively, in terms of terribleness. Here’s what they had to say. Read More

By Matt Chaban 4/24/12 11:48am

Planes Trains & Automobiles

Art, not commerce. (Alice Aycock)

Another Piece of JFK Ephemera Is Threatened, But the Artist Behind It Fights Back

Readers know The Observer is quite fond of Jet Age JFK, broken down as it is. The old terminals are almost gone now, as Delta broke ground on its expansion of Terminal 4 two weeks ago, meaning Terminal 3 will surely be torn down. But even newer pieces of the airport are not secure. The Times reports that the operators of Terminal 1 want to demolish and artwork there—to make room for more concessions. But Alice Aycock, the creator of the Star Sifter, is angrier than a TSA screener about it all. Read More

By Matt Chaban 2/03/12 1:53pm

Planes Trains & Automobiles

4 Photos

Abu Dhabi International Airport

This Is What a Nice, New Airport Looks Like

Last week, The Observer looked at the sorry state of New York City’s three major airports. Once the exemplars in the world, JFK, LaGuardia and Newark have fallen behind the times. The Port Authority is working to improve them all—plans for a new terminal at LaGuardia are coming along quite nicely, in fact—but still, these will be ho-hum operations, beholden to the challenges of modern American infrastructure, with our limited funds and ambition.

For a look at a truly grand airport, then, consider the work of local firm KPF, which just won the commission to design a new terminal for that mecca of Middle Eastern mega-development, Abu Dhabi. Read More

By Matt Chaban 1/25/12 5:01pm

Planes Trains & Automobiles

Terminal 3 today has seen better days.

Terminal Condition: How New York’s Airports Crashed and Burned—Can They Soar Again?

Terminal 3 at JFK International Airport is incontinent. At 52, such problems are understandable. Still, they are nonetheless embarrassing, especially for one of the main international entry points for still (arguably, hopefully) the capital of the world.

Hanging from Terminal 3’s massive flying saucer roof are two dozen diapers, the actual technical term for the no-longer white tarps, 10-by-10 or larger, affixed to the concrete ceiling by steel cables. Running out the middle of each is a clear garden hose. Why not something opaque is a mystery as baffling as the fact that this terminal, with its crumbling roof, still stands. At least a dark hose would hide the effluent passing through the cracks of time, the drippings of decades of decay and neglect, where none of it would be exposed for all the world to see.

Hello Istanbul, greetings Sao Paolo, cheerio London. Welcome to New York. Hope your 12-hour flight was O.K. Please ignore the colostomy bags hanging overhead. Read More