Why America's Airports Are Terribly Designed

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Why US Airports are Terribly Designed

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[thestateofalaska]

As a pilot I do have a couple of notes:
1. Comparing LaGuardia to Singapore is a pretty cherry picked selection. While I haven't been everywhere, I've been to a lot of airports worse than the ones in the US, even worse than LaGuardia.
2. Airport runways intersect to account for changes in wind. Some places are fortunate and have winds that are weaker or almost always blow roughly the same direction. New York is not one of those places. Other American airports like LAX and ATL have several parallel runways.

Otherwise, you're right on the money with access to transportation. Though that's a byproduct of the US' larger issue with automobile reliance. Airports in some cities like JFK, DCA, and ORD have public transit access.

[tyroberts]

Eisenhower wanted to have public transport, specifically trains, go to airports. He also wanted the freeways to go around major cities, not into them. Too bad we didn’t listen to him.

[cityrippers]

The reason airports have crossed runways is for the prevailing winds. Most major airports do this.

[EEdwin]

I know these comments very much prove the statement of “Americans won’t like this video”, but it’s because this video really leaves out key information such as the reconstruction of LaGuardia and how these airport actually function. However, these videos are still interesting to watch and every YouTuber finds false information some point in their career so I get it.

[Izzy-terx]

Imagine making a 14 minute video about airports and not knowing why runways intersect each other.

[aidangibney]

Honestly with the new renovations LaGuardia is by far my favorite airport in NYC.

Quicker to get to, less people, typically fast security, cheaper flights. Brand new buildings. It’s great.

[inca_]

LGA is a mostly domestic airport with smaller aircraft flying in, Singapore is certainly not, hence the passenger to size discrepancy. Also the point of having multiple runways is not running flights in and out at a higher rate but so that aircraft can land and takeoff into the wind. I'd also argue that retail not being a massive seller in American airports is a good thing I don't want to have to walk through a 20 mile long duty free section like at Heathrow to get to the gates, even at the cost of a few cents if you do want to buy something.

[davidcarcamo]

The thing is I was at LaGuardia (not "laGardia") a week ago. It's not even bad. Easy to navigate short walking time and fast new security. Pretty nice if you ask me

[mrparts]

The other thing the author doesn’t get is that none of the US airports are designed as hubs for international transfers. US airports serve mostly traffic to/from the US. Singapore is a transfer hub for international connections

[ericburton]

I don't dislike the video, I just think that it misses some things and doesn't take into account how Americans view airport. If you ask me what is a nice airport Singapore or my hometown airport (DTW) I would say Singapore. Buut, I don't want my airport to become Singapore airport. My airport is a piece of infrastructure and clean, easy for me to get to, easy for me to navigate, and overall just pleasant. I don't want a mall of an airport, I want a simple airport that is easy to use. I think some of the things that are missing are that US airport authorities also often subsidize public transit, economic development, and parkland in the US. Not that this couldn't happen with a privitization model, but public ownership means your incentive is the various stakeholders not just the owners which means they are more likely to subsidize other things. This is especially true in the US where regulations on the private sector are lower than in Europe or Asia where there might be more leeway to regulate these kinds of things. The other thing, and this goes with the my airport vs. Singapore airport. As someone who flies occassionally I don't think flying should be cheap. It's bad for the environment and I don't think that it should be subsidized. That flying is heavily taxed isn't a bad thing in my opinion. And again, as an American airports like Dubai and Singapore seem more like p***ing contests which is fine if you are trying to show off to attract tourists and project an image but lets face it the TSA, immigration and customs are going to ruin tourists image of airports in the US no matter how many waterfalls and how cheap the m&ms.

[juanmolina]

I’ve found a commonality of highly critical, sometimes unjust, observations of OBF when it comes to the US. And the opposite when it comes to Europe. Video topics and observations seem to often be cherry picked to make America appear worse than it is (In my opinion). That being said, I think its done on purpose and OBF is a genius if I’m correct. I don’t know OBF’s main demographic of viewers but I’m willing to bet almost anything, that the bulk of it is American. Now why would you purposefully bash on what is essentially your viewers? Well Americans tend to be very patriotic and outspoken. What does that get you? Engagement! Tons of it at that. People will write their long comments (like yours truly) which will in turn get lengthy replies driving up that engagement and with that, that sweet revenue money. Not hating or anything, just thought I would point out my own observations on the topics chosen, given the title of the video makes me believe I’m spot on. I would like to also point out that criticism is important and good FOR EVERYONE, as long as it’s fair and unbiased.

[iri]

you need to update your video on Laguardia, It probably the nicest airport in NYC. Now with the new terminals.

[theobomanu]

O'Hare and Midway, the two airports in Chicago, both are directly linked to the public transit system by bus and metro, with the metro leading directly to downtown.

[artiomvas]

Are you even trying?
First of all, crossing runways *can* be used at the same time (land and hold short). Second, crossing runways is not just some arbitrary design choice. Many airports have crossing runways. There is a reason for that. Prevailing winds.

CGP Grey made a video about it recently.

[anthonyscarborough]

As an American, frankly I don’t really think U.S. airports are that bad.
1. Airports are one of few remaining essential services here that aren’t privatized. Others, such as healthcare, education, and even jails are at least partially, if not fully privatized, and we’re worse off for it. Why not keep airports public? Yeah, they should be invested in more, put that’s a different issue.
2. 9/11 was a lot more personal for Americans than for Europeans, or Canadians, because it happened here. As a result, air travel has long had a not deserved bad reputation here. It’s gotten better since 9/11, but airlines are still cautious about upsetting passengers unnecessarily.
3. Their lack of access to public transport is a symptom of the problems with public transit in the U.S. as a whole.
4. U.S. airports are the way they are partially because of U.S. culture. When I’ve gone abroad, I’ve found it weird that in many European airports, after security, you have to go though the duty free area. Why? The last thing I care about in an airport is shopping.
5. U.S. airports often follow cultural ideas of efficiency that are absent in many airports in Europe. In many European airports it feels like you can walk for a really long time before you get to the gates.
6. Another thing I like about U.S. airports is the complete lack of remote stands. Unless you’re flying to a small regional airport, rest assured that when you come here, you will always get a jet bridge at your gate. This is really convenient in the winter, especially in the Midwest or Northeast. By contrast, airports in cold northern European countries like Ireland or Germany insist on using air stairs and remote stands even in bad weather. This also makes boarding in U.S. airports more accessible for people with disabilities.

[Leo-Orbis]

Planes need airspeed, rather than ground speed, so they take off and land INTO the wind --- direction varies, but does not blow from 2 directions at once. Hence, the overlapping of those runways does not matter.

[rickieg]

Lmfao what??? Comparing LaGuardia to ANY other airport in the world is literally comparing apples to oranges. Chicago O’Hare. Dallas Fort Worth. Miami. LAX. JFK are all incredibly efficient operations. And Biden was referring to the general state of the terminals. Which were actual dog shit. But they’ve been completely demolished and rebuilt. LGA is actually beautiful now.

[Jon_IT]

Crossed runways because of crosswinds not (just) lousy design

[farkasf]

By OBF, was nice to hear from you!
Congratulation on comparing an airport built in 1939 to one built in 1981, one international, one domestic, one being renovated now and the other one being new.
Make the money, go for it kid, you are relevant

[caynebyron]

Did you really just make this whole video without looking up how LaGuardia is pronounced even once?