VIDEO | The Tale of New York’s LaGuardia Airport: From “Third World” to Better Than the United States

This is how Joe Biden defined it in 2014, today Forbes Travel Guide places it at the top of the list of the country's stopovers

ROME – (By Sara Calabria) The ugly duckling has become a swan: LaGuardia Airport in Queens, New York, for years considered one of the worst in the country, has become the best in the United States, according to a ranking drawn up by the prestigious Forbes Travel Guide.

Thanks to a renovation that was meticulously planned down to the smallest details, which began in 2016, during the time of Governor Andrew Cuomo and, above all, cost eight billion dollars.

What Joe Biden had defined in 2014 as a Third World airport (“If I blindfolded someone and took them to LaGuardia Airport in New York, they would think: “I must be in some Third World country. I’m not kidding,'” the then vice president said of America’s declining infrastructure), the hub that passengers avoided as much as possible, due to flight delays, long lines, and the frequency with which luggage was lost, has now literally “blossomed.”

Let’s just say that “it took flight”, just to stay on topic. And it’s enough to take a tour inside to realize it: large windows everywhere and numerous baggage drop-off stations welcome passengers.

Even though, at boarding in the General row, at Terminal C the monitor reported a wait of over 45 minutes, with extreme efficiency after a short time the staff in charge streamlined the queue: once the controls were passed, the renovated food halls (refreshment areas), the new automated toilets and the pet relief areas, the areas to let your pet relax before or after the flight, confirm the change of pace.