Marine Air Terminal

Nice new facility with a lot of food options. There is a gourmet supermarket like place in which one has a wide selection of different items. I was impressed!

FAST! Beautiful and historic building! Not hectic! DON’T DRINK THE WINE. it’s really really bad. Great beer though.

A nice little terminal separate from all of the others at LGA that serves delta shuttles. Add another 5 minutes to navigate the roads here by car. According to the Internet, it’s the only active terminal from the first days of aviation. Step back in time to the 1940s to this Art Deco building and the murals and décor accompanying it. Free coffee and newspapers!

Not sure how anyone who has flown out of any other NYC airport could give Marine Air less than five stars. Free newspapers, free coffee, plenty of outlets, civilized seating… food options are slim and expensive, but I’m more than happy to cede that for the luxury of this experience. I smile when I use this terminal and am treated like a real human being. Sad, but that is my benchmark for anything being a positive experience in NYC.

Seriously. I would have given this little cute terminal a 5 star review if all had gone well.
I was smitten jumping out of das Über… this was like a throwback to the halcyon days of glamorous air travel, I was half expecting a gorgeous, svelte hostess to guide me in to this cute and hidden little terminal.
However, 5 and half hours later, what seems ‘cute’ and ‘petite’ becomes ‘small’ and ‘claustrophobic’.
Delta — your fault.

Pros: quick TSA line, mostly business travelers and quick to retrieve luggage from baggage claim
Cons: outdated terminal with slim food options
Pro Tip: eat before coming to Marine Terminal

Between JFK and LGA I’ll go to LGA. The place is smaller so it’s easier to get from check-​in to the gate. If I had to choose again, I would choose the Marine Air Terminal, also because it’s small, and it’s easy to get in from check-​in to the gate. Even more so than the rest of LaGuardia. The staff here seems friendlier and they’re more willing to help out. The waiting area is small but has great seating and it’s an easy way however long it takes for your plane to depart-​which is pretty much on time and without delay.
The only downside is that it’s only for Chicago, DC or Boston.

Marine Air Terminal (or Terminal A) is a small business man’s terminal that offers shuttle service to Boston, Chicago (O’Hare) and Washington DC.
We have been to this terminal a couple of times and have found it to be much easier to get in and out of compared to larger terminals.
Flights are usually every hour on the hour. They have plenty of comfortable seating with charging stations. There is a bar with food service called the Yankee Clipper right in the waiting area for your needs should you need liquid courage or your stomach is rumbling.
They currently are running regional jets from this Terminal. TSA as mentioned previously is a breeze, I have never had more than 2 or 3 people ahead of me. There is only one baggage belt and 6 gates.
The lobby of the terminal shows a bit of history of the building. It was originally the Pan Am terminal back in the day.
Air travel should always be this easy! Enjoy your flight.

Delta Shuttle to Boston, Chicago, DC — best option to fly from New York. The Marine Terminal only services the Delta Shuttle, which makes it the quickest and most efficient way to fly to the serviced locations. Added bonus — Since the Shuttle operates hourly, you usually can manage to catch an earlier flight if you get there early.
Security is a breeze; while there is no separate line for TSA Pre-​Check, you still get the regular benefits (shoes and belts on, etc.) Although there’s no free wi-​fi, they do provide a wide selection of free magazines and newspapers.

I feel like I’m hitting a new low writing a Unilocal review for an airport terminal, but this place is great. Never a long wait for checking a bag or security, and a very short walk to the seating area. Comfortable chairs, free magazines and newspapers, and some cool art-​deco design in the entry hall. I’m a fan.

Small terminal serving
Boston, Chicago, Washington DC
Short lines
Nice workers
Leather seats
Free NYT and WSJ
Plenty of outlets.
Great way to fly!

This terminal is the absolute best.
At first, Marine Air Terminal is upsetting. What is this shit? Why can’t I just take off from the regular delta terminal like everyone else? Why am I going down this strange dirt road to nowhere to catch my flight?
Then you show up. No one’s there. The feeling in the air is chill, calm. Security lines are short. The terminal serves good food.
What every terminal should be.

From the moment of his birth, it seemed he was destined for the clouds. James Appomattox Butler was born in Dayton, Ohio — the birthplace of aviation — on Thanksgiving 1951. His mother insisted on his middle name to honor her great-​grandfather who served with Grant in the Army of the Ohio. It was at Appomattox Courthouse where Lee finally surrendered nearly a century earlier. Young James watched with enthusiasm as America raced Russia to the moon. But he didn’t want space. The astronauts were glamorous, but not what appealed to Jimmy. He imagined himself as the next Chuck Yeager. Fearless fighter pilot and American hero.
But that wasn’t meant to be. Butler figured out rather quickly that he preferred the smooth pleasure cruise to battling enemy fire. After the Air Force he got the job every cocksure young pilot dreamed of — Pan Am. Passengers were a who’s who of the 1970s. Rock stars, actresses, artists, diplomats. Pan Am, and more importantly a Butler Flight was more than anything else, a place to be seen. It’s where celebs went before Studio 54. Girls in the cockpit. Bobby Womack blasting throughout the cabin. Clinking drinks at 38,000 feet. Pan Am was the job of a lifetime. These were the good old days. When pilots tied on a couple cocktails pre-​flight and no one batted an eye. After paying his dues Butler flew only when he wanted to. Red Eyes and Pre-​Dawn flights — his reasoning was simple. There were too many sunrises and sunsets out there for him not to fly in the best possible light. For guys like Butler, flying was performing. It’s no wonder every landing he got a standing ovation. Then the culture changed.
The uptight world stuck their noses in air travel and it was never the same. Free spirits and damn good pilots like Jim Butler were quietly shown the door. He bounced around for a few years. Wife 1 left him. Wife 2 left him. Kids all over the place. Wife 3 came and left too. He took up kites, model rocketry but it couldn’t compare to his stolen dream. And with three ex-​wives by now, he needed money.
On the recommendation from a friend he got the job flying Tenzin Gyatso — better known as the 14^th Dalai Lama. The gig was okay but the pay was great. Still, Butler found himself unfulfilled. Money was never what he was after. He didn’t need to convert to Buddhism to figure out the meaning of life. He craved something else. Butler was a man of the people. The private sector left him cold. But he had nowhere to go. The gatekeepers within federal aviation blackballed him. There was no place for head cases like Butler. Or so they thought.
Then ⁹⁄₁₁ happened. And then airlines started to suffer. Company after company fell on hard times. They needed someone, a spark — good press. It was then that they came calling — crawling back after all these years. Butler listened. By now, Pan Am was long gone. After a few months deliberating with his local bartender, JT, Butler settled on American Airlines. On one condition — he’d only fly chrome planes. They were the most beautiful ones and glistened like nothing else could.
So when you’re out at Marine Air Terminal, a relic from the days of sea planes during that trailblazing generation, look up in the sky. Butler always loved that terminal, the art deco, the space, the mural, the coziness. Only terminal left still like it. Complimentary newspapers for those who read. Not Butler. He flies. So if you see some chrome reflecting around sunset — you know who that is. It can only be one guy. He isn’t going too fast. And he isn’t going too slow. It’s a cruise.
That’s Jim Butler up there. Still just that kid from Dayton with a dream.

Yes — I’m giving this terminal 5 stars because it literally is «as good as it gets!»
The key thing for me is that they serve BALTHAZAR pastries!!! I often fly to Boston on the 7 am Delta shuttle, and one of the perks of this trip is getting a hot green tea + almond croissant at the Marine Air Terminal. It’s the small things in life that make me happy :)
Other perks:
I arrive there 15 min before the shuttle leaves so there’s no waiting time. The sofas do look wide and relaxing, but I’ve never really sat down. Security is brisk, so you get through quickly. As you walk up towards the main terminal, you can pick up a free copy of your favorite newspaper (FT, WSJ, etc).

Nice terminal.
But… W.T.H.
$ 3.00 for a plain bagel with butter???
Dude, you can get a package of bagels and butter for $ 6.00. I got jipped royally.
But this is what being drunk prior to a flight does to you: makes you buy dumb ish.
Fin.

Holy $#%!, this terminal is amazing and doesn’t feel like an NYC airport at all. It is home to Delta’s Shuttle service (short distance flights, eg. Boston, Chicago). Its the tiniest terminal I’ve ever seen in NYC, and its so efficient (at least in my experience). I literally walked in, got through security, and took a seat by the gate in 10 minutes.
The waiting area is filled with comfy leather lounge seats, and an awesome passenger/​charger ratio (about 1:4 in the lounge area, and 1:1 in the desks/​working spaces).
I can see this small terminal getting cramped if there are ever massive flight delays, but overall, this terminal actually made me want to fly Delta from LaGuardia on every short-​distance flight I take.

Very easy to get in and out… and you know I like an easy in-​out (cue rimshot)!
Seriously, since it’s a shuttle terminal (Boston, DC and Chicago) lines aren’t long but they are steady. I’ve never been in line longer than 10 minutes, probably more like five minutes. (But like my online dating profiles, I often inflate 5 to 10)
The old part is a gorgeous Art Deco gem and I walk through that part to get to security just because it’s pretty. The food selection is decent, if typically expensive for what you get.
Serviced by Q47 and M60 buses. Q47 doesn’t run that frequently but it’s less crowded than the Q33 so it’s not a bad way to get to LGA.

The Marine terminal is by far the best and most convenient terminal I’ve ever been too. It’s interior and exterior are done in a beautiful Art Deco design which is completely authentic, having being built in 1939. I’ve never seen more than 6 people in the security line (in about 15 trips), and the terminal staff has always been very friendly. The food in the one bar /​«restaurant» in the middle of the 5 commuter terminals is geared towards breakfast or lunch rather than dinner, and everything (food & liquor) is quite expensive.
This terminal wins on convenience with ample parking right in front, extremely short security lines and (for most) the shorter less congested drive to LGA rather than JFK or EWR. If your traveling to Chicago, Boston or DC from the Southern CT/​NYC area this terminal is a safe bet.

This place is so cool. Like Mad Men cool. It’s a pain to get to on the slow shuttle bus, but it’s great being here. It’s small — almost intimate in a totally non-​sexual way. There’s the little breakfast/​sandwich counter and the small bar right in the middle of things. The whole place retained a lot of it’s art deco feel, and that alone makes this place special.
Security line? 5 minutes tops. No BS.
Besides that, it’s an air terminal so all you really want to do is spend as little time there as possible.

I feel somewhat silly reviewing this place. What’s the end game here? Am I going to cause you to fly somewhere you don’t want to be, just so you could use this terminal? Am I hoping that you’re reading this as you pilot your Cessna, and I will convince you to veer off course and land here, causing NORAD to scramble jets? Is this just further evidence of my Unilocal obsession?
But I digress. This is one kick-​ass terminal. The security line, if you can even call it that, is rarely longer than five people. When you get off the plane, you are never more than 100 feet from the dozens of taxis outside. And the lounge area… get this:
— Outlets and USB chargers (!) at every seat, plus some private work booths
— A sit down bar that serves actual good (albeit overpriced) food
— Friendly, outgoing waitresses at said bar
— The gates are in a circle around the lounge, so you can sit wherever you want because everything is close
— Free newspapers!
Granted, this is small, so some of these amenities are easier to come by, but this is what all terminals should be like. If you have the opportunity to fly here (the Delta shuttle to Chicago is great) then I highly recommend it.
I left off the 5^th star because the TSA is still here, so I can’t guarantee the physical integrity of your genital area.