3 Links I Love: 5G Fun, Qatar’s Paint, LaGuardia Mostly Doesn’t Suck, AirBahn

Jan 28, 2022

More Reading on This Topic: Alaska Airlines, Government Regulation, LGA – New York/La Guardia, Links I Love, Qatar Airways

This Week’s Featured Link

All flights in and out of Paine Field canceled Monday as 5G bars regional jets – The Seattle Times
Well this is fun. It sounds like this particular issue shouldn’t be a problem again since I believe the Embraer 175 has now been cleared, but I’m never really completely sure with this mess.

Video of the Week

The spat between Qatar and Airbus over peeling paint continues to escalate, and Qatar has now published this video of problems it’s facing on some A350s. I know this looks bad, but I don’t know much beyond that.

Two for the Road

The final piece of the transformed LaGuardia Terminal B is now open – The Points Guy
The old LaGuardia central terminal area is finally dead. Now if you’re flying out of the new Terminal B, it will actually be in the “new” Terminal B. If you’re flying Delta, Frontier, Spirit (not Florida/Detroit/LA/Phoenix), or WestJet, well, you’re still a work in progress over in Terminal C/D, but that was always better than B anyway. And if you’re flying Spirit to Florida, Detroit, LA, or Phoenix OR JetBlue to Boston, well you still get to take a step back in time at the old Marine Air Terminal, now Terminal A.

DOT grants AirBahn more time to certify – ch-aviation
I suppose this is good news for AirBahn that DOT found enough progress being made to extend the time period for it to get certified. This, remember, is an airline based in Southern California that wants to do short hops for cheap. I’m fairly certain Southwest will have something to say about that.

Brett

10 responses to “3 Links I Love: 5G Fun, Qatar’s Paint, LaGuardia Mostly Doesn’t Suck, AirBahn”

CraigTPA

Jan 28, 2022 at 6:33 am

Is the 5G problem specific to only the E175 and not the other E-Jets, or does the Seattle Times article only mention the E175 because that’s the only model affecting Paine/SEA/PDX?

Reply
1. CF
  
  Jan 28, 2022 at 8:26 am
  
  Cblock – Well, the problem is related to several airplanes, but the focus here is on the Embraer 175 because that’s what was impacted. The Q400 is ok, so that wouldn’t have been an issue. But even now, I believe the E75 has been cleared, so it shouldn’t be much of a problem.
  
  Reply
John G

Jan 28, 2022 at 7:29 am

Opening the pedestrian bridge at LGA has to help. I measured the walk from the street to last of the old D gates to be something close to half a mile.

Still irritating as a traveler to have to ride TWO shuttle buses to get a rent car at LGA. Takes forever. Pro tip if you’re going there and flying out of B: rent National and just walk across the Grand Central. LOTS faster.

Reply
1. Kilroy
  
  Jan 28, 2022 at 9:44 am
  
  Maybe it’s changed, but 10 or so years ago I recall a walk from the arrival gate to the curb at MSP taking 30-40 minutes and requiring at least 4 sets of elevators (up and down). That wasn’t even counting getting to the rental car. There may have been some moving sidewalks that I used, but still… For an airport that isn’t THAT big of a hub, that was an unexpectedly long walk, and I still remember it.
  
  I’d also include CLT in my list of long walks, at least for those connecting between RJs and much bigger planes.
  
  Reply
  1. John G
    
    Jan 28, 2022 at 11:27 am
    
    MSP used to have a long walk from the end of the regional gates, now A and B, all the way back down to the central terminal, and it could be a really long walk to connect.
    
    They have since out in a tram from A/B to the central terminal, plus they also built a skywalk between the long concourses. If you come in down at the end, and you are renting a car, you can just cut across the skywalk and go straight down to the rent cars without going back to the central terminal and then riding the train back to the rent car area.
    
    Reply
    1. Kilroy
      
      Jan 31, 2022 at 4:11 am
      
      Ah, thanks for the correction. Glad to hear that they have improved things.
      
      Reply
2. beckypaul
  
  Jan 28, 2022 at 2:39 pm
  
  Why on earth would anyone want to rent a car at LGA of all places?
  
  Reply
  1. Tory
    
    Jan 28, 2022 at 5:39 pm
    
    Uh, to go to Connecticut? Or out Long Island? I don’t think a lot of people realize LGA is the airport of choice for southwestern CT. It isn’t all taxis/Ubers into Manhattan.
    
    Reply
    1. southbay flier
      
      Jan 29, 2022 at 8:17 am
      
      I would assume that if you wanted to go to Long Island, Kennedy is a better choice than LaGuardia. No airline will fly from where I live nonstop to LaGuardia anyway. It’s always Kennedy or Newark.
      
      But, it’s true, if you are going to Westchester or Fairfield counties, LaGuardia is your closest major airport.
      
      Reply
  2. John G
    
    Jan 29, 2022 at 12:17 pm
    
    If you are going to the NY area and need a car, lol.
    
    For anyone flying there from inside the perimeter the flight options are magnitudes better. And not everybody going to the NYC area is going to Manhattan.
    
    Newark is ok if you’re going to Jersey but it sucks if you are going to the NY side and have to fight bridges or tunnels.
    
    Reply