During one of the debates that preceded his 2016 election as president, Donald Trump drew serious New York ire by describing LaGuardia Airport as "third-world" and having a "filthy terminal [...with] broken terrazzo floors."
"You go over to Qatar, you go over to Saudi Arabia, you go over to some of these countries and you see airports like you've never, ever seen before," Trump said during a New Hampshire debate against Democratic candidate Hilary Clinton. "Then you come back and you land at LaGuardia or Newark or LAX and you walk into a filthy terminal that are falling apart and you have broken terrazzo floors and that's all you have."
Related: Hate long lines? One airport is letting people book security screening times
While he also mentioned Newark and LAX, the singling-out of LaGuardia hit a particular nerve among New Yorkers given that Trump had already spoken badly of it before in 2011. The smaller airport, which opened in 1939, is often used for flights within North America and was at the time going through an $8 billion renovation.
Veronika Bondarenko
LaGuardia one of two U.S. airports to score five stars in global ranking
Travelers who passed through the airport over the next few years would have noticed a range of changes and improvements like a color-changing musical fountain playing tunes including Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York" in Terminal B or the sleek new concourses and highway connecting Terminals B and C.
More Travel:
- A new travel term is taking over the internet (and reaching airlines and hotels)
- The 10 best airline stocks to buy now
- Airlines see a new kind of traveler at the front of the plane
These changes have also not gone unnoticed by various airport rankings, as LaGuardia became only one of two U.S. airport to receive five stars in any section of the U.K.-based Skytrax ratings of the best and worst airports across the globe.
Terminal B was given five out of five stars for its "spacious interiors, floor-to-ceiling windows, inspiring public art features, and iconic restaurants and shops" while LaGuardia received four stars as an airport overall.
"Now delivering a world-class experience for travelers to New York, with Terminal B being the stand-out experience here at LaGuardia," SkyTrax writes of the airport.
U.S. airports called out for 'inefficient and insufficient staffing'
The only areas in which LaGuardia received a particularly low score were waiting times and staffing attitudes and courtesy. Due to the airport's smaller size, it can sometimes amass long lines at check-in and security clearance.
Houston's secondary airport, William P. Hobby, also came out on top of the ranking for its "upgraded interior décor finishes" and "excellent customer experience."
Just as no U.S. airports received five stars for an overall rating, none also landed in the bottom one or two stars — the mid-range ranking indicates that that the airport is generally efficient but has room to improve in multiple areas of the travelers experience.
Some of the U.S. airports to receive the SkyTrax "fair or average" rating include major airports such as Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, Dallas Forth Worth International Airport and LAX. The latter scored particularly low on how easy or hard it is to get there due to the highway leading there being "often congested" while Atlanta is currently the busiest airport in the world but has, according to Skytrax, "inefficient and insufficient immigration and security staffing levels."
