LaGuardia at 4 AM! Anything open beyond security?
 

We have an AA flight scheduled at 6 AM on a Saturday to Miami.

Since we're connecting in MIA to an international flight we're considered &quot;international passengers&quot; and are required to check-in two hours before (4 AM!) <i>in person</i>, (no online check-in permitted)!

Anything in the way of a decent coffee shop open at that hour inside the security check point???

Don't know about 4 AM, but we tried to get something to eat after 8 PM and could only find one totally revolting place to eat.

Check out panynj.com (port authority of ny/nj) - the have listing for LGA and my have more info

You will be checking in for your international flight at the same time you are checking in for your domestic leg -- well before the two-hour requirement for the international flight. There are carriers that offer online check-in for international flights. I presume that you've talked with your carrier and they're telling you this is definitely the way it is? It sounds a bit Draconian (but that's not to say that there aren't some airlines that do thing that way and it sounds like yours is one of them.)

I'd recommend making sure that the airlines counter actually opens that early.

We once made the mistake of not asking, getting to the airport at some ungodly early hour like the airlines had told us, and finding that the counter didn't open for another hour.

I doubt the counters will be open that early as well. However, do note that AA has 4-5 flights leaving LGA at 6am, and several more at 6:30. So, you do want to be there before most of the other passengers do, as you'll need the extra time for security questions, passport checks, and they may need extra time for scanning your luggage. I'd say 75-90 minutes should be enough for situations like this, meaning arriving at around 4:30-4:45.

<u><font color="blue">Flyboy</font></u> - American's website states that &quot;international&quot; passengers cannot utilize online check-in; confirmed it w/one of their agents.

<u><font color="blue">abram</font></u> - Affirmative to you as well. When I asked the AA agent when their desk people were on duty they answered &quot;beginning at 4 AM.&quot;

<u><font color="blue">rkkwan</font></u> - Our flight to Miami is scheduled for 6:01. Since we have to get up in the middle of the night anyway, we're not going to try to glom an extra thirty minutes or so.

We're staying the night before at an airport hotel w/24 hr shuttle to LGA, so at least airport transit time is saved.

It's a tough itinerary from NY to Curacao. One option is departing via JFK or Newark in some cases connecting in San Juan (from there it's puddle jumpers to Curacao). Another is leaving the preceding evening, overnighting in Miami in order to catch American's daily flight to Curacao. (But that means two bouts with Security on the way down.)

I also checked out Air Jamaica and Delta, but they also involve changes of planes somewhere.

This itinerary does get us (barring ridiculous delays) to our destination in early to mid afternoon and also is the most flexible in terms of available alternates (flights) should something to awry.

Thanks everyone for the input - I guess that we're going have to stock up on industrial strength &quot;No-Doz.&quot;

It's been a little over a year, but the last time I arrived early for a 6am flight at LaGuardia, it was pretty dead before 5am. Aside from the front check-in counters, nothing -- and I mean nothing -- was open. Once I'd checked in, I had to wait in a hallway until the security checkpoints and/or the Red Carpet Club opened at 5am. Funny thing was, I ended up almost missing my flight because they decided to do a full search of my carryon bags.

I am more familiar with United than American, but I believe they have similar operations at LGA (i.e., some 6am flights). United's website says its check-in counters open at 4:15; I couldn't find similar info on American's site. If I recall correctly, most of the coffee shop type places in that terminal are outside security. I recall some concession &quot;carts&quot; in the concourses (again, it's been longer since I flew AA from there).

Good luck.

I just want to confirm what the OP posted in his second post.
1 - Counters do open at 4am. But it's also not true that you HAVE to check-in 2 hours before. After all, if you show up at 4am and there are already 10 people in front of you, you might not check-in till 4:15 or 4;30 or whatever. The 2 hour is recommended by the airlines, because they do want people to show up early, thus avoiding a mad rush to the counter if everybody showed up an 1 hour or less before the flight. At LGA, AA will cut-off any baggage check-in at 45 minutes before the flight. If no baggage, I believe it's 30 minutes before the flight. Most misunderstand what's recommended and what's required. If I show up for an international flight at 35 minutes before the flight with no luggage, and there are no lines at the counter, AA will still check me in. Now, I may have problems actually making it to the gate on time because of security and distances to the gate, etc., but that's my fault for showing up late. Same situation, but now I show up at 25 minutes before, AA will refuse to check me in.
2 - Any ticket that eventually gets you to a foreign destination is considered international, regardless if it has a domestic segment. Thus no seperate check-in for the domestic segment and later to the international segment and with AA, you have to check-in at the counter for all international flights so no way to get around it.

Smart move to stay at the airport hotel. Maybe the hotel has a small coffee shop/stand available. A small coffee counter with some donuts may be the only option available at the airport at that time as well, if at all, but I can't tell you for sure bout LGA. I have been to other major airports very early and the pickings ranged from non-existant to 1 or 2 places that were nothing to get excited about.
If you are a breakfast person, I suggest preparing something in the evening (a sandwich or something similar). Coffee/Tea should be available somewhere.

<u><font color="red">A</font><font color="blue">AFrequentFlyer</font></u>

Regarding the two-hour deal (what I was told by American as opposed to what I intuitively thought was the reality) thanks for the confirmation.

So, I'm thinking about it again. (Though a second call to AA resulted in them, again, insisting that their counter is manned at 4 AM.)

First, we'll each have a carry-on and each will check one piece of luggage, so we can't cut it too closely.

In addition there's only one flight daily from MIA to CUR. As it stands, our current flight (at 6:01AM) gives us two hours of connection time and the next one (about 7:15 AM) allows 45 minutes or so.

In other words, the first, since we'll be checked through gives us substantially more connect time then we would most likely need, while the second, if there's a snafu, could impact us making that one and only connection with the unpalatable option of switching to another airline or having AA route us via some other place (SJU, maybe).

On top of everything else, by booking early I was booked *FC/BC on American (the LGA/MIA equipment is a 757; MIA/CUR a 738) seats at a cost that was justifiable when considering both comfort and extra FF mileage.

You're probably right - following AA's &quot;guidelines&quot; will most likely result in a &quot;hurry-up and wait&quot; experience at LGA.

But, the mitigating factor is the imponderables --

Is the <i>possibility</i> of 30 or 45 minutes more sleep worth the potential hassles if something goes amiss?

Anyway, thanks for your adding your response (your input and insights) to this thread. Your contributions here and on other Fodor boards is invaluable. (And again, thanks to everyone else.)

*I also researched Delta and Air Jamaica as well as departure from JFK or EWR and equipment and connection options as well.

All in all, the routing we chose was the most convenient for us, would provide the greatest degree of comfort, would maximize vacation time and resulted in a premium-class fare that was the lowest.

Now, if you're flying First or Business class, there is a seperate check-in line, so that's really not a problem.

The TSA security line probably will not open until around 5am or later. So, you'll just be standing in the check-in area (not sitting by the gates) for no reason for an hour.

Yes, if you want to be cautious, that's fine. But is it necessary? Really not at all.

OK Rahmanbar -- you indicated that you already are springing for a hotel room to be near LGA the night before this flight. Could you fly to Miami the night before without increasing your airfare? Then you can wake up at a decent hour for your Curacao flight, and not be a zombie when you get there. Yes, you will have to go through security twice, but it may be a decent tradeoff.

<b><font color="green">MightyIsis:</font></b>

The long of it is that I considered traveling the night before, and overnighting in Miami.

I ruled it out for two reasons:

1) Getting across the Triborough Bridge to Laguardia on a Friday night, particularly in the summer can be a royal pain in the butt (particularly if the Yankees or Mets are playing at home that evening). And, we'd still be stuck with that &quot;two-hours ahead reporting.&quot; (For a nanosecond I also considered flights out of Newark and JFK.)

2)It would translate into having to go through that &quot;2 hour/security thing hassle&quot; twice on the way down.

Although we've booked *FC tickets, they're w/restrictions so altering the itinerary would cost a some more bucks.

Thanks for asking.

BTW, I note your moniker - the name isn't Johanna, by any chance, is it?

*Let me explain that &quot;FC/BC&quot; reference in an earlier post:

I checked various travel/airline sites before booking (among them, Air Jamaica, whose the connection to their Curacao flight is made in Montego Bay).

When I got to American's site I noted a couple of coach fares w/restrictions. The lowest-priced one at the time was an &quot;a very highly restricted, almost unalterable, use it or lose it basis&quot; which I didn't want to chance.

The next lowest (it's gone up, BTW,) seemed to fill the bill in that, in a pinch, it could be altered almost hassle-free.

Then, out of curiosity, I took another shot at it, plugging in &quot;First Class&quot; just, out of curiosity, to see how much it would run. You can imagine my surprise when that second fare appeared BTW, on that routing, AA's premium designation is Business Class (no FC option) on its 737-800 fleet on their MIA/CUR legs.

Seemed kind of strange, so I called AA reservations who told me that that was correct, that that &quot;somewhat less restricted&quot; FC/BC fare and the &quot;somewhat less restricted&quot; coach fare were the same.

Once I confirmed that w/AA I went back to other sites to see what would happen if I plugged in &quot;FC&quot; there.

Air Jamaica had FC on both legs of their itinerary but the cost was significantly higher than AA's for premium seating.

Delta codeshares with Air Jamaica, so that was that.

Both Expedia and Orbitz displayed the Air Jamaica routing (same cost) but did not offer American (probably because their software doesn't consider the FC-BC combination a valid return on a &quot;FC query&quot;). BTW, when &quot;BC&quot; was plugged into their systems Expedia and Orbitz showed nothing existing for any airline either.

So, then, I went to AA's site, and tried &quot;dry runs&quot;. After trying coach I plugged in FC and sure enough, I ended the premium offering at the same price.

So, figuring it was a vacation and that the &quot;bite&quot; for both my wife and myself came out to $75 each for each of the four legs (over the &quot;highly restricted&quot; coach fare) of the trip (going and coming), that we got comfort and bonus FF mileage, and after all, it was the first vacation we've had time for in a couple of years...

Anyway, that's the (very long) story behind it.

If you're flying in front, AA hs a dedicated counter for premium passengers. I would go with rkkwan's suggestion. Show up at around 4:45a, because the security gates probably will not open till 5a. Premium check-in usually takes about 5 minutes, because there are no lines.

Try to avoid bulkhead seats on both planes. The 757 and 737 are not that great upfront, but as you said, it's better than sitting in the back. You will als be served breakast on the LGA-MIA segment. It's usually a choice of a pancake or fruitplate with cereal. There is also a yogurt, fresh bread rolls. I try to avoid the <i>terrible</i> AA coffee, so I usually go with tea, but your taste buds might be different. :-)


Also remember <b>FEBO</b> - AA has a system as to how they take meal orders in the front cabin. So if you want to assure yourself of the first choice as they do not load sufficient number of both selections on flights follow FEBO. For example, if there are 14 first class seats occupied, AA will load 8 pancakes and 8 fruitplates. So if everybody starts ordering 1 plate before the FA gets to you, you may be stuck with whatever is left. The FAs will start taking orders as follows: starting in <b>F</b>ront on <b>E</b>ven numbered flights and <b>B</b>ack on the <b>O</b>dd numbered flights. It's not such a big deal during breakfast, but for dinner selection it may be more important.


Have a great vaction!

<b><font color="red">A</font><font color="blue">AFrequentFlyer</font></b>

Yeah, we'll most likely opt to grabbing the extra sleep.

As far as the &quot;FEBO&quot; I am familiar with it and in terms of seating I took a look at Seat Garu.com ( http://www.seatguru.com/home.shtml ) and chose seats accordingly.

You mention a couple of meal &quot;choices&quot;-

One of the more amusing sites on the Web is AirlineMeals.net, which includes photos and critiquing (some your's?), of airline meals by people who actually ate them. They're listed by airline and I've seen American's pancakes and read someone's evaluation of them.

For those unfamiliar with it, the URL is http://www.airlinemeals.net/

I always wondered who these people are. I just could not bring myself to actually snap pictures of the airplane food. They must get some strange looks from the other passengers.

I actually do enjoy the fruitplate and cereal. I never had the pancakes, but I've seen people clean up the plates.

Anyway, have a great trip!