Connecting at LaGuardia: Terminal B, Terminal C and the walk in between

Last checked 24 September 2026

Is a 45-minute layover enough at LaGuardia?

We estimate about 32% of 45-minute connections at LaGuardia ended in a missed connection between September 2025 and August 2026. An estimated 17% of the 45-minute connections at LaGuardia were already shorter than our estimate of the change on the schedule. How we count a missed connection

Allow 95 minutes for a connection in the same terminal at LaGuardia, or 123 minutes if you change terminal.

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At LaGuardia, the key question is whether you're staying with Delta. Delta has Terminal C to itself, and almost every other airline at LaGuardia is in Terminal B. Terminal A has no scheduled airlines. Stay in one terminal and your connection stays behind security. Switch between B and C, and you're starting again at the checkpoint.

At a glance

• Delta to Delta: both flights are in Terminal C, so you stay behind security.
• Within Terminal B: stay behind security.
• Between B and C: leave security, walk (about 7–15 minutes) or take the free shuttle bus, and go through TSA again.
• Separate tickets: you may need to collect your bags and check in again.

Who flies from where

• Terminal B: Air Canada, American, Frontier, JetBlue, Porter, Southwest and United.
• Terminal C: Delta.
• Terminal A: private aviation (Modern Aviation). There are no scheduled airlines.

Codeshare partners may not fly from the terminal you expect, so check your boarding pass or the airline's app.

Changing between Terminals B and C

There's no way to stay behind security between B and C. You have two options:

• Walk. The airport has a pedestrian path between the two terminals. The route runs along the roadside at the lowest level, where the buses stop, and takes about 7 to 15 minutes at a steady pace. It's flat throughout.
• Take the shuttle bus. A free "All Terminals Shuttle" links every terminal, along with parking and rental cars.

Either way, you'll go through TSA screening again at your new terminal. GateCast counts the walk or bus and a second security queue in the time budget. That's why a B-to-C connection grades lower than a same-terminal one with the same time on the ticket.

Separate tickets

If your flights are on separate bookings, you may need to collect your checked bags, check in again and recheck them. Plan for a full check-in.

Tips

• If you're flying Delta, both flights will almost always be in Terminal C. A codeshare on a partner airline is the exception to check.
• Keep your boarding pass and ID ready for the second security check.

How we count a missed connection

The layover times and missed-connection percentages on this page are estimates from our model, built on US DOT records (September 2025 to August 2026), with no guarantee; never book shorter than your airline's minimum connection time.

Each time is our model's point estimate of where the fitted missed-connection curve levels off, from past flights between September 2025 and August 2026. The curve is calculated at 5-minute steps and joined by straight lines. Giving the time to the minute does not make it more certain: when we re-ran the estimate on 200 resampled sets of days, 95% of the times at LaGuardia for staying in the same terminal fell between 73 and 100 minutes, and for changing terminal between 107 and 129 minutes.

A missed connection means the real delays and cancellations that day left less time than our estimate of how long the change takes; estimated from US DOT on-time records for September 2025 to August 2026, with no passenger data.

The 45-minute figure is the estimated share of connections at LaGuardia that ended in a missed connection. The time in the box is the shortest layover after which another 15 minutes lowers the estimated missed-connection rate by less than 1 percentage point, on a curve fitted so that it never rises. The 1 percentage point is a judgement constant that we set. Extra time helps less and less because cancellations and long delays cause missed connections at any gap. At LaGuardia, the estimated missed-connection rate was 13.4% at 95 minutes if you stay in the same terminal, and 13.1% at 123 minutes if you change terminal (share of connections, September 2025 to August 2026). We don't give a figure for 30 minutes. A 30-minute connection is about as long as our own estimate of the change (typically 26 to 31 minutes at one terminal) and often shorter, so a percentage would mostly come from that estimate.

Checked 24 September 2026; layover figures checked 23 October 2026. Terminals and airlines change, so confirm with your airline before you travel.

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