The floors, cracked and yellowed, are often the best and only seating. The lights are dim, the low ceiling is stained, the lines at the tiny bathrooms are routinely long. Even the owner describes the Central Terminal Building and the passenger experience there as “dreadful.”

New York’s LaGuardia Airport may not be the worst airport in the world, but it is certainly the worst busy airport. It has been patched and parts have been renovated, but the Central Terminal Building is much the same layout and dimensions as when it opened...