Flight Log of American Airlines Flight 4393 from Boston to New York LaGuardia

A post about an unexpected aerial tour of New York City that I got on a flight from Boston to New York LaGuardia.

In mid-November 2025, I spent a weekend in New York City visiting friends. To get there from Boston, I could either take a bus or, for just 20 dollars more, fly instead. Since I had some trip credits with American Airlines that were about to expire, I chose the latter option without hesitation. As it turned out, my flight's approach pattern into LaGuardia offered an aerial tour of New York City that was, by itself, well worth the ticket price.

American Airlines 4393 Operated by Republic Airways
Boston, MA (BOS) - New York Laguardia, NY (LGA)
Embraer ERJ-175 (N127HQ)
Seat 2A
Scheduled Departure - 8:00am
Actual Departure - 8:17am
Scheduled Arrival - 9:29am
Actual Arrival - 9:03am
46 minutes
Here's GPS tracking:

The Boston part of this flight was unremarkable, as I had grown quite familiar with the airport. But this was my first time flying into New York's LaGuardia, and I was aware that the city's three airports employed intricate approach patterns to maximize their collective capacity. Fortunately, my approach today traced a sweeping loop over Manhattan, then Brooklyn and Queens, treating me to an aerial tour in the process.

The tour began over Long Island Sound, followed by glimpses of distant JFK airport on the horizon and views of LaGuardia itself spread out directly below us. Likely to accommodate northbound departure traffic from JFK, we circled around the East River and approached LaGuardia from the south, before turning west and landing on runway 31 10 minutes later.

After that, we crossed the East River onto Manhattan. While banking for a left turn towards the south, the skyscrapers in Manhattan felt tantalizingly close just beneath us.

After that, it was Brooklyn outside my windows, with the iconic duo of Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Bridge spanning the East River and distant waters shimmering under the rising sun.

Next, we made a U-turn over New York Harbor to align with LaGuardia Airport's approach path. This time, the skysrapers in lower Manhattan commanded center stage.

After making the turn, I recorded the following video of the skyline of New York City paraded outside my window, until our touchdown at LaGuardia:

The aerial tour concluded as we touched down at LaGuardia. Afterward, I made my way into the city to visit friends. I will end the post with a photo of the lovely foliage scene in Central Park, where autumn's palette adorned both the trees above and the ground below.

END