Ithaca Tompkins International Airport — Local services in Town of Lansing

This is a nice little airport, I have flown in and out of it a few times. Typical small setting, which is preferred many times over those big airports with large crowds.

There are issues. Recently I got off the plane, and left my daughter inside with the luggage while I got the car and pulled up front at the curb. As soon as I walk from the car, the obsessively overweight guy comes from the door yelling: "Is this your car? You can't leave your car!" I am telling him I got a young daughter inside with the luggage. "You can't leave your car!!!" Really? This is what small airports are about in good old America, they are convenient and accommodating. Not this one. So I told him to go get my daughter and bring the luggage. Let the stickler work some sweat, he needs good exercise. He did. This is a first time I experienced a guy being so rude at a small local airport. Hopefully airport manager, Bob Nicholas, takes a note of this, because this attitude turns people away.

Another time, couple of years ago, there was a navigation equipment failure at this airport. I found out from one local pilot that Ithaca's ILS is usually down a few months when it breaks. I agreed with her, that is ridiculous. It means that if visibility is less than a minimum, you cannot land in Ithaca. Often times there is a dense fog in the morning, and guess where you'll end up? Some place else, and let the adventures...

I flew out of Ithaca yesterday on a direct flight to Dulles. My bag did not make it on the plane and have had two different baggage recovery people try multiple times during normal business hours to call and contact the airport to get a status on my bag and no one at the Ithaca airport has answered their calls or responded to their messages. I watched from my window as ground crew drove the luggage trolley away with half of our flight's checked bags still on it, and I could see that mine was one of them. No one on the plane, at United, or from ITH notified any of us directly that our bags did not make it on the plane. They let everyone wait at baggage claim at Dulles for bags that weren't coming. Two flights have left from Ithaca to Dulles since my flight and my bag hasn't made it onto EITHER. No one at the Ithaca airport has responded to my or United's help desk calls or messages even though we called during normal business hours (10am and 3pm). I understand the plane ran out of cargo space but the absolute lack of communication or sense of urgency in returning my luggage to me is appalling.

I will be avoiding ITH like the plague from now on since they don't seem to care if people go says without their luggage, nor do they seem eager...

Which one you will do from JFK to Ithaca?:

1. Wait for your night flight (even if you are in Delta lounge) and learn that your flight will be departing next day 8 am? What to do for 10 hours?
2. Try to reach Delta for clarification 2 b) Ask for refund
3. Rent a car (and drive at midnigh?)
4. Change it to Syracuse …but oooppps also cancelled
5. Take Cornell Bus after staing in a hotel in NYC overnight…who pays? Delta? Nooottttttt!

ITH does not have the standard of an international airport! We cannot count on our travel plans there not to get screwed up! Watch out passengers! ITH is not up for it!

Delta flights, from and to Detroit late late late late while the nearby Elmira/Corning Delta Detroit flights always on time. Embarassing for Ithaca.... luggages: pink tags come out with the regular checked in lugagges but they appear after.....why? and if there is rain or snow, pinktagged luggages come out all wet...and btw, you wait 20 minutes....embarassing!

June 2024: Checking ITH-JFK and JFK-ITH Delta flights compared to SYR-JFK and JFK-SYR flights. Ithaca flights always with a delay and Syracuse flights on time. Is this how you make Ithaca airport travel passenger numbers go up? Embarassing...