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LaGuardia Airport has spent the last few years aggressively trying to convince New Yorkers it is no longer the airport equivalent of a middle seat assignment. Now it’s adding another futuristic flex to the campaign: a life-size AI hologram concierge named Bridget.
This week, the airport’s Terminal B officially launched what it says is the airport industry’s first fully interactive AI hologram designed specifically for guest services and wayfinding—aka you can now ask a hologram where your gate is.
Bridget appears as a hyper-realistic digital airport ambassador who can have natural conversations with travelers. Located near Terminal B’s Food Hall, the hologram can provide directions to gates, shops, lounges, baggage claim and other airport essentials. The system is powered by hologram company Proto and Holomedia’s AI Concierge Wayfinder platform, which sounds vaguely dystopian but is actually pretty practical in execution. At present, travelers can speak with Bridget in English or Spanish, with more languages planned in the future.
And before anyone falls into the robot overlord doomsday scenario, Terminal B says Bridget is meant to supplement—not replace—the terminal’s human guest experience staff. The hologram is also designed with accessibility features, including closed captioning, high-contrast displays and wheelchair-accessible controls.
“Most people think of airports as stressful and confusing environments but LaGuardia's Terminal B leads the world in changing all that,” said David Nussbaum, founder of Proto Hologram, in a statement.
Honestly, he’s not wrong. Modern LaGuardia already feels bizarrely competent compared to its former self. Terminal B, the massive $5.1 billion redevelopment project that opened in phases and wrapped in 2022, has spent the last few years collecting architecture and customer-experience awards while quietly becoming one of the least miserable airports in the region.
Now it also has a hologram concierge named Bridget casually helping people find Auntie Anne’s—which feels exactly like the future air travel promised us decades ago.