Limousine Ride Not as Extravagant as It Sounds

* Upon reading the Burbank Airport commissioners’ story (“Records Detail Airport Panel’s Travel Expenses,” July 22), I would like to offer the following comment:

As a frequent business traveler who has made a half-dozen trips to New York City, I find it interesting that The Times would construe (that airport Executive Director Tom Greer) “billed the Airport Authority $197 for two limousine rides shuttling him and (ex-commissioner Jo) Heckman between the airport and their hotel” as some sort of extravagance.

To an ordinary person, this description may conjure up images of someone arriving at the Academy Awards.

In my experience, a cab ride from JFK Airport to lower Manhattan costs around $42. Assuming you arrive intact and at the correct location, a tip rounds it out to $50.

If Greer and Heckman had taken separate cabs to and from Manhattan, the round-trip cost would have been around $200 anyway.

Perhaps the publicly held Los Angeles Times should poll its executives to see how much they have spent getting from JFK to Manhattan.

KARL DAHLQUIST

Sherman Oaks