Classic pilot squeaky wheel syndrome. I remember pilots on the old DALPA forum complaining about the "long" drive in and out on shorter layovers. I spoke to the hotel guy in ATL and he said that all the FCRs for New York were from pilots complaining that they had to drive downtown for 1300 hour layover and they'd rather save the traffic time and stay at the airport. I asked why he didn't have any complaints about the airport hotel being a real POS with lousy food and nothing around it and he said they did but the complaints for the long drive time and short layover times downtown far outweighed every other complaint in New York, even issues with Golden Touch! He said it's a trial basis for the new times and that the FCRs were clear from pilots not wanting to go downtown for less than 14-15 hours. He said it was an all new hotel next to the old one but in the same area. My takeaway is that I'm going to blame older slam-clickers for not wanting to take the drive downtown. Even after a redeye I'd rather be able to get up and find food somewhere on my own than be held hostage to hotel food. I wanted to blame him but he said the pilots keep complaining and this is the complaint - too long a drive time - Delta's response....more time at the airport. I guess we need to write FCRs saying the pilot I'm flying with is a TOD candidate and they should ignore his whining because the rest of us like to actually be able to leave the hotel and do something.