The speed of light in glass is the inverse of the index of refraction, or about 60%C. Fiber optics work by total internal refraction. The light travels down the core slower than it would in the cladding. When you figure the makeup of the cable and the rout of the cable and repeaters the fastest NYC to Chicago fiber optic IMHO would be 11 milliseconds. Depending on packet size it would more likely be nearer 50 milliseconds.

Do not worry about Newark Liberty airport. Just a card will not get you access. a pin is also required. consecutive wrong pins and the card is out of the system. Cards access only the doors the holder of the card is allowed . Biometrics may replace pins. Controlled access is not security. It only records who was allowed access and when.

A beacon based system operating on 100KHz. LORAN A was allowed to die out around 1980. Pairs were decommissioned when one of the stations died. Anyone still using LORAN for nav might still use the LORAN charts. I used to repair aircraft LORAN, EDO 345 and others.

There must be an air gap to have an increase in speed over wire. Once fiber is used speed goes down, .8C to .6C. but RFI and VSWR are gone.