B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 344
Confusion; Communication Breakdown; Situational Awareness
ATC Issue All Types; Conflict Ground Conflict; Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance
Flight Crew Became Reoriented; Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification
Human Factors; Company Policy; Airport; Procedure
Landed in LGA and contacted Ramp to make sure we were cleared in. The Ramp cleared us in after another carrier aircraft. I then called Ground Control and told them we were cleared in then called Company for the on the Ground call. There was normal LGA congestion. Ground cleared us to the ramp; after giving way to a few aircraft and a switch over to the inboard taxiway. It took about five minutes from the time I contacted Ramp to the time we were approaching the ramp. We could not see any aircraft on the ramp so we assumed the (other carrier) aircraft was already clear of the ramp so we proceeded in slowly.The nose had just entered the ramp when we saw the small commuter aircraft coming from around the corner. He had been hidden by the building; so we moved over to the right so he could get out. Ramp scolded us and told us to do a 180 back out the ramp. We told him we could do that; no problem. We did not move because we needed to talk to Ground Control first. The other carrier aircraft Crew said there was plenty of room to get by us. The left the ramp and we continued to the gate.I do not care for our policy to call so many people in such a short period of time in LGA (Ground; Ramp; Company). Calling Ramp such a long time before you are even close to entering could lead to confusion. I wish we could call Ramp one time; as we were approaching the ramp like we do at every other airport that has a ramp.
B737 First Officer reported a ground conflict while entering the ramp due to confusing company and ATC policies.