I live near Washington’s National airport and will often be happy to connect if necessary in order to avoid Dulles airport. Not only is it a good 45 minute drive from downtown, but once you’re there you’re not even close to there.
Public transportation options are limited; there are a couple of bus routes and those connect up to metro. (There will eventually be metro service in one of the most expensive transit projects in US history.)
Taxis departing the airport are part of a monopoly franchise, which means you have double the taxi trips necessary — arriving cabs cannot pick up passengers and take them to the city, and departing cabs return mostly empty. It always amazes me that this doesn’t cause any sort of environmental uproar.
You enter the main terminal and are far from the midfield terminal gates. There’s a an airport train system, but United passengers (who represent a majority of the airport’s patrons) quickly realize that the train was built to drop people off where they intend to build a new terminal at some point in the future.. rather than where passengers actually need to go today. The trains, however, have not eliminated the ‘mobile lounges’ that I’ve always thought of as Star Wars AT-AT vehicles.
Where the mobile lounges are still used, average wait and travel time is 15 minutes.
Searching Dulles Airport Sucks generates nearly 2.6 million hits on Google.
(Putting quotes around the phrase generates over 4000 entries.)
Some interesting facts from the Washington Post:
- They’ve spent $4.1 billion on ‘improvements’ since 2000, and the airport still sucks.
- Dulles has seen a decline in passengers, while enplanements at both National and BWI continue to grow
- Cost per passenger at the airport is double that of National — $25.30 at Dulles vs. $12.72 at DCA — and BWI is just $9.29.
- The airport authority controls 3,000 acres surrounding the airport
Ok, the part about still sucking is my editorial and not from the Post‘s new piece.
The airport authority is also very badly run.
The new report details incidents in which relatives of the vice president of human resources, Arl B. Williams, were hired to work in his department.
It also said proper criminal background checks were not done on new employees, and, as a result, employees with known criminal convictions worked at the authority “in sensitive and management positions for more than a year.
The report also found abuses in the authority’s student intern program, which was used to put non-students on the payroll, bypassing standard hiring procedures.
… the authority’s vice president for information and telecommunications systems, George R. Ellis, and members of his staff accepted more than 25 free trips from a company with a major contract with the MWAA. Among the gifts accepted were tickets and accommodations to the 2009 Super Bowl, valued at almost $5,000. In total, members of Ellis’s department accepted 46 gifts with a total value of at least $12,000.
… From 2009 to 2011, the MWAA awarded two-thirds of its contracts with less than full and open competition. Those included $6 million in sole-source contracts in which board approval was required but not secured — a violation of its lease agreement with the federal government.
In at least 17 instances, contracts were approved after the contractor had started work. In one example, the authority paid a contractor $572 an hour to attend a five-hour board meeting, during which the board voted to approve the selection of the contractor.
When metro reaches Dulles, the 3000 acres around the airport controlled by the airports authority becomes really valuable. And they’re now looking to continue to control it even though they want to relinquish its aviation purpose — they see it as valuable and want to use it as their own cash cow by leasing it out for development. Of course if it no longer has an aviation purpose, it’s not clear why it ought to be controlled by the airports authority and why revenue ought to revert there.
(HT: cguizlo on Milepoint)
Given this…what is the best transportation/airport approach for accessing FTU in April?
You have to be careful to quote the data. It is just almost random. It didn’t tell us nothing.
DCA airport sucks
About 2,590,000 results (0.41 seconds)
Gary, I have to respectfully disagree. You left out 2 MAJOR facts, IAD has BOTH a Chipotle and Potbellys. I suspect the majority of that $4.2 billion went to getting those restaurants but money well spent in my book.
@Frequent Flyer University the B concourse has better options for sure, but most flights (united!) don’t leave from that concourse..
@jeonsm2008 I was being a bit cheeky with that is all…
@chris – DCA!
An airport with a Sullyed reputation.
It’s funny how perspective works. I love Dulles Airport. But then I’ve only taken Skyteam flights out of it, meaning I’ve only had to use the glorious B terminal, which is amazing.
There is a funny old thread on flyertalk about what Dulles ‘really’ stands for:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/washington-d-c-including-baltimore/1092036-what-does-iad-mean-you.html
I’m a big fan of Terminal B. The C/D disaster is an embarrassing East Coast hub for United. Do ANY of the other Star Alliance airlines operate out of C/D? I know Lufthansa and ANA are out of B.
I agree a lot of things about IAD suck (mainly United’s triple wide trailer terminal C/D).
But, I think that your assessment about the public transportation is off.
I fly out of IAD a lot and love the fact that I have access to a major international hub. Also, the 5A bus is amazing. It’s usually on time, fast, and friendly. I live in DC and have no issues getting to/from the airport (with the exception of very late or very early flights).
Getting to/from BWI is the WORST thing in the world. The MARC is great during rush hour only service. Good luck with the bus and metro to/from BWI.
Given the public transit choices for BWI or IAD on an average day, I would take IAD any time over BWI.
But, in all seriousness those mobile lounges and ghetto Terminal C/D have gotta go. They are making progress though.
Now that UA killed the HPN/IAD flights, I really miss the A Terminal (kidding). I do miss 5 Guys for breakfast, after arriving on a redeye (not kidding).
You could change the airport name to many in the northeast and the story would be about the same.
BWI – No useful lounges, Takes all day to get to the rental lots.
PHL – Except for the Envoy lounge another sucker.
Any of the NY airports.
Give me a nice relaxing airport in the midwest, or Charlotte or PHX anyday.
My biggest beef with Dulles is getting there. I live close to DCA so that is always my first choice if possible. For me the public transportation options are bus to metro to bus which is a hassle if you have a lot of luggage. Also if you are traveling on the weekend or a holiday the metro work makes public transportation a nightmare. My last trip to Europe began on a holiday so we ended up driving and paying to park because of the metro work. I have only taken a cab once home from IAD and that was after a 24 hr trip home from India. I just could not face public transportation at that point (and work was paying for it.)
Best thing about Dulles: Udvar-Hazy, but you need a long layover.
There has to be a significant cost savings for me to consider IAD over DCA. I’ll pay a little more to stay DCA, but once it gets ludicrous I’ll make the drive.
If flying into DCA for FTU, how would you get from the last metro stop to the hotel?
I also avoid Dulles in favor of National with connections, but only for outgoing. For incoming, I still much prefer National, but Dulles isn’t quite as nightmarish for arrivals as for departures, maybe because I then don’t have to worry that unpredictably long check-in lines and the crazy amount of additional time to actually get to the gate will make me miss my flight.
@Alanea I believe the hotel has a shuttle that will pick up within a 3-mile radius, but don’t quote me on that. So you should be able to get to the metro stop and then give them a call.
As a Washington-area resident I’m constantly amazed and frustrated that nothing is done to improve or change the MWAA despite its often-publicized and well-known ethical issues, outright corruption and incompetence.
Gary – you may or may not delete this comment (hopefully just edit it) but you may be surprised to know that most black sedan pvt services (including my own, Titan Limousine at http://www.titanlimousine.com) are very good value compared to regular taxi service. Not that much more expensive than regular taxis, but infinitely more comfortable, reliable and convenient to get from Dulles airport to anywhere in the WAS metro area.
Most of us also provide shuttle service for large groups (hint hint .. we may consider special arrangements for FTU 😉
check our 50+ 5* reviews on limos.com @ http://www.limos.com/operators/titan-limousine-sterling#reviews
In the early 2000’s I had to frequently travel to IAD. I had to travel with my project team and with the plant we were visiting ~5 miles from IAD it was hard to justify an alternate. What a horrible experience. This was on United Express inbound to IAD and man, as bad as the A Concourse is today it was much worse – hotter. stinkier, more ghetto feeling. Oh and for a time when they had the, what was it called the “G Concourse”? for UA Express, talk about a dive.
Even today the C and D Concourses look like something from a 2nd-World country. Current B Concourse is nice enough looking and I can use my SkyClub membership for the AF lounge at least. But nothing is convenient, at all.
It’s disgraceful that the airport bears the name of our nation’s capital. Imagine the impression it makes on a first time international arriving passenger!
I agree! I flew out of Dulles to FTULAX and security took 40 minutes – in the priority access lane. Despite living in NW DC my preferred airport is BWI. Only once has it ever taken me longer than 10 minutes to get though security, and that was a Wednesday before Thanksgiving. My usual time is 5-7 minutes not using priority access lanes. I’ve found a great off-site parking lot though I have also used Metro’s B30 bus and MARC and Amtrak with no complaints.
I’ll admit, getting to and from there isn’t the easiest, but I like the actual airport itself. Well, not the C/D terminals, but the A/B are rather nice, airy, and have decent shopping and dining. And I always liked the design of the main terminal.
Gary – A couple of points:
1st – on MWAA — just saw a VP of HR (perhaps a replacement for the person you identified?) posting. Salary is $175k-281k (https://www4.recruitingcenter.net/Clients/mwaa/PublicJobs/controller.cfm?jbaction=JobProfile&job_id=10737) I’ll let you and other commentators be the judge if that is a reasonable compensation for an organization that size.
2nd – Regarding MWAA owning the acreage. It makes sense if done well. Look at DFW. They lease out the land, they also have natural gas wells on property owned by the airport. Of course, they do that so that they can lower landing fees and entice new airlines or new routes. Ultimately, if an airport can diversify their income, they should if properly run, be able to offer a leading product, for minimal cost to passengers/airlines.
3rd – It is hard to beat avoiding the domestic flight torture though when returning from overseas. The customs/re-clearing security to take a connection is a pain.
4th – On transportation, I think you also forgot to mention that there is little competition for parking, so you’re pretty much stuck with IAD’s airport parking, and paying a minimum of $10 per day, vs. BWI where there is plenty of competition with FastPark and others, which brings the price down to $7 a day or less. I can’t speak to DCA’s pricing.
Let me count the ways IAD stinks. Want to rent a car? No problem, just take the 20 minute shuttle to the car rental area. Running late? No problem, just hurry in the building, up the escalator, walk pass the ticket counters, hurry down the escalator, walk to the TSA area, get in line, wait in line for the xray machine,(take this opportunity to count the TSA employees “working” – often 75+) wait, collect your items, search for the small moniter telling you where your gate is, head back down the stairs, wait for the train. When you get off the train head back up the stairs, and good luck catching that flight. I hate that place.
not sur eI agree sure IAD is a blend quite bring / uneventful airport, which I kind of like. DCA is more prone to weather issues, long security lines, busier, small and crapy facilities.
Not sure I get your point…
BTW my home airport used to be CDG (and now is IAD).
As a primarily Delta flyer, I haven’t found too much to complain about, other than the ominous architectural style that makes me think I’m in a Cold War era Soviet facility.
This is the only airport where I’ve ever been detained for additional screening. It was because the TSA clerk who conducted my opt-out pat-down hadn’t changed his gloves in some time, and the swab test came up with a false positive. I got the minor vindication of seeing him get chewed out by his supervisor.
Aside from that one incident, I don’t mind IAD at all, in fact it’s much more convenient to where I need to be than DCA most times I’m in the DC area.
Dulles C/D is the current equivalent of the old Detroit Davey terminal.
Put IAD on the naughty list. Right below United.
Always insist on fresh gloves!
Where to start: How about Bd Mbr H. R. Crawford? What an entitled jerk. Ran into him as DC Zoning Administrator – always demanding special deals.
Living on Capitol Hill, I much prefer DCA, but love the beauty of the Main IAD terminal. (& apparently the trifecta of Potbelly’s Chipotle & 5 Guys)
Am seriously thinking of using IAD for outbound on the 1st Class trip to PVG via LAX to max millage (RT LAX – JFK – DCA). And will check into car service to make 8:30 AM flight. Never flown on AA out of B concourse
And did enjoy winning contest for 50th anniversary to get special access to Etheopian Dreamliner in August
Great column, Gary! Thanks!
Thanks to how bad both Dulles and United are, I ended up earning Chairman’s status with US by always flying SFO CLT DCA. Even with a connection the timing is about the same (I needed to get to downtown DC), I am 100% for upgrades and I really like CLT. (Great burgers at Big Daddy’s.)
The totally incongruous thing about IAD is the absolutely beautiful, soaring main checkin area (perhaps the best airport architecture in the world)….and then you get in the AT-ATs to head to Lagos International, the utterly ridiculous terminals United use.
I live about six miles from IAD, which is less than a $20 cab ride each way. The airport sucks, but it is so dang close to home that it’s hard for me to justify other airports.
Rather than taking a non-stop out of the pathetic C/D concourses at IAD, I’ll connect out of DCA. The only exceptions I’ll make would be 1)only way to avoid an early morning flight out of DCA; and 2)only way to get a non-stop to an international destination. Otherwise, I’ll take a connection out of DCA.
Now, if I’m flying out of the A/B concourse, I’ll gladly make the trek out to IAD, but for C/D, forget it.
B concourse has roaches. big ones.
@jj – and United clubs have been written up in the past for rats (not B concourse)
One Plus for international arrivals
We experienced shorter lines at passport control at Dulles than at JFK or ORD. Maybe they staff it better so Washingtonians don’t complain to immigration dept.
Sounds like someone needed to rant.
I went through IAD Friday afternoon, checked by bag, through security (Pre-check) and was in the united lounge in 20 minutes. While IAD may not be the best airport in the US there are many more candidates for the worst
Oh forgot IAD has great Global Entry. In addition to the immigration kiosks they have a dedicated customs line for GE. Took me maybe 5 minutes to get through immigration and customs. Way cool.
@Jeff I said very bad, not necessarily worst 🙂
Gary,If attending the FTU in April what plans should one make to get to Hilton Tysons Corner and what airport should we arrive.
Never mind
Dulles does suck, but I like going there to visit the Senator lounge.
What an awful airport. It’s distance from DC is the biggest drawback. They really need to remove the word “Washington” from the name because it’s so far from downtown, and instead call it the “Northern Virginia Exurban Sprawl International Airport.”
It is a blight upon our country to call that place the international airport of our nation’s capital. Ugh.
@Andrew – What I don’t get is the name of Baltimore’s airport. Baltimore/Washington International Airport. Try telling anyone in Baltimore that they’re part of the Washington DC area.
I believe it was Lufthansa’s CEO that characterized IAD as “medieval” which IMO was spot on. And the explanation for the abrupt end of the new terminal train – 100s of yards from Term C – solves a puzzle for me.
I hate IAD as much as the next person (one of the few things I don’t miss since I moved away from DC) but let’s give credit for a few things:
(1) Security lines are far better than they were – I usually breeze through the checkpoint behind ticketing. Contra: Midfield checkpoint can backup 20-30m, not good for international arrivals with connections.
(2) The new train to B is quicker than the spacebuggies and useful if you have time to kill and want to visit the wonderful LH lounge.
(3) Dominion beer pubs (assuming they are they still there)
(4) Nonstops to pretty much everywhere across the Atlantic, including the Middle East.
That being said I still prefer DCA – eliminates the need for a car rental or to budget extra time to get to/from IAD during rush hour. There is nothing worse than arriving on a transcon @4pm and sitting in traffic on 66 or 495. Or twiddling thumbs in a mediocre IAD concourse during the frequent 2-3 hour delays for the evening flights headed to fog-bound SFO.
And finally the UA upgrade success % is far higher at DCA – the 1K boarding line at IAD is often half the plane.