WASHINGTON DULLES AIRPORT review : 8 September 2008 : by P Green
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Customer Rating : 1/5 |  |
A chaotic and disorganized disaster. Arrived from Copenhagen, transferring to Toronto. I was herded
onto a pod that refused to move until we were packed up like a can of sardines (with no air
condition). Then 90 minutes waiting in line (again, with no air condition) in immigration, to apply
for a VISA - from a very rude immigration officer - to be able to transfer planes!! Then a "baggage
reclaim" which was beyond chaotic. Bags from a dozen flights were all mixed up and spread out in the
undersized baggage hall, making it more of an obstacle course. Then a confused series of signs
leading to the second pod!. This airport is a bad joke unworthy a developed(?) country. It will mess
up your blood pressure, your connecting flights and your luggage. (Both of by bags were “lost” in
IAD and put on a later flight) Avoid at any cost!
WASHINGTON DULLES AIRPORT review : 5
September 2008 : by D Greenaway
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Customer Rating : 1/5 | |
Arrived on Virgin Atlantic, the mobile pods still in use. Two flights arrived on stand at the same
time, this meant about six hundred passengers were herded down to the double pod docking station,
waited for twenty minutes for the first pod to arrive, no air con while we waited. Then down to
immigration, two hours to get through into baggage reclaim and we were on the second pod !. Where so
many cases had accumulated, some had been removed from the conveyor. Passengers were standing for
ages on the side watching out for their luggage not knowing that it had been taken off and stacked
on the far side. Another long queue for customs. A truly dreadful airport, one to avoid if at all
possible.
WASHINGTON DULLES AIRPORT review : 19
August 2008 : by M Simons
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Customer Rating : 1/5 | |
Used IAD to transfer from a UK flight to an Orlando flight. Did not use mobile lounges but had to
walk up a very thin corridor about wide enough for two people. Then down in to what appeared to be a
building site for immigration. This queue took over an hour before being herded in to another wider
corridor to get through customs. Then had to re-check bags and make way to connecting flight. At the
time or arrival it must have been rush hour with the terminal looking like a rugby scrum. Most
flights had passengers on standby with several irate conversations taking place with United agents.
For my flight which was fully booked they had a wait list of 39!! people. There was a major shortage
of seating with many sat on floors and huge queues for any of the very small eating establishments -
major lack of facilities. We ended up eating burger king food sat on a floor - lovely after a long
transatlantic flight. I believe building work is due to last another year so my advice would be to
avoid IAD if at all possible
WASHINGTON DULLES AIRPORT review : 15
August 2008 : by A Stubbs
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Customer Rating : 4/5 |  |
We arrived into IAD on a Virgin Atlantic flight from London Heathrow. Very impressed. Straight from
aircraft on to bus which took us to immigration and baggage reclaim. Immigration was very friendly
and the officer even made nice, polite conversation. Baggage was going round on belt as we arrived
at the carousel so wait for luggage was minimal. Queue for customs was a little longer but nothing
serious.
WASHINGTON DULLES AIRPORT review : 12
August 2008 : by A Johnson
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Customer Rating : 2/5 |  |
Despite the fact that it uses IAD as a hub, United Airlines is stuck in the C/D Midfield Concourse,
which was intended as a temporary terminal when it was built in 1983 but still remains today, 25
years later. The concourse is accessible only by riding the mobile lounges, which depart from the
main terminal on their schedule, not yours. Transferring flights often requires a long walk from one
end of the concourse to the other. There is only one moving walkway in the entire concourse and it
is often out of service. Shopping facilities and dining are rudimentary compared to the modern
generation of airports. The tiny duty-free shops are embarrassing by international standards. The
atmosphere in the C/D Concourse is dank, stuffy, and depressing, with all the charm of a suburban
commercial office park. The carpet especially is in dire need of replacement. By contrast, the B
Concourse is gorgeous, with high ceilings, lots of glass, polished floors, and what is essentially a
small-scale shopping mall. These amenities would be great for connecting passengers on United who
have time to kill between flights, but the airport authority instead insists on using the B
Concourse for origin/destination passengers on other airlines.
WASHINGTON DULLES AIRPORT review : 2
July 2008 : by Thomas Graves
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Customer Rating : 1/5 | |
Washington Dulles Airport is a disaster. Disorganized and chaotic, it is best avoided, though fliers
of United don't have many options on the East Coast. JFK comes out looking good in comparison.
Security lines are long and slow-moving, and the completely assinine mobile lounge system in use at
Dulles gives passengers endless opportunities to line up, wait, get jammed into confined spaces and
be inconvenienced. An "automated people mover" (2 miles with 4 stations) has been under
construction at Dulles for over 8 years, and shows no sign of completion yet. I can only conclude
that the mobile lounge driver's union is extremely well-connected politically.
WASHINGTON DULLES AIRPORT review : 22 May 2008 : by Jim Kresge
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Customer Rating : 2/5 | |
VCE-MUC-IAD - I have seen airports more organized in Central and South America and Africa than the
experience I had coming back to the US from Europe . Unfortunately I arrived during the afternoon
peak and the line in the main terminal for Immigration and Customs was outrageously long. It all
started at the mobile lounge to go from Terminal C to Main Terminal customs. To this day I still do
not understand why United Airlines insists on filling the mobile lounges to the brim and holding the
lounges for up to 15 minutes after the last of the passengers deplane. The worst part was there was
another lounge next to us with a driver there sitting empty and a 3rd lounge arrived before we even
left. So it was almost 30 minutes from the time the door opened on the plane before we go to the
Main Terminal to begin the customs and immigration odyssey. After arrival, it took about 25 minutes
to run through the cue to get to Immigration for US Citizens and the line for visitors was moving
much slower. After getting through Immigration I proceeded to the belt where the bags from our
flight were supposed to be. When I got to the belt there were no bags on the belt but there were
bags scattered all over the floor from various flights that had arrived from destinations all over
the world. After looking around for about 5 minutes I was able to locate my bag and then the fun
really started. There were people crowding all over the place to get through the 3 agents they had
working customs. 3 agents with a International Arrivals terminal that had at least 2000 or more
people in it. The worst part about it was there were a group of 5 Customs agents who were joking and
chatting off on the side who could have assisted with either forming more organized lines to present
customs forms to the agents or could have been working with their fellow agents to move more people
out of the door or to secondary screening. There was absolutely no organization whatsoever and you
had people crowding into customs with their baggage carts and luggage. A couple of lines did form
but they barely moved and most people broke out of them and started heading directly for the mass
forming at the yellow line to clear customs. After about waiting 15 minutes in line another Customs
agent began taking forms and either clearing personnel or moving them to secondary screening. They
could have used 3 or 4 more plus some ropes to form lanes for people to file into. Total time from
de-planing to clearing customs for a US Citizen in our nations capitol main international airport
was 1 hr and 30 minutes for someone who was travelling with one medium size bag. I can only imagine
what our visitors must think when they see this type of operation in the USA of all places.
Washington Dulles Airport review by Barry McKay
15 April 2008 Customer Rating : 
Now that I have had a few days to recover I would like to alert your readers to the appalling
experience that I underwent at Washington's Dulles International airport en route home to Ottawa
from Buenos Aires. I was obliged, through circumstances beyond my control, to fly via Washington.
The Southbound trip went well as I pre-cleared Customs and Immigration in Ottawa. However, coming
back was a totally different experience. I was told at Buenos Aires that I would have to pick up my
luggage at Washington and clear Customs and Immigration there. This despite the fact that I was
traveling on a US carrier and all of my hand luggage was thoroughly checked before boarding in
Buenos Aires. After a ten hour overnight trip we arrived at Washington at 6-15 am and the fun
started. All passenger were herded like cattle into a large holding room where we waited to clear
Immigration. All non US residents were obliged to go through the same gates, no matter whether they
were merely transitting through the place, as was my case, or landing in the US as was the case with
the majority. There were maybe 200 people waiting for clearance and just two officers to handle
them. As those landing in the US were required to undergo a thorough interview and have their finger
prints taken it was an extremely long wait. After about 45 minutes the line had barely moved, but
fortunately the officers who had been handling US citizens became free so they then commenced
processing the non-US "great unwashed", whose numbers by now had swelled considerably as several
other flights had by now arrived. The additional officers certainly speeded up the process but, what
I found most annoying was, that when I finally was processed by an officer I was through in about 10
seconds due to my in-transit status. An hour's wait for a 10 second process!. If it is really
necessary to go through this farce than why do they not provide a specific desk to clear in-transit
passengers? However, the fun was far from over as everyone was then funneled into another area where
we were told to find our luggage from a large heap, lug it about 50 yards where we had to put it
into another heap where, hopefully, someone would sort it and ensure it went on the correct flight.
What the rational for this was I have no idea as my bags had already traveled for 10 hours on US
carrier from Buenos Aires and could have quite simply have been transferred to my Ottawa flight.
There appears no possible way that personally dragging my luggage 50 yards did anything at all to
improve safety for anyone. I next joined another mass of people all waiting to go through Customs.
There were people in wheelchairs, everyone was pushing and shoving, officials were yelling and
screaming and it truly resembled Bedlam. When I finally got to the screening area I handed in all my
hand luggage for X-raying, took my computer out of its case as instructed, took off my shoes,
jacket, emptied my pockets and ventured through the magnetic screening device. The alarm went off
and I told an extremely loud and angry women who was monitoring the process that I had an artificial
hip and it was this that had triggered the alarm. No matter, she yelled at me to take off my belt
which I duly did - then my watch and copper bracelet. Of course the alarm still went off and she got
even more angry and yelled that I would have to undergo a "personal search". This was carried out by
one of the male personnel and, amazingly while this was happening I noticed that next to me another
70 year old white male was undergoing the same treatment - his artificial hip having also triggered
the alarm. I can only assume that 70 year old white guys with hip transplants must pose a serious
identified terrorist risk - some kind of "medical profiling"maybe? Finally, after two hours of this
nonsense, I was finally free to board the Air Canada flight to Ottawa. While I am well aware that a
whole new air safety industry has mushroomed since 9/11, and that basic safety precautions are
necessary, I cannot for the life of me figure out how any of this bureaucratic run-around helped
make the world safer for anyone. I do know that in years of traveling the world, this is by far the
worst situation I have ever encountered. I also know that, in future, I shall avoid transiting
through Washington like the plague and I would strongly recommend that others take the same approach
in order to avoid an extremely unpleasant and frustrating experience..
Washington Dulles Airport review by Alan Chick
5 April 2008 Customer Rating :
To balance my positive report on arrivals, I have to report that departures at 2pm three days later
was dreadful. I used the premium passenger line and it took 30 minutes to reach the x ray machine.
The regular queue was at least three times as long and I would estimate at least an hour to reach
the machines. People were trying to cut in because their flight time was approaching, but a lot of
people were in the same situation. The security point even when fully open does not seem to have the
capacity to cope.
Washington Dulles Airport review by P Basil
5 April 2008 Customer Rating : 
Have been using Terminal B frequently due to flying on Virgin America. This seems like two different
airports. Terminal B is new and has every possible amenity, with comfortable seating areas, good
lighting, and a vast array of restaurants. Terminals C/D are long in the tooth. The moon-pod people
movers break down a lot (I've had to be "rescued" three times in the past year), and the new train
due in 2009 will be very welcome.
Washington Dulles Airport review by Alan Chick
2 April 2008 Customer Rating :
Although some of the aspects of this airport are rather strange (moon buggy mobile lounges) my
experience at immigration was very positive at 10.45 in the morning. No long queues and people
quickly moved to U'S immigration desks as they became available. Through in less than 5 minutes and
greeted with a Welcome to America. I was pleasantly surprised and outside in less than 30 minutes
Washington Dulles Airport review by D Barbisch
31 March 2008 Customer Rating :
The worst airport when it comes to essential services, much less amenities! People are rude, lines
long, no subway access and parking is impossible. I am local and avoid when at all possible.
Dulles has no non-airport parling, so cost of parking is high, cabs are expensive $60+ to downtown
DC, and Shuttle vans are $30. Having said all of that, you can find a few hidden traportation
options - metro BUS (5A) actually does service Dulles, and it is only $3.10 (and often faster) to
get to Rosslyn or L’Enfant where you will find an easy transfer to the subway system or reasonable
cab service to downtown DC. A couple of tricks - You have to find the bus pick up stop - it is
located at curb 2 E. There is no place to secure luggage, so if you are traveling with more than a
small suitcase you may want to reconsider. The bus is full of commuters and they can become quite
rude if your suitcase is in their way!
Washington Dulles Airport review by Jay Sitlani
12 March 2008 Customer Rating : 
While Dulles is still pretty hopeless, there appear to be a few signs of improvement. For one, you
only have to show up 2 hours prior to your evening international departure and not 3-4 hours as it
used to be, because the airport now has a few more security check points at the security check area.
While the security area is still a frustrating bottleneck, at least there are a few more personnel
and scanners. Customs and immigration upon arrival appears to be quicker and more efficient. Time
between stepping off the 6:30 PM Lufthansa arrival from Munich and getting into my car at the
adjacent parking lot was precisely 30 minutes. It helped that this not-so-full flight was the sole
international arrival at that hour. I can't attest to the speed and efficiency of the agents when
the majority of international flights arrive between 11 AM and 2 pm.
Washington Dulles Airport review by Z Shah
12 March 2008 Customer Rating : 
Dulles is a study in contrasts. While the main terminal and the midfield concourse A/B are quite
impressive the mobile lounges, midfield concourse C/D, and the International Arrivals Building are
horrendous. While the mobile lounges and midfield concourse C/D are slated to be retired that is not
the case with the International Arrivals Building which should probably be twice the size than it
actually is. Due to the small size of International Arrivals Building you can get long lnes at both
immigration and customs. Dulles has the potential to be an impressive facility, but unless it can
get a proper International Arrivals Building you can expect chaos if two or more international
flights arrive at the same time.
Washington Dulles Airport review by Randy Fleming
10 March 2008 Customer Rating :
IAD continues to act the money-monger. Pay-for carts for customers (see London Gatwick on customer
service model). Pay-for WiFi service for customers (see Tampa International for true WiFi customer
service). As a matter of principal, I refuse to patronize their other services as well.
Washington Dulles Airport review by Kingsley Utande
2 March 2008 Customer Rating :
Flew out through IAD enroute AMS with KLM in Jan. Was my first experience with IAD, and having gone
through the comments here, braced myself for the worst. To start with, check-in was a breeze, with
the only sour point being when the porter "hinted" that I give him more than $10 for pushing in my
bags. The horror came after checking in. Firstly, the crowd, and after spending 50 minutes snaking
thru the line, TSA had a brainwave and opened up 2 additional lines. Secondly, the distance to the
gate is far and there were no trams/trolleys like you get in Amsterdam in sight. The duty free shops
are nothing to write home about and I could barely wait to get on board my flight. Was initially
considering making IAD my entry point to the United States, but after the long drive from Maryland,
I'll stick with BWI, although that means my options would be limited to BA or a Northwestern partner
flight for KLM.
Washington Dulles Airport review by A Kremer
28 February 2008 Customer Rating :
Leaving Dulles was a pretty good overall. It was a quick check in; screening process and the
terminal was at least pretty nice. Coming back is the issue. I was on an international flight via
Heathrow and got stuck in the customs area. After getting off you are herded into one of their tram
systems. Then you arrive at customs and are welcomed home by some of the rudest people. The workers
were yelling at people in the area. Clearly they had never taken a communication class, or trained
for it doesn't matter how loud you yell; that foreign individual is not going to magically learn
English! Guy queuing the line was upset about being there. Refused to repeat the numbers and just
pointed at the floor, when people didn't know where he would yell, 'its right here.' Made me wish I
was back on the plane. Then the recheck came and was singled out for the A check - which took
another 20 minutes even though they only checked 4 people in front of me.
Washington Dulles Airport review by F Harrison
23 August 2007 Customer Rating :
Washington Dulles is a miserable airport. After an 8-hour flight from Heathrow, we were subjected to
an agonising 2 hour wait in immigration complete with surly, rude and disinterested staff. After
being cleared by security we then come across a mountain of luggage which we have to delve through -
from at least 4 flights all mixed up - grab our bags and then queue again to recheck our bags -
'recheck' means hand the bag to an airport worker, who throws it onto a moving conveyer belt. This
whole process took about 3.5 hours. Of course we missed our connecting flight. Rude staff, unpleasant
atmosphere and in urgent need of a rehaul. A wholly unpleasant way to enter the US.
Washington Dulles Airport review by U Ekernas
23 August 2007 Customer Rating :
I don't think Dulles is anyone's idea of a great airport, but it's not awful. The two biggest
downsides are the atrociously long security lines, and the lunar mobiles that are used to transit
between terminals (except for the walkway to Concourse B). A new security mezzanine and train system
are scheduled to open in 2009, which should hopefully alleviate these problems. On the other hand,
Dulles does have the best selection of transcontinental and (especially) international flights of any
of the DC-area airports, and the benefits of taking a non-stop flight often outweigh the extra time
spent waiting in line. Local transportation links are adequate (and will improve if/when the Metro is
extended to Dulles), and parking isn't exorbitantly expensive.
Washington Dulles Airport review by Michael Steinfeld
23 August 2007 Customer Rating :
I am a Dulles employee, and can confirm that with the D2 Development, Dulles does have that
construction feel to it. I believe that by 2009 with the opening of the new subway system, Dulles will
become a much better airport that will amaze. The Airport Authority is currently undergoing many
changes to improve passenger assistance in all aspects, and receiving new ideas each day. We
understand that you have short layovers, or at least do not want to wait in a Customs Hall for hours.
In Passport Control, we have tactics to move people to the lines where they will have the shortest
wait. As with most plans, this is not always perfect; people change lines, officers need to close
their desks for various reasons, people don't have their forms filled out, we may confuse line
numbers, etc. I agree there is no excuse for a shortage of officers, and we have a lot of people that
are trying to complain to CBP about that. It is absurd that you have to wait in line with your
baggage for Customs, and we are going to try a different system with many improvements very soon
(maybe a few weeks).
Washington Dulles Airport review by Brian Smith
1 February 2007 Customer Rating : n/a
Transited Dulles NRT-IAD-RDU over the Christmas holidays. It is a fairly basic airport, but from the
looks of the construction cranes and the tunnel for the terminal connection trains, it could be a
lot more convenient in the future. The buses are weird looking and odd, but they work. In terminal B
where ANA leaves from, there were lots and lots of food options and a few shops. Yes, the duty free
is pathetic. I guess there's just not enough demand? The United Express gate area (A) was
excrutiating with fire alarms going off all the time, overused and very, very cramped, unlike the
spacious terminal B. I will fly through IAD over ORD or JFK/EWR in the future despite it's
drawbacks. Much more manageable than the other major hubs. The Tokyo ANA flight arrives early in
the morning, so the immigration being crowded was not an issue. It was a ghost town.
Washington Dulles Airport review by Alasdair Brooks
29 January 2007
Arrived at Dulles from Sydney via Incheon. It wasn't a busy time for
flights, and we arrived at immigration just as the last people from an
Ethiopian flight cleared immigration, and were ourselves cleared just as
a flight from Gatwick arrived. Yet despite being the only flight
queueing up to clear, immigration was agonisingly slow. Initially, only
2 desks were processing non-citizens, and even after the citizen queues
had cleared, at best only a third of desks were staffed. The problem
wasn't that fingerprinting slows the processing of people down, nor was
the problem devoting most resources to US citizens (a practice familiar
in many western countries) - it was simple understaffing. Worse, in one
case where a woman had been waiting in a sub-queue that she had been
directed to by airline staff for half an hour, when she reached the
front of that queue - and was at this point the last person waiting to
be processed in her queue - the employee staffing that desk announced he
was taking a coffee break, and forced the woman to join another queue.
In last place. To his immense credit, our immigration official did his
best to be friendly once he actually was able to process us, but at this
point we'd been waiting for an hour and a half (this was when just one
flight was being processed, remember), and were beyond caring. I
frequently fly to the US, and this was the worst case of understaffing
I've even seen at immigration - and it was during ordinary working
hours. Compare this to my arrival back at Sydney in January where there
were multiple flights arriving from Asia at the same time, and where I
was processed through the non-citizen queue in 15 minutes.
Leaving Dulles, on the other hand, was much easier. I went through
security late morning (January 16), and there was almost no queue, which
I realise is an uncommon experience, but I at least felt compensated for
my dreadful arrival. Finding my gate was simplicity itself, and
everything was well organised. The duty free shop is fairly pathetic,
but Dulles shares that characteristic with most US airports.
Washington Dulles Airport review by Kuhan Kandiah
26 January 2007
Quick and easy transfer between the arrival gate and immigration on
those huge buses. Immigration was fast and efficient with good timings
for baggage clearance. Simple and easy airport to fly into.
Washington Dulles Airport review by Ray Shields
18 January 2007
Travelled thro IAD from London Heathrow on the 8 Dec 06 - not only was
it horrendous it was very frightening in that a catastrophy almost
occurred that could have caused serious injury. Upon arrival the
immigration area for onward connections was packed to the rafters. I
realised when I got to the top of the escalator that there was a major
problem in that PAX at the bottom of the escalator were unable to move
but PAX at the top had not yet become aware of this. I used the stairs
down and could hear a lady frantically shouting for somebody to hit the
emergency stop as people were beginnng to get crushed in the throng of
passengers as the escalator continued to pile people into each other at
the bottom - IAD staff could not have cared less and finally a PAX
located and hit the emergency button and avoided what could clearly have
been a very serious incident. Cleared immigration in a reasonable 50
mins.......then came the horror's of security. Having been stuck in an
aircraft for 8 hours, following security at LHR, I really would like to
know what the US security think we may have been able to add to our
luggage and person during that time. IAD layout is totally illogical as
you have to collect your luggage between the immigration and security -
anybody travelling with hand luggage, as I was, has absolutely no chance
of bypassing the copious amounts of PAX trying to retrieve luggage,
scattered all around the floor, to take thro security. I was concerned
as people were becoming very aggressive and the security made the
situation far worse. There was a large family in front of me who had
all their luggage piled on the carts only to be very abruptly told to
return the cart and go to the back of the queue with their luggage.
This family were on the verge of tears as they had already missed their
connecting flight for their holiday to Orlando. I realised that these
people did not have enough people to carry all their luggage. Security
would not budge and were downright rude - no carts at all allowed into
that area - any PAX with carts were made to return said cart and then
join the queue again - no wonder it was getting nasty! I eventually
made it through security and then ran to the moving lounger and onto my
connecting flight where I could hear my name being called again and
again. I actually boarded my connecting flight , after being pulled up
by one of the airline staff at the bottom of the aircraft who was
genuinely concerned that I was going to have a heart attack due to my
running and being desperate to make my connection, as the pilot should
have been leaving the runway! It was a vile start to my holiday and
left me feeling quite sick on the flight down to Fort Myers. Never,
ever, ever again will I take the LHR-IAD-RSW route. Please, if you have
read this far and can make an alternative route then do so. IAD is a
disgraceful, dank, dirty airport with disrespectful security staff and
is an embarrassment to the USA.
Washington Dulles Airport review by Bob Motto
3 January 2007
I recently flew through IAD from LHR to AOO, once you have cleared
Immigration & Customs you now have to go Land Side to re-check you
baggage if you have a connecting flight! IAD no-longer have an airside
check in for passengers with a domestic connection. For an
international airport this is not good, the amount of international PAX
who pass through here is very large, when I travelled there were a large
number of PAX who were not able to make thier connections due to Airline
Check In Queues & TSA Security which can take up to two hours. I will
no-longer travel through IAD now & I recomend that any PAX who do have a
domestic connection within the US avoid IAD at all costs.
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