Washington Dulles Airport

Customer Reviews

No Skytrax Rating
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Queuing Times 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Staff 12345
Customer rating from 213 reviews
3/10
No Skytrax Rating
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5/10

Washington Dulles Airport customer review

(France)

Arrived from CDG had to walk quite a distance until the bus that brings you to the main terminal! At least immigration was very quick but upon departure on a domestic flight very early next morning I had to wait 30 mins to get through security since only one machine was working! Totally unacceptable for such a big airport.
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
no
na

Washington Dulles Airport customer review

(United States)

Flying out was easy food was OK but on the way back we had to go through immigration and that was the worst experience I've ever had. The foreigners had to wait longer than I did but after entering in all of my information into a kiosk I had to wait in line for an hour and a half. All because I was unlucky enough to be singled out for extra scrutiny (got an X over my name). There was one person handling all of the foreigners one for the X Citizens/Residents but three for the non X'd Citizens/Residents. The total time from leaving the plane until getting our bags was 2.5 hours. The inspector was pleasant but considering that they have fifty inspector booths only manning five of them is just insulting.
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
no
2/10

Washington Dulles Airport customer review

(United States)

Departing from this airport seemed relatively painless (they even have a shiny train to transport you to the gate area) but arrival is a Kafkaesque nightmare due to immigration queues. After getting off the plane it took 20-30 mins just to reach the immigration area due to the wait for and ride with the antiquated mobile lounge. Then queued for a further 2 hours 15 mins at immigration (non-US citizen) - rows upon rows of unmanned desks no assistance or announcements. The queue got even longer behind me so some people will have waited for over 3 hours. After an 8 hour flight expecting families with young children to stand for so long is completely unacceptable. Then a hunt for bags deposited in a random location in the baggage hall and yet another queue for customs. Virtually every non-US citizen arriving that afternoon with a connecting flight will have missed it it is beyond my comprehension how an airline could profitably offer connecting flights in such an absurd environment. Avoid flying into this airport on an international flight.
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
no
2/10

Washington Dulles Airport customer review

(United States)

Arrived from Frankfurt on United at 4 pm on a Sunday. One hour's wait to get through passport control. They have some new arrangement where you first have to scan your passport and get a ticket then get back in line to wait for the usual passport stamp. Why they do this I do not know but I suspect some contractor sold it to the airports authority and is making a good profit. I have flown through many cities and the only place I can think of that made me wait an hour was Lima Peru (but the people were friendly). You come back from a lovely vacation and have a nine hour flight to have people yelling at you to get in this line or the other. No other developed country does this. We are a third world nation.
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
no
7/10

Washington Dulles Airport customer review

(United Kingdom)

Flew from Dulles on 28th October. Impressed with the speed efficiency and politeness of the TSA staff. A major change from previous visits. Otherwise Dulles no worse than other airports. Concourse A need better food outlets.
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
yes
5/10

Washington Dulles Airport customer review

(United Kingdom)

Flown into Dulles again. Queues for Immigration is not a good welcome to USA. Only 6 stations manned with a 1/4 mile queue for US citizens. Otherwise no worse than any other airport.
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
no
7/10

Washington Dulles Airport customer review

(United Kingdom)

LHR-IAD-LHE. Flew into IAD Monday 29 Sept with BA to land just behind a Saudi Airlines plane. Immigration took about 1 hour after the little shuttle bus the up and down various endless corridors and escalators. Collected baggage and checked in with United Express for transfer to Savannah / Hilton Head International. We allowed a 4 hour layover so all relatively painless except the last minute Gate Change from C terminal to A terminal - just to keep the passengers on their toes and awake presumably. Returning from Savannah 13th October we then had the usual interminable walks through various buildings and up and down miles of escalators before collecting the baggage (which did arrived relatively quickly). The only problem was the signage to where we then had to go to check in with BA for our flight home - a very grumpy man at the Information desk eventually grudgingly told us the right direction to head. Check in at BA desk a breeze security queues minimal and Terminal B actually a very quiet and pleasant place to be for a glass of wine before flying home. Perhaps because it was Columbus Day. Would I recommend Dulles? I suppose as much as I would recommend any US Port of Entry or Departure - some are bad and some downright dreadful (Newark Chicago LAX Miami etc etc). Do allow plenty of time if you are transferring flights - we allowed 4 hours and got total peace of mind. And none of them are particularly good but Dulles was as painless as anywhere. My own personal opinion is that ANYONE who manages or is going to design an International Airport should be sent to Changi in Singapore to see just how it should be done. But all in all not too bad.
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
yes
3/10

Washington Dulles Airport customer review

(United States)

I had to attend a meeting on the west coast recently and decided to fly out of Dulles. This airport is in need of a series overhaul. First TSA kept giving me the run around prior to even getting on the line (go here go their etc). Once I finally made it through I began the walk of a lifetime to get to my gate. First a train then I walked and walked for about 20 minutes up and down escalators (A tricky thing to do with luggage). My return to Dulles was about the same hassle with tons of walking to get to my parked car. I will definitely avoid this airport in the future.
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
no
na

Washington Dulles Airport customer review

(United States)

We arrived from Italy last night Tuesday September 30th at approximately 7.30pm. It took two hours to go through customs because there was only one agent processing passports. After an hour another agent showed up and then we were told there was a shift change. During that time more flights arrived from overseas only to wait as we did. At no time during that time were there any communications as to why the delay. Many of us had to have flights changed due to the Lufthansa strike so that caused delays and later flights to begin with. Ironically my husband who has a Global Entry Pass sailed through only to have to wait for me for two hours. Does this mean we all have to apply for one too to avoid this mess. Unfortunately this airport is a necessary evil because the majority of overseas flights are out of here. What a shame being we live to close to BWI and have even taken flights out of Philadelphia where we would have arrived home the same time we did last night.
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness N/A
Airport Shopping N/A
no
9/10

Washington Dulles Airport customer review

(Austria)

Flew into IAD on an UA international flight at 5 pm with a domestic connection next morning. Very positive experience. No wait time at immigration entire process took just about one minute. Baggage arrived a few minutes later and we were out of the airport shortly afterwards. Same positive experience next morning. At 6.30 am no queues at check-in nor at security and flight left on time.
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
yes