Washington Dulles Airport

The airport has received incremental improvements over the past several years but remains a time consuming less than pleasant departure or arrival destination. I have not had problems with customs and immigration but also have not arrived at "crush times. There's still a lot of walking between arrival and the gate. The airtrain and new security areas could be better located to reduce the time and walking. Terminal D has to be reached via the skybus or walking from terminal C. The food choices in terminal C/D has gradually improved but the concourse can be time consuming to traverse. On arrival the ground transportation is confusing and it is un-necessarily difficult to find the Metrobus to DC. I've used this airport many times as a DC resident and as a traveller when I lived elsewhere. I minded it less before the renovations of BWI and DCA. Metro service here will help with access from DC which is either expensive or relies on cramped infrequent public transportation.

I had the misfortune of having to fly into Dulles on a return trip from Copenhagen. Customs is a complete embarrassment. The customs agent would not allow US citizens to use the escalator even those with handicaps. It took 90 mins to get through customs. They didn't care about connecting flights were rude and treated us like cattle. What a shame that this may be the first experience visitors to our country experience. Security was no better. It took forever. They ruined my Kindle. It didn't work after being scanned. The airport is dingy in need of a good cleaning. excessive walking to the gates with no apparent alternative transportation. It is an extremely difficult airport for anyone with special needs. I will avoid Dulles if at all possible in the future.

The first time I flew into Dulles it was outstanding coming from Heathrow on British Airways. For some reason coming from Frankfurt on Lufthansa was a completely different story. Just getting to baggage claim took about 20-30 minutes then after reclaiming our bags we had to hand them to this guy who basically snatched the bag and slammed it onto the conveyor belt like it was some kind of pleasure for him. Security line was forever long and TSA yelling at people and treating them like cattle. A completely different airport than the first time.

It's the queuing that lets the whole thing fall on its face. I think Fast Track for premium pax is as essential entering as it is leaving the country.

After flying 11 hours it took us 2.5 hours to get through immigration - about four hundred people in line and two immigration officers on duty every twenty minutes a flight crew would go to the head of the line causing further delays one young woman in front of us passed out and had to be treated by paramedics. An immigration supervisor was walking around refusing to have any eye contact with the frustrated passengers and didn't seem to care that people were missing their connections due to the long wait. This is an embarrassment for the US to treat it's visitors so badly we will spend our next vacation in Europe and avoid going to the US.

Expectations were low. Things did not get off to a promising start when the buggy took around 30min to leave from international arrival gate to Customs/Immigration. However immigration was deserted to passport control took mere minutes to process by a not very talkative CPB agent. Even though I declared food Customs/Ag inspection was a glance at the bag as I wheeled it past them. Bag drop for the connecting flight was painless. TSA inspection also painless though shoe circus persists. United Terminal not very spacious and quite busy. In all a painless experience.

Arrived from Heathrow to catch a connecting flight to Denver at Dulles. Immigration/customs line was horrifically long and slow moving and the immigration officers seemed in no rush to get people checked quickly. The TSA guards were very stern and impatient. Airport connections area had low ceiling and was very cramped and hot. Took about 1 hour 15 minutes to clear customs immigration and security. Once you are security side things improve with a wide variety of shops cafes and souvenir stores. There was a computer/internet booth available but it would only accept credit cards. There is also an ATM which distributes Euros Swiss Francs British pounds and Mexican dollars. Cannot comment on ground transportation into city as I was only connecting.

It's astounding what a horrible experience coming into the United States through IAD is. If you fly Fist or Business you still end up in a cramped bus where they try to get absolutely everyone off the plane into the single bus. And since you deplane first you get on the bus first and either fight tooth and nail to stay near the bus doors or get crushed to the back. Once in immigration there are no fast-track lanes but there are very nice assistants who do not seem to do much. The last hour of every flight home is full of dread thinking about the ordeal.

Old and very shabby . We were there on 9th/13th January 2011 - still had all the Christmas decorations and trees up! Carpets very old and shabby looking. Toilets clean and only plus point was availability of smoking lounges although these were very few and far between. Immigration on arrival was embarrassing.

In transit en route Copenhagen-Orlando. The queues from the gate to immigration were not queues but masses of people pushing forward in an disorderly fashion. We could not use the escalator as it would just start pushing the crowd standing in front of the escalator. After spending 45 minutes moving 1 inch at a time we arrived in a hall where the lines started. One more hour in this department very unpleasant as some people - especially the ones risking to miss the connecting flight - were very aggressive. Immigration and security staff were pleasant enough but I will not use this airport again if I can help it. Seems more like a third world airport than a US.