Washington Dulles Airport

Immigration and baggage reclaim were up to Zurich standards of speed. Although there is no direct access to the Washington Metro the coach to West Falls Church station was quick and comfortable. Coming back security was a doddle. So I found the basics just fine at IAD. The airport could do with internal modernisation and redecoration as it seems stuck in the 70s. Also if you go through security and expect to see a departure lounge you're going to be disappointed. You need to take the moon buggy to your departure pier where there is a proper range of shops. However if you need to eat a meal before travelling better eat elsewhere as the food options seem limited to fast food certainly not what I would want just before a long haul flight.

I fly through to and from Europe every month and have only once had any problem. Could the facilities be more elegant? Perhaps but the fact is that most people want to get in and out as quickly as possible and in my opinion IAD meets that challenge especially given the newly renovated customs halls. Last Wednesday I landed at 15.05; I got on the mobile lounge quickly moved through customs collected my bags picked up my rental car and was at my hotel by 16.30. Flying back out the next day I was through check-in and TSA and at my gate in less than thirty minutes. One simply cannot complain about that. These are not one-off experiences but rather the norm. Even at Thanksgiving and Christmas I found the experience of transiting IAD to be quick and painless. I have found staffing to be adequate to meet most needs but occasionally issues arise that create challenges and to their credit the ground staff try to do their best and usually do so with good humor (there are of course the occasional grouches but they are to be found everywhere). In sum this airport gets more stick than it deserves.

Dulles remains an awful place to arrive at from the dated bus/mobile lounge transporting you from aircraft to the arrivals lounge which is dreary dingy dull and more third world. From disembarking to clearing customs from my United flight took over 2 hours. No toilet facilities until past immigration these are inadequate. Connection to DC remains poor no direct link to the metro. Returning via departures can be deceiving being fooled by the impressive main terminal which fine and artistic at one time now to overcrowded and needs expansion to cope with the passenger volumes. Until the over-deferred rail link links between departure /arrivall concourse with the main building is complete. Dulles remains an awful place and nowhere up to the standard of LHR. Baltimore Washington or Reagan National are better choices.

Overall Dulles seemed a pleasant enough airport to spend several hours waiting for connecting flights. The worst experience at Dulles was waiting in the overcrowded terminal for a connecting flight to Syracuse. There were too many flights leaving at similar times such that the seats were completely full with people standing and sitting on the floor crowding the walkways. Meanwhile many of the flights must have been overbooked as the desk people were frequently asking for people to offer to take later flights. The environment was so noisy and crowded that I ended up waiting in another terminal waiting until just before my flight's departure to head back to the area.

The worst of the worst. When arriving internationally from Vienna first you're greeted by a long walk to the "mobile lounges" and their unfriendly and rude operators next off to the impossibly drab and super-slow immigration not to mention the weirdo baggage reclaim which seems like from a bad movie. We had to catch a connecting flight and scheduled 3 hours for it. Plan to have at least 5 hours time. It's so ridiculous I can't even describe it. Here in Vienna a busy international airport with tons of connections to eastern europe the process of immigration (for non-Austrians or non-EU citizens) baggage claim and customs and hopping in a cab takes about 15 minutes. Avoid Dulles at all costs.

I've flown through IAD hundreds of times. The best you can say about the airport is that it is "in transition" (interminably). We're stuck with the "mobile lounges" until the train system is completed at some point in 2009. Immigration and customs facilities will probably remain inadequate although relocating transfer facilities to the midfield terminal will probably improve matters. Restaurants seating and other passenger amenities will probably remain inadequate until the "temporary" (for the last 20 years) Concourses C and D are replaced by a permanent building. There are some improvements: 1) Most airlines allow online check-in and/or use kiosks at IAD. These can greatly reduce waiting time for check-in and lines are much shorter since these facilities became available. 2) Security facilities have been improved. Look for them not just on the main level but also on the lower level. The lower level security facilities are available for "expert" travelers (travelers who have no children or special needs passengers in tow and who are familiar with the routine) and for those travelers who participate in the Clear Channel pre- screening program. There are some better restaurants and cafes available. Most notable is probably Vino Volo a wine bar and cafe located adjacent to Gate C3. One trick to use if you are transferring between Concourse B and either Concourses C or D is the mobile lounge connector that goes from Concoure A to C. Rather than going to the main terminal walk to the connector to Concourse A and pick up the mobile lounge to Concourse C. Lounges run every five minutes and the transfer takes only a couple of minutes once underway. There's a certain irony about all the walking at Dulles. When the airport was built the concept behind mobile lounges was that passengers should not have to walk long distances to their planes. The longest walk a passenger could expect was 400 feet from entrance into the terminal to the lounge dock. That was fine in the days when 24 gates could serve the entire airport but woefully inadequate for mass transit. Now a passenger parking at Garage 1 and embarking from Concourse B can expect to walk at least half a mile from car to plane. Dulles does have some redeeming values. One is that its huge operations area for planes means that ground traffic delays are seldom extensive. Another is that as bad as things may have been they are improving and likely to improve further.