Washington National Airport

This airport was quite efficient. I flew to and from Terminal A on Northwest. Prices at the Terminal A store were surprisingly only a bit above average non-airport prices. The airport was also rather calm and Terminal A has interesting architecture. The only downside was that I had to meet a group in Terminal B which is also where my tour bus dropped me off on my return flight. To get from Terminal B from Terminal A I had to walk down a very long narrow and hardly occupied hallway enclosed with glass. This made it very hot especially carrying a 50lb bag. Plus it was November 30 degrees in Minneapolis and 80 degrees in Washington.

It's clean relatively quiet new (except for the ancient Terminal A 8 or 9 gates that will soon be remodeled) and convenient to downtown and the rest of the city. It offers an excellent alternative to dragging all the way out to IAD (Dulles) or the worst BWI (Balitmore Washington). US Airways is the dominant carrier at DCA taking up all of the North Pier and a few gates in the Central Pier but other carriers are plentiful as well - Delta also has a large presence. DCA has four separate security checkpoints allowing quick access to gates large windows for great plane-viewing and a general feeling of modernity and ease.

National airport offers travelers a great deal of convenience especially with a Metro stop connected to terminals B and C. A point of interest is the older terminal A serving NW TZ YX and FL. Reminiscent of the fifties and sixties the architecture of the building resembles the old TWA terminal at JFK. The circular gate area is wonderful with elegantly high ceilings.

Washington Reagan National Airport is my favorite US Airport by far. The airport offers architectural beauty functionality orderly flow fantastic sights and superb access to public transportation and the DC area. Compared to Dulles or BWI I would easily pay a premium to fly National when available. On top of everything else the employees of the airport and the airlines seem to thrive off the sunlight artwork and atmosphere to provide some of the best air-related service I have ever seen.

National is a beautiful airport with a great area for departures on the top level with views out towards Washington. You go down one level to the terminals but there are also a number of great stores before you go through security including things like Brooks Brothers. In each of the terminals there are some decent food options though pricey. However the airport is very clean and kept in good shape which is unusual and appreciated. Complaints: First to go between the different terminals requires going in and out of security a pain if you have a tight connection. Second National is very pricey for certain flights considering it's a little domestic airport. The airport has a heavy US Airways presence but because it brings in a lot of business and political traffic that can evidently afford it both US and other airlines jack up prices on non- competitive routes - the ones I've dealt with included DCA-BNA (Nashville) and DCA-SDF (Louisville). And it's not like the shuttles to Boston and NYC are dirt cheap either. Comparing costs between DCA and BWI says it all often 350$ out of National when only 190-225$ out of BWI (but you have to deal with going out of BWI). But it is incredibly convenient right on the Metro (one of the best subway systems in the country) and an easy cab ride to downtown and easy to get to from all of the Virginia and many Maryland suburbs. DCA is a smaller airport that happens to be the airport in a major city. It's very good except expensive.

Nicest airport I have seen in the U.S. so far. Clean airy large windows restaurants not crowded things move fairly smoothly and staff is friendly. Taking off and landing offers spectacular views of Washington since the airport is located very near downtown d.c. There is even a metro station directly at the airport so there is no need for a taxi if you don't want to spend $20 for a ride. The one setback is that DCA is served only by regional U.S. carriers and Air Canada. If you travel long haul to D.C and have to switch planes try to switch to a flight into DCA - it is way better than flying to dull Dulles International Airport (IAD) about a one hour drive out of town.

Washington National is a beautiful and clean airport. There are numerous concessions and a great variety of restaurants. However National is small and does not have room to extend its runways. Therefore the largest planes are only 757's. No international carriers except for Air Canada come.