US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - Relief Coming for DCA Passengers

http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2005/07/11/daily27.html

No more 30 minute rule!

Thank God! My bladder is doing a happy dance. :D

Woohoo!

Great move!

Back to picking aisle seats to get a head start on the bathroom rush

Of course, as soon as MissBumpMe! and I move away from DC.
...Loverly!

This is really good news!
It never made any sense when once considered the rule did not impact BWI & IAD flights.

It always seemed odd to me that other "critical" cities did not have the same restriction.

That's great news. I've been using DCA more since US started the "Big 6" cities promotion. Now, if they can just find a few more parking spaces...

It never made any sense when once considered the rule did not impact BWI & IAD flights.

Nor LGA, BOS, LAS, DAL, EWR just to name a few :cool:

Yippee!! I think it's a great move to abolish this silly rule. No matter how many announcements you make in and out of DCA you always have at least one person get up anyway. It's really not a problem if they're walking towards the back, and if it's a real potty emergency we always let them use the rear lavs anyway. The only people that are upset by that are the f/c pax, but as long as the rule is in place I don't have a problem insisting that they go to the back.
The 30 minute rule was one of the criteria the airlines all had to agree to in order to get DCA reopened after 9-11. That airport stayed closed for so long that I think they would have sold their souls in order to get it reopened.

Oh well, a good change but too late to effect me. Already Amtrak Select and possibly hitting Select Plus this year. This silly rule was one of the reasons I started taking the train (DCA security being the other) and I cant see going back to the shuttle at this point.

Flight connected in DCA on Sunday. What is the deal with the curfew after 10 rule? FA's were hurrying to get everyone on board, then said we were late and had to get special approval. They were talking about leaving bags behind. It took an hour for them to get a ruling about us leaving.

Flight connected in DCA on Sunday. What is the deal with the curfew after 10 rule? FA's were hurrying to get everyone on board, then said we were late and had to get special approval. They were talking about leaving bags behind. It took an hour for them to get a ruling about us leaving.


It is a noise curfew, it was in effect pre=September 11. Some planes are exempt due to low noise levels. I think the airbuses are exempt for instance.

Thanks. So I guess they are allowed to take off if they are a certain weight and probably using a certain runway?

http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2005/07/11/daily27.html

No more 30 minute rule!
At least you don't have to sit next to the guy doing the seat dance since he forgot to go anymore.

Thanks. So I guess they are allowed to take off if they are a certain weight and probably using a certain runway?

I think it might be more based on the engines and their noise suppression or lack thereof, but I dont really know the details.

Is the rule in effect yet? I have completely ignored the pre-flight instruction recently so I have missed what the FA is saying about the 30 minute rule but yesterday a pax of about 65 yo in 1C got up and used the FC loo. I cringed and was waiting for the big diversion to IAD but no FA was up front, the other FC pax were dozing and no terrorist incident occurred and I did not tackle him. :)

Yes it is already in effect.

Yes it is already in effect.

Are you sure? The article says not until at least September.

It never made much sense. 30 minutes from DCA you were locked in your seat, while hundreds of planes going the same way, and thus on a parallel track at the same time, had no such restriction. What really made no sense was the outbound portion. There you were, still locked down in a Shuttle seat, on approach to LaGuardia, while no other plane in the pattern had such a requirement.