FlightDelayed

I promise I searched before starting a new thread. I thought for sure there must be a thread on how bad BWI is. But I couldn't find one.

I normally fly DCA. I am spoiled by my 11-mile, 20-minute drive and the fact that once there, I can get from my car in daily to the gate in minutes. Even if I walk really slowly. From long-term, which is at the end of the runways (no kidding!), it takes maybe 2 minutes more.

Due to scheduling, I had to fly BWI-LGA-BDL yesterday morning (reward for a 5:30 a.m. flight ... a KILLER view of Manhattan at sunrise). Well it is ridiculous. You have to leave the main airport loop to get to the daily garage. There are lots of signs but they are hard to read in the dark because they are on a dark purple background against an even darker sign, and there are no lights over the signs. So I missed the turn, even though I could see the huge garage with a huge bright blue, illuminated P sign. The area around the airport is very confusing. I get myself turned around, go into the garage (I do like that green-light system), and park. I walk to the elevator lobby. The doors to the elevator lobby are broken. They won't open. I go down the stairs. Now I am in a waiting area and nothing to say when the shuttle buses run/arrive. Wait. Why do I need to take a shuttle bus from daily to the terminal? When they re-built this airport, why didn't they put in an underground train? OK, scotch-taped to the window is a faded piece of paper in a grungy piece of plastic and it says that the shuttles start running at 4:01 a.m. Bus arrives, takes about 10 minutes to get to the terminal.

Once in the terminal, I head for my gate. At this hour, security is a breeze. On the other occasions I've been to BWI, the lines have been horrendous and I'm not sure why as they do have plenty of lines.

Get to my gate in Siberia. The whole lower section of Pier D looks like a Soviet-era prison. Some airport worker comes in through the sliding doors and the doors won't close. Blast of cold air. He says to no one in particular gotta call that in.

Overall impression - shabby, run-down, poorly maintained, badly designed.

Often1

Sounds as though OP didn't park in the incredibly convenient lot directly across from the terminal, but rather parked in one of the off-site or far-away shuttle-served lots. The parking across from the terminal is only $22/day (as opposed to $36 and it is a 30-second walk across to the terminal itself. For those not familiar, it's all on a BWI parking website which shows locations too:

http://www.bwiairport.com/en/parking/information-rates

OP liked the security line, but didn't like the gate. He was, of course, at one of the tiny commuter gates for his BWI-LGA hop. No different than being bussed to a CRJ from the US commuter "gates" at DCA.

I happen to hate BWI because I don't consider it to seriously be a DC area airport given travel times. It is designed as and largely serves a different demographic than DCA and IAD. But, there's nothing wrong with the airport itself.

No airport is paradise at 4:00 AM.

cwilson830

Yeah, the lot directly across from the terminal is the Hourly Lot.

RobbieRunner

The last time I flew out of BWI was just post September 2001. The first major holiday after the airports "Re-Opened".
WHAT A MESS. There was at LEAST a 2 hour wait to get through security, and I am being VERY kind with this time statement. 90 percent of us missed our flights that day. Those that got on the places were lucky.

So my last memory of BWI is horrific. It's hard to get over that kind of memory. I assumed that this airport was suffering as most during that time. Sorry to hear your experience was so bad at present.

BearX220

So... you're judging today's BWI by one peak-volume transit you made more than ELEVEN years ago?

IME the only really bad part of the BWI experience is the rental car center. Miles from the terminal, impossible to find, adds 30-40 minutes to arrival and departure times.

sipes23

I've had one arrive/depart at BWI and the rental car center is the only part I remember about it. You may be understating its awfulness.

JY1024

Since this is specific to one airport, we'll shift this conversation over to the DC/Baltimore forum. Thanks! /JY1024, TravelBuzz co-moderator

bma83

So, you hate BWI because you don't consider it to be a DC area airport given the travel times. Question, do you also hate Dulles? They are roughly the same distance away from DC.

bma83

No offense, but this thread is a BAD joke.

BWI may not be perfect (which, come to think of it, I can't name one perfect airport) but I much rather fly in and out of it compared to other airports in the country. Other than the long wait for baggage, I really can't think of anything negative about BWI. If you're flying into Baltimore, BWI is really your only choice. If you're flying into DC of course National is best. But BWI comes in second.

slawecki

dear FD, i usually do not comment on such things, but since you demand close to perfection,i would like to point out to you that your use of english language is pathetic.

if you vote yes for more taxes, i am certain they will add the amenities you desire.

to get bwi turned into the boutique that you think dca to be, get some more congressmen over to bwi. where's the inexpensive long term lot at dca? where is the pickup bus service? why is terminal A so far away? and no train service? why do i always have to wait for a bathroom on C? why are so many small planes serviced out in the weather? my wife slipped and fell in the ice on either b or c. why are the food service lines so long on c in the morning? where does that mob come from at tsa every morning at C?

if you want to actually go somewhere from dca, fly to jfk, ord, lax(woops, no lax) or such , and transfer. great time saving.

IADCAflyer

Depends on where you are. With the White House at Ground Zero, IAD is 25 miles. BWI is 31 to 40 miles depending on which route you go (BW Parkway v. I495). I know of nobody in my office who favors BWI over IAD unless 1) they live close to BWI or closish (i.e., anything east of Georgia Avenue) or 2) the fare difference is in the hundreds of dollars. Even then, the notion of trekking up the BW parkway to then be stuck in traffic owing to a major wreck (which seems to happen all. of. the. time.) counsels against BWI.

Granted that I-66 is never guaranteed to be a joy ride, but I find the risks inherent in taking I-66 and the Dulles access road are much less than 295.

violist

What's pathetic about OP's English? s/he got a point
across expeditiously and without committing any major
grammatical crimes (one dubious tense shift, if you're counting,
one that I would probably do myself).

As far as the jokiness of the airport goes, the far reaches of the
already foul D pier are the stuff that horror movies are made of.
More than enough to make one run screaming into the welcoming
arms of the Airspace Lounge.

slawecki

the solution is to bring all of bwi and iad for that matter to dca. all nice and close. now, this would require extending the two "main" runways to 8 or 9000 ft. there is plenty of room in the potomac for this. a lot more terminal space can be generated in the south parking lot. and parking can be generated in garages replacing the unusued space at Christal city, potomac yard, and paving most of the rest of the potomac.

would no longer be a happy little airport, but something akin to LHR. has the op ever done lhr?

Orion

I live three miles from DCA but I sometimes use BWI to get lower fares. I am familiar with the journey in my car and the parking choices at the airport. I like the BWI facility. My gripe with all of the WAS airports is the lack public transit that is convenient for me.

brendog

I would have to be saving many hundreds of dollars to even consider BWI. From just north of Georgetown, I can get to IAD in roughly 30 minutes off peak and 50ish during rush hour (Avoiding 66, of course...). BWI is easily 75 minutes off peak and roughly two days during rush hour (Exaggerating only slightly...).

As far as the contention that it's a dump, it really depends on which part of the airport. The WN terminal A is actually decent, while D is a massively rundown remnant of the former US mini-hub pre-9/11, which was never nice to start with.

I flew out of the evil 35A at DCA this week, which, while it's awful, is easily made up for by the 20 minute taxi ride home on a Thursday morning and the river visual approach.