slawecki

why is sas responsible?

i would strongly recommend you do not get off the main track and into the wilds of arlington county. you may never be seen again.

do not bring any checked luggage. that will add a lot of time to your escape,.

JimInOhio

I appreciate all who weighed in with their good thoughts and it convinced me to ask UA to find another way to get me and my wife home (as they couldn't get the IAD-CLE flight unblocked for award travel). We have to get up even earlier in the morning in Istanbul and pay even more in taxes but it will be worth it. Thanks again.

gnaget

Actually this would be quite easy to do. With a 15:15 arrival, and SAS should be early this time of year with tailwinds, then you can assume getting a rental car by 16:30 is reasonable with some margin.

It should not take more than 40-45 minutes via 495 thanks to the HOT lanes. So you are in DCA at 17:15 with time to spare.

Furthermore, Friday is not too bad in the DC area because government workers (and many of their subcontractors) get every other Friday off.

A visitor can use the HOT lanes. You just need to go online and pay afterwards. With a car service or taxi then I don't know if they are willing. I asked Uber drivers and got a vague response (not needing it when I used them).

p.s. Taking "back roads" in Arlington would entail Glebe Rd, for example. Google GPS suggests 395 to Glebe when I go to DCA.

DeafFlyer

I don't see how the HOT lanes will help at all. Why would they need to get on 495 at all. The only way I see they would get on is if they were heading to the GW Parkway, but even that wouldn't be helped much by using the HOT lanes. Are you thinking of taking the HOT lanes to 50 east?

Often1

By IATA convention of at least 50 years, if a carrier causes a misconnect, it is that carrier which is responsible for rebooking. I am not aware that this has changed in the past week.

Here, if SAS is late and causes OP to misconnect on UA, it is SAS which would rebook OP on a later flight (which would be xIAD as there are none xDCA).

slawecki

i think iata convention requires a legal booking. i presume there is a legal connection time, IAD arrival, DCA connection. is it less than 2 1/2 hrs?

someone mentioned the favorable wind to reduce the flight time. we had a tail wind, once zhr to iAd . only time flight path was below england. most flights follow great circle, and buck the head winds on the europe to dulles flight. these flights do usually arrive on time.

drewguy

For future reference, above is what typically makes most sense. Another alternative is to take I-66 to exit for VA-110 just before Roosevelt Bridge, which turns into Route 1 in Crystal City, and then use the airport exit from Route 1.

scubadiver

From Route 110 get on I395 heading into the city. Stay right. Immediately get off I395 onto the George Washington Parkway, southbound. It is not well marked. Don't miss, it is the first exit. If you miss you'll end up in DC.

Take the DCA exit from the GW parkway. This will avoid all the traffic lights in Crystal City.

gnaget

No, the trip should take ~30 min via I-66 with light traffic. If traffic is bad then you can go I-495 to I-395, which will take 40 min, and the key about the longer route is that the travel time is guaranteed thanks to the HOT lanes.

Right now at 16:10, Google says 39 min via I-66 with some congestion vs. 44 min for 395/395. You can do the latter in 40 min and with HOT there is no chance of hitting congestion.

I also advise against taking 110 from I-66. That can get ugly. It is red right now on a section in Google maps.

DeafFlyer

I see what you mean now. I've never thought of going that way.

BearX220

The problem with this counsel is that if you hit the road cold, with no prior knowledge, in heavy traffic, it's bewildering, and if you miss the GW and find yourself crossing the Potomac it's potentially a 20-30 minute penalty to recover. (Though it's less confusing coming back across the river in the other direction; the right-hand exit for the GW and SCA is clearly marked and you have plenty of time to get into the proper lane.)

dchristiva

Considering the downside if one misses the exit to the GW Parkway south from 395, I would advise any out-of-towner to stick with Route 1 (Jefferson Davis Hwy) even if he/she has to endure a light or two. I believe that there are only three potential traffic lights from the time 110 turns into Route 1. The longest would probably be the one at 23rd St. Get through that light, however, and the next right after the Exxon station is for DCA.

Plus, the traffic backup on the ramp from 110 to 395 going into D.C. can be very busy at rush hour. One might think that traffic would only be bad coming out of the city, but it's often a nightmare going in, too.

dchristiva

I get what you're saying, but given that there are only 3 lanes of traffic going northbound on 395 at that hour, and it backs up badly, the time saved in the 495 HOT lanes getting to 395 is apt to be lost on 395 between the Beltway and DCA. As others (including myself) have said, there's really no good way to get from IAD to DCA at that hour. But I would definitely use Google Maps or Waze and choose whatever route it recommends based on the real-time traffic conditions.

gnaget

395 North will be fine. It will get backed up as you approach the bridge, but that's only relevant if you want to take the GW Pkwy. But you just get off at Glebe Rd, which is more direct and as fast in normal traffic conditions.

Currently it is 51 min with back-ups on I-66, which is not bad.

dchristiva

Sorry - but this is not accurate. The backups always occur at the connection from 495 to 395 and continue through Landmark. It will open up after that, and one can get off at Glebe, but now you're getting into more "local" knowledge that I'm not sure I would use in a "one-off" situation. Not to mention that the highway signs on I-395 will say to take the exit for Rt. 1 to get to Reagan National.

Yes, there are other options that locals would find helpful, but if someone is pressed for time, I'd stick with the standard directions, and, to me, that's not likely to involve going to I-395 unless Google Maps or Waze tell me that.