I must first apologize for the lack of photos in this part of my trip report, as I was constantly running around in order to catch my flight.
When I first decided to go back to San Francisco with Qatar Airways, I had to select a U.S. gateway. I knew JFK is often a complete mess, and IAH’s times schedule meant that I wouldn’t be able to fly to SFO on the same day. In the end, IAD was my only choice. I have never flown through Dulles, but online reviews were overwhelmingly negative. In fact, New York Times named IAD the second worst airport in the States for transfer passengers.
I went into this game knowing what I would be facing against, but I wasn’t too concern, given the fact that I had scheduled two and a half hours of transfer time, which in my biased opinion is more than enough. As I had mentioned in the previous post, QR 51 arrived Dulles almost 1 hour 10 minutes late, leaving me with just over an hour of connection time. I was not too optimistic about making my connection, but hey, I still had to try my best.
Even as the plane was still taxing, I had already disobeyed the flight attendants advice to remain in my seat, and opened up the overhead compartment to retrieve my belongings. I have been a good passenger for my entire life, now it was time to be rebellious. Obviously, this set of crew was not as strict as its Singapore Airline counterparts, who would instantly escort the passenger back to his/her seat. Therefore, before our plane even came to a complete stop, I was already at Door 2L, waiting to disembark.
Dulles has a pretty interesting method of receiving incoming international passengers. All non-Star Alliance carriers are directed to outlying apron gates, and mobile lounges, or basically what I call “jetway on wheels” are dispatched to pick up the passengers. I was the first one out of the plane, and strategically positioned myself near the entrance as fellow Flyertalk members had previous advised. This was where Qatar really shined once again. After loading all business class passengers, the inflight supervisor signalled the driver to leave, and made the rest of the economy class passengers to use the buses loading at the back doors instead. Perhaps she wanted me to get out quickly. Thank you!!!
I was religiously checking the time and praying constantly for the driver to drive faster. Luckily, the transfer time was less than 5 minutes. As the doors flew open, I sprinted like a racehorse from an enclosed barrier down the escalators, which in the process frightened a few older ladies. I was lucky in a sense that the immigration lines were short, and I only had two people waiting in front of me. By the time it was my turn, a huge line had already built up in the back. Another good move, Check!
Immigration was very quick, the officer barely asked what were my intentions in the states. I got myself out and into the baggage reclaim area at approximately 4:42 p.m., a staggering 25 minutes after landing. Fortunately, my golf bag came out the oversized carousel first, and my two other luggages came out instantly afterwards. I can now tell you that lugging four pieces of luggages with the assistance of a trollet designed to only fit two is unusually difficult. However, I did manage to stack the two bags and my 22 inch carryon on to the trolley, while dragging my golf bag with one hand. It was hard work, but I managed to arrive at the transfer counter.
When a ground staff saw me huffing and puffing as I approached the transfer counters, he asked if I was travelling with United. I replied yes and the agent, after hearing my flight number, initially refused to allow me to check in and board, with a blatant “Too late”. However, once he saw my itinerary with the words “United First” and “*G”. His attitude immediately changed and smilingly helped with the check in process.
In the meantime, I also handed my bags to the TSA agents for rechecking, who was slightly unhelpful at first. By the time I was done, my boarding pass was already printed out. Whew!
After checking in, I felt slightly more at ease. It was now 4:59 p.m. Even though boarding had begun at 4:40 p.m., I knew that they would not leave without me. Nevertheless, I was not about to slack off. Boarding gate for United 244 tonight was D26, Concourse D meant that I would have to take one of those mobile lounges once again. However, I had to go through security once again. This was where priority security failed miserably. There was a priority security line and a regular line, but there was no regulation on who used which line. In fact, the TSA agent basically just tried to even out the lines. Where’s the priority? Anyways, lines were short, so I did not complain.
After security, I had to board one of those buggies once again. Only then was I able to catch my breath and take some pictures. While waiting for the buggy to depart, I spotted Lufthansa’s new 747-8. It wasn’t as stunning as I had imagined, or as apparently different from the 747-400 as depicted in the photographs.
D26 unfortunately was at the very end of the concourse. By the time I arrived, most of the passengers were already onboard, with the gate agents processing a few last minute standby passengers. I approached the desk to ask if my baggages were onboard, just to make sure. After a few taps away, the friendly agent replied that “it’s on the way honey”. Reassured, I stepped onboard my last flight of this trip, feeling quite fortunate but at the same time grateful.