I had a similar experience to astroflyer. I arrived in IAD via NRT on UA. NRT was pretty bad; I had to hightail it and ran over a few people along the way.
Flew through GE in IAD, but was stopped cold at the security chokepoint. Honestly, it took about 30, maybe 40 minutes. I can't think of enough expletives to holler. Thank goodness I didn't have to collect any luggage.
Had to go to Concourse A After that mini-jaunt through the tunnels, had to go to the extreme end of the concourse to get to the RJ boarding gates.
So, 2.5 hours in theory is good, but if your flight is delayed, you could run into other similarly-delayed flights. Good luck!
My advice is to go through SFO, where they have GE and an elite line. Will experience ORD later this summer; hoping that's better than IAD.
What's EWR like, for international arrivals?
Originally Posted by
astroflyer
Good idea. My recent IAD experience:
1) Passport control was slammed...looked like a solid 30-45 minute+ wait. Flew past with GE.
2) Baggage took 30 minutes to start arriving. Lost all of my GE advantage.
3) 40 person line to exit customs hall...backed up all the way to passport control. Flew past with the GE exit line.
4) I lose again at security. 45 minutes-1 hour to get through security. Major stress for everyone in line. People crying about missing flights. No pre-check. No elite line.
I may try pretty hard to avoid this mid-field mess the next time I transit in IAD. Re-checking bags would be much faster.