[QUOTE=dspringer28]Thank you all so far!

I will be working/living downtown with no car, so DCA will be a airport of choice. I saw that Amtrak's biz class fares from downtown to BWI are pretty good. The + to BWI is lower fares (even after the train) and more upgrades than DCA.

I will most likely be splitting between DCA and BWI. Cost is not that big of an issue, but I don't want to throw money away. When I'm arrving late leaving early I go with DCA, for mid day flights BWI, throw in a few IAD's and so on.
QUOTE]

I say that since you are going to be in downtown DC, stay away from BWI at all costs. Taxi from BWI to downtown is $100, whereas from IAD is only about $50. Also, the traffic on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway gets backed up far more often than the dedicated road to IAD. Put it this way, you will hit the same backups getting out of DCA to either the Dulles Toll Road (which isn't toll for airport traffic or to the BW parkway, but once on the Dulles parkway, it is 20 -25 minutes with no backups. There are also convenient shuttle services to IAD or a more roundabout Metro/Shuttle connection. From downtown, I allow an hour to get to IAD and 1.5-2 for BWI depending on time of day.

As for the train to BWI, allow yourself two hours before you even allow time for check in/security. The rail station is not at the airport. It is several miles from the airport and is served by a very inconvenient shuttle service, where you litterally have to push your way on the shuttle bus, otherwise you get left behind and may have to wait 15-30 minutes for the next shuttle. Here is my timeline for BWI - 15 min. taxi/metro to Union Station, 5-10 minutes to navigate the station, 25-35 min. train ride, 20-40 min shuttle service, so anywhere between an hour or two depending on time of day, timing, and luck with the shuttle from train to airport.

DCA is the most convenient. From the central business district you either hop on the yellow line (Gallery Place, Navy-Archives, L'Enfant Plaza) or the Blue line (Foggy Bottom/GWU, Farragut West, McPherson Sq., Metro Center, Federal Triangle, Smithsonian, L'Enfant, etc) and you are anywhere from 10-15 minutes to DCA. Front of the train for DL, CO, HP, NW and Frontier, and back of the train for US. UA, AA and Alaska are in the middle of the main terminal, so doesn't matter. You are litterally dropped off 100 yards and a moving sidewalk to the gate level. Security is a breeze at DCA because each gate area has its own screening, thus no bottlenecks.

As for airlines, HP probably offers a good connection through Pheonix and DL has two good connecting options through ATL and CVG (although CVG is more often than not, a RJ into DCA these days. Also with DL you get the option of CO and NW now and with that more options for rerouting if there are problems with one of your flights or connecting cities.

Good luck