It certainly is true that there are only limited times that BWI is useful to us going or coming to our job on the Beltway in Fairfax County. Those are mostly on multi-stop trips where a day has been set aside for traveling. BWI is, of course, useless for us now due to traffic for a flight in the evening after work.

I do however remember the days when we were just starting our business and money was real tight. It was in the days that Continental Lite, USExpress, and Southwest had come in and the fares were sometimes 50% of DCA or IAD. Then, a slog up the Beltway braving the 270 Split at 6PM to make somebody's last fight out was not an infrequent experience for us. With luck, we would have a few minutes to decompress in the Friendship Lounge before heading over to one of those bare-bones operations.
Virginia? I thought it was in Delaware.

As a frequent BWI DL pax, I wasn't looking forward to this. Liked the fact that I could arrive at the a/p 60 min before departure and be sure of making my flight.

First, I confirmed there IS an elite line at D.

Second, as much as I hate the nude-o-scopes, they will be coming to C as well. The security check that is going in where the DL counters are now will serve A, B, AND C. Once that happens, easy access to C will be a thing of the past once you are thronged up with the WN herd.

Biggest negative in my eyes is the increase in the PITA factor of what is already the biggest negative - the rental shuttle. Now, on top of driving half way to Virginia, on overcrowded busses driven by unconcerned govt employees, we DL customers will be among the last to get on - almost ensuring standing for the trip at peak hours. Then, at return, we get to wait until practically the last stop. Not as long as the loop around Logan, but ....

The "Inter County Connector" (MD 200) is scheduled to be completed and opened by 6 am on Tuesday 11/22/11. This means that the second limited access east-west route in the county will be open all the way from I-270 in Gaithersburg to I-95 just south of Laurel.

This is good news indeed. I try not to fly from BWI due to lack of a lounge. Since Dulles is rather from me, I am left with only one viable choice. I look forward to using BWI.

I know.The line went real quick when I was there .

This issue of pier D security was the rampaging hordes of Air Tran passengers seeking low fares

When Air Tran departs, taking the low fare mobs with it, I anticipate an end to the the long queues. @:-)

I've flown Delta out of BWI many times. Generally, its a smooth experience. However, I have observed one thing Delta might want to address as they move their new check-in counter.

At certain times of the day, bag check-in at the current counter is overwhelmed, with very long lines forming of people who've checked in at the kiosk needing to dump their bags. I didn't time the wait precisely, but I know it was very long, long enough to discourage me from wanting to fly with bags.

Even the medallion check-in can be a a bit slow during these periods, and I feel bad for the people who are not medallions. I have made it a point to check-in online and limit my bag size to what I can take on board at BWI, to avoid further impacting the waits for everyone else.

I don't think it would be that hard to add a few staff and make some process flow improvements at Delta BWI bag check-in that would result in a shorter line and a better experience for customers, especially for those paying for their bags.

I obviously like Delta and am making this suggestion in the hope they use this opportunity to improve their customers' experience at this particular station.

regards,

John

that brings us up a good question:
Did Delta expand its ticketing area at BWI after the NW assimilation? The new DL is a lot bigger than United (excluding CO an including CO) at BWI, but it seems to have just about the same, if not smaller, ticketing space as United (ex-co).

Over in D they should be able to take all of AirTran's space which would be a good amount of extra space vs what it is now.

This is a real problem for Delta between 5-7 a.m., when they have several flights leaving for their different hubs within a short period of time. The Sky Priority check in line can get crowded during this period also.

Looks like the move is on schedule for next week according to this article in the Baltimore Sun:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/business...,5457396.story

Shucks! The Potbelly was a great deli.

Good.... I get one last chance to not argue over the strip-search machines as I'll be flying DL @ BWI for a day trip tomorrow.

I was really surprised to find that a quick out-and-back trip tomorrow, the only segment of 4 that hasn't cleared the upgrade is the 6 AM to DTW.

Anybody had recent experience with the Security Lines in D, particularly the Monday morning business trave time frame? Looking forward to hear that the departure of Airtran has speeded up things!

Went out Pier D yesterday on an 11:30am flight. First time since the move.

In a word: awful.

I went from never taking more than 5 minutes getting through security at Pier C to 20 minutes yesterday at Pier D. And I don't see 11:30am as rush hour.

Only three lanes open at security. Very short line before ID check in priority line. Very long line after. Yes, they were using the radiation machines but I was lucky and they were backing up so I ended up going through x-ray.

Flight went out D21 and I got there just as they were calling zone 2. They were only using one line since it didn't look like the space between the wall and the scanner was wide enough for two lanes.

Bottom line: I strongly suggest giving yourself more time to get through security now than before. I know this is only a sample of one but I'll be surprised if this isn't the norm.