IAD - Missed the good old days watching the Concorde coming in to land on the long runway, and, the Concorde taking off was awesome - not to mention the sound. Hate those Mobile Loungers - but both unique to IAD vs. DCA.

I Am Damned - reminded me of once sitting on a 55 minutes afternoon shuttle flight to EWR, stranded at the taxiway for 4 hours, waiting for ATC clearance due to t-storms/ground stops & holds and missed an important black-tie event in the city. None of the stopped planes were permitted to go back to the gate, no food or snacks/just drinks & peanuts then - many wanted to get off - so flew onward eventually. By the time we landed and made it to the hotel ballroom, waiters were done serving dessert. Still gotta eat - local deli sandwich instead of "rubber chicken" at the banquet.

Amtrak is the way to go these days between IAD and EWR/JFK/LGA ....

IAD's increasingly invisible selling point
 

My username should make it clear which airport around D.C. I prefer, so I won't get into that. Nor am I going to rant, again, about how crummy the C/D terminal is.

No, what's been bugging me about IAD since the new security mezzanine opened is how often I miss the best part of Dulles--Eero Saarinen's terminal. I usually take the 5A bus or the Washington Flyer and go through the Dulles Diamond checkpoint, so I never set foot in that hall and never have a chance to admire how the ceiling gracefully soars overhead. Even if I do head upstairs, I'm only there for a few minutes before descending underground.

It's really too bad. (OTOH, on my next trip I'll be checking luggage, so I may find that I have too much time to appreciate Saarinen's work.)

:confused: WHAT International Terminal? :confused: There is not an "international" anything except for CBP areas at IAD for arrivals (and there are two of those areas)

DCA Writer,

I absolutely agree about the main terminal. The good news about the new configuration is that it eliminates the craziness of the snaking security lines, so you can really appreciate the space. I was planning to use the downstairs shortcut for my flight the week after next, but now I might go upstairs.

I assume that was intended to mean the B gates, since those are the ones used by the airlines flagged by other countries.

As far as I know, LAX is the only airport in the U.S. with a designated international terminal (and, even there, many international flights leave from other terminals), but I can understand how someone could be confused at IAD. And, yes, the B gate area is nicer than the others at Dulles.

I Accept Defeat

I use IAD a few times a year as my International Arrival Destination. ;)
I guess I've become used to it, since my first trip back in 1992. And over those years the building work goes on ... and on ... and on. But I still rate the airport, and the road access, fairly highly. And the easy shuttles to the car Rental lots.

Now we have the dazzling new Security area [have they installed air-con and the rest of the screening machines yet?], where the separate snaking lines of Fast-Track and Slow-Track pax then happily merge together again into a milling mass of common lines with no priority or apparent organisation. I just lurrrrve TSA.

And the exciting AeroTrain, which delivers me directly to the B Gates opposite the entrance to the BA Lounge. That was a kind thought by MWAA; who would have thought they cared that much about BA Premium pax?

Oh, and of course the new International Arrivals Hall, that sun-drenched haven of calm where we can all relax and enjoy the 45+ minute wait to process through CBP. Fifty shiny new desks, and 10 staff on duty to use them, and nobody has ever managed to work out how to efficiently distribute that endless line to the "next available Agent". [Hint to CBP: there's no point in creating mini-lines in front of each desk, you never know how long anyone is going to take to process. Pop along to T J Maxx and see how they do it ... "Register Number Four is now available"].

There are worse airports to travel through. I'll be arriving at IAD in just over 2 weeks, and I'm not dreading it. It just could do better.

Actually, A14-A32 and B30s-B50s are used primarily by the foreign-flag airlines (Southwest is there too). The B60s & B70s are all domestic (American, jetBlue, AirTran, Virgin America, & Delta).

Wirelessly posted (goingaway\'s phone: BlackBerry8900/4.6.1.231 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

Also good to mention that ORD, ATL and SFO have pseudo-international terminals, to mention a few but those terminals are not always solely international flights and international flights outbound are not limited to leaving from those terminals :)

IAD - once upon a time, Washington Flyer would leave from the Capital Hilton @ 16 & K St. NW, DC to Dulles instead of riding Metro out to Falls Church. Now, just faded old memories of the "Friendly Skies" with UA's dominance but never like those mobile loungers, especially when your tight connections is "final boarding"

As for psuedo-international terminal - JFK's T4 (formerly known as the International Arrivals Building) would fit that description, with about 50 airlines representing 40 countries, serving U.S. and overseas destinations around the globe. It has the only "internal" stops for the AirTrain, with 24 hours CBP services, while other terminals also handle international flights.

i seem to recall when bwi called concourse E an international terminal when it had a couple more int'l airlines.

I think the issue us 'forriners' have with IAD is the incredibly inefficient way they handle International passengers.

IAD is a gateway to the "Capital of the Free World" [apparently], and yet arriving foreign passengers are subjected to the most staggeringly inefficient Border I have ever encountered.

I completely understand the need for Border Security [States bordering on Mexico can step aside from that comment] but the grindingly inept management of the CBP process at IAD does nothing to enhance the credibility of the USA.

I could be a bit more convinced if the I-95W or ESTA really achieved anything ... would someone tell me honestly that anyone checks whether I arrived at my intended address in VA? NO? So why go through all the farce?

Oh, of course, it generates an image of doing something. That something being severely pi55ing off International Air Travellers. Meanwhile, I won't even mention the Southern Border ... you just expend all that effort and expense on making sure that a British Senior Citizen can stand in line for nearly an hour at IAD, with his valid passport and everything else.

I drive past those groups of day-workers at the curb in VA all the time I'm over there ... did they have to stand in line for an hour at IAD?

Concourse E is still officially called the Governor William Donald Schaefer International Terminal. Immigration and Customs is on the ground level there.

And only someone from Annandale could say all that without laughing!!

I regularly drive past the "** *** Beagley Memorial Library" [or something like that] on Duke Street. I guess he's someone significant ... I can only ever think of cute little dogs, before making sure I'm in the correct lane for my turn. :D

It's the Charles E. Beatley, Jr. Central Library, named for a popular 5-term Alexandria mayor back in the late 60s to early 80s.

I'd get A1-6 first.