I have an early (6am) flight on AA (I believe they are in terminal B) Saturday morning. I live about 45 miles from the airport and have not flown out of DCA.

Any suggestions as to:
1. Where to park?
2. How early do I need to be there?
3. Any other tips regarding AA at DCA?

Although I don't have status on AA I am flying first class (to ORD). At that time of the morning I'm guessing the lounges may not even be open.

I had thought about spending the night before the flight at a hotel near DCA but they aren't cheap and seem to charge $20+ just to park while staying as a hotel guest.

Also I will not have any bags to check.

Thanks
Rich

The Admirals Club opens at 5:00 am.

I would arrive in the terminal by 4:45.

There are several early morning departures to contend with (ORD, MIA, DFW, and JFK) departing between 06:00 and 06:10.

Checkout the DCA Website for parking options http://www.metwashairports.com/reagan/227.htm

As this question is more to do with the airport and less to do with AA, I've moved it to the Washington forum.

~Microwave
AAdvantage Forum Co-moderator

Admiral's Club opens at 5am. You won't get in on an F ticket to ORD so hopefully you have some other way to get in (AMEX, AC membership).

Are you looking in Crystal City? I've done a lot of weekend stays there generally around $80 a night. Plenty of hotels ranging from Hampton Inn to Hyatt.

Thanks.

I believe my AmexPlatinum will get me into the lounge if I have enough time to kill.

As others have noted, you'll have no trouble finding parking at that hour of the morning, nor checking-in. If you leave your house by 4am, you should be fine (no need for an hotel). There won't be any traffic at that hour of the day either.

AA is in the center pier, which has a priority security line but no PreCheck. Lots of flights leave around 6 AM, so it will be crowded but still pretty efficient compared to bigger airports. I'll leave parking availability & prices to others with more experience, and/or the live parking counts available on MWAA's website and on signage around the airport, but I've never noticed availability to be a problem on my occasional bike trips through/past the garages/lots.

If you're only gone for the weekend and want to save even more $, parking in Crystal City's garages is free; it's a 20-minute walk to the airport. There are a few off-site parking operators that advertise online, too.

Worst case scenario, flights DCA-ORD on AA are every 90 min or so on weekends. I've missed a few and not been any the worse for wear.

there should be no problem parking either in the garage(figure out what is near to AA) or in the "economy" lot. in the economy lot, find a space near a pickup site.

Check AA and confirm that they are not going to cancel that flight.

Get there early - around 0430- 10m to park and get to the terminal - finding a parking spot should not be a problem. But in addition to ~ 0600 AA departures to MIA, DFW, ORD and JFK - the center pier also serves some US and UA departures at that hour. And it's summer. More crowded than you would expect that early with a lot of families and inexperienced parents, nonetheless 15-20 minutes max in screening if you can't access the elite lane. That should get you to the AC at the 0500 opening.

No more UA. Just AA and US in the center (plus the one VX flight to/from SFO)

Very few US departures at that hour. The middle pier is home to US's EMB170/175 operation and all of those planes are going to be connector flights coming from other cities (BDL, CVG, MHT and the like). They won't come into the middle pier until the 7:00 am hour, so the loads at 5:30 won't be heavily flooded with US passengers.

I also live about that far from DCA, and had an early (IIRC it was 6:30am) flight with my 2 kids to HNL (husband was already there). I was worried, since at 4am there could be traffic on the beltway - you just never know! I was lucky that I had my dear sister in law drive us down the evening before, and we stayed at the Ritz Pentagon City (used Amex points with pay with points, but honestly it isn't that much, especially on a Friday night when the place clears out). We were also on AA.

It was so much better to stay close to the airport! We had the bellmen get a cab to come at 5:00, and were there in less than ten minutes. I didn't want to risk running into traffic (and we weren't going to drive, rather use a shuttle, since we were going to be gone for over two weeks).

I'm sure you can check priceline even for a hotel, or see what's available. Friday night should be much more reasonable in the area, and there is a good variety of hotels around. If you can have someone drop you off or see if they have a package that includes parking for a while (many airport hotels have those) it would be worth it - you'll still pay at the airport anyway to park.

We were also connecting through ORD.

With your distance, I'd still check on a hotel. It may be worth it!

Last year at Xmas time we had a 5:30 flight out of DCA to CLT. Luckily, Hilton was having its friends/family promotion and we bagged the Double Tree for $39.00 a night. With a flight that early, sometimes its nice to be able to have to go only a mile or two.

Try working Priceline. The Crystal City/Pentagon City hotels are often under $60 with name your price.

after tax, title , and parking, how much does that named $60 total?