My husband and I will be arriving into IAD on Sat. 20th Dec. with Icelandair at 7pm.

Now for my questions...

How is Immigration on weekends and does anyone know which terminal Icelandair arrives at?
How far is the car rental section? Do we need to take a shuttle to get to it or?

We are driving to Philly and I am wondering if I should just book a hotel for the night in case immigration lines are long. We would be going through the US citizen line. We have been there once but it was years ago and only for a layover. Hoping things would have gotten better but heard such horror stories about IAD in regards to lines so I am just unsure as to what to do.

Which app do you recommend for finding a hotel for that same night. I really hate booking last minute but if we get out of there before say 8:30...we want to just drive to Philly but any later...no.


I'd be grateful if someone out there could offer some info./tips.

This is the Saturday before Christmas. Immigration lines will be longer (usually deserted at that time) just because things get backed up with many infrequent travelers headed to/from holidays.

For this purposes, IAD is only one terminal. You will be taken to the International Arrivals Building and be done with it.

It is a bit over 2-1/2 hours drive time from IAD to center city Philly. Presume that you are in a car and on the road by 9:00 PM. That gets you to Philadelphia a little bit after 11:30. Whether that works for you or not is a personal matter. If you have concerns, spend the night and head out the next morning or headed out and break the trip where convenient.

As a thought, this is a really inconvenient routing and IAD is the "wrong" direction from Philadelphia. I would strongly consider the non-stop to EWR (if that works for your schedule). You can hop on Amtrak and be in Philadelphia within 90 minutes. Even renting a car and driving that is better than driving from IAD.

If your flight is on time then you will be at the car rental by 19:45-20:00. Immigration for US citizens has never been an issue and 19:00 is a pretty quiet time at IAD. I don't think Dec 23 should make a big difference. In terms of volume, I think there is a lot more passengers leaving the DC area for Xmas.

I agree that IAD is an odd choice for Philly. EWR is closer.

Icelandair uses gate A19. Everyone deplanes, walks a bit in a sterile corridor, and gets onto a Mobile Lounge for a ride to the CBP facility in the Terminal building. Try to stay close to the doors on the Mobile Lounge so you will be among the first off the lounge and into Immigration.

APC (Automated Passport Control) should be in place for US citizens by the end of this month, which should speed your processing even more. (Since you didn't mention it, I assume you don't have Global Entry - which would really speed the process.)

This is all personal preference.

However, some of the hotels out by Dulles (Ashburn, Sterling, etc.) are often very cheap. When my house was being renovated, the reno guys messed some stuff up and we had to move out for two days. On a last minute basis, we found the Hilton Garden Inn Dulles North (Ashburn) for $74 a night...

Not saying you'll find the same, but hotels that are "out there" can often be obtained for a very good rate. Consider booking one in advance that allows an "easy cancellation" and then decide if you want it or not.

To get to the rental cars, you'll need to go out of the main terminal on the baggage carousels level and wait for the appropriate shuttle for the rental company you reserved with. All of the car rentals are located in a row along Aviation Drive, about a 5-minute shuttle ride from the main terminal. However, it can be a short hike from one to another if you plan to browse for prices/availability. Especially if you're hauling luggage, you don't want to be hiking in and out of their lots from one to another, so reserve a car with one company and take the shuttle directly there. There is a lot of construction for the Silver line going on along the street in front of all the car rental lots, too, that you won't want to be walking through.

I agree with the others about flying into IAD and driving to Philly. Can you add a connecting flight IAD - PHL instead? If that's not possible, then I recommend you get a hotel near IAD. There are a LOT of nice, inexpensive hotels around here.