Hi All,

Does anyone regularly commute out of DCA around 7AM? I've got a flight out on Monday @ 6:50AM, and it turns out I may not get to the airport till 6:00AM. I'm contemplating risking it, but at the same time, I've heard horror stories getting through security. One carry on and will already have boarding pass.

I have heard 1 hour may be enough, but is 50 minutes realistic? I'm going to be going to Terminal A for Northwest. Speaking of which, any shortcuts you guys know of from the Metro station into Terminal A? I was looking at the layout of DCA and wondered if it would be faster to cut across the parking lot into the Terminal than make the roundabout from inside... thoughts?

Any ideas or words of wisdom? @:-)

Thanks!

I don't recall if there's a tunnel from the Metro to A, I know there's one from the parking garage though. From Metro, it's about 10-15 minute walk to Terminal A. Go into the main airport, down the escalators, go towards the right end of the terminal. After the Terminal B security & the DL Shuttle check-in kiosks, there's a hallway to Terminal A.

Once you get to A, it's rarely above a 15 minute security line. If you've got NW Elite status, F-seats, or WC membership, you can use the elite line, which is the far right line. That's usually pretty quick. I would recommend not checking bags & checking in online if you can. Checking in at the counter at NW can often add 10-15 more minutes to the whole process as I've found that NW is often a slow madhouse when it comes to checking in - even if you have elite/FC status/seats, they still try to make you use the kiosks which can slow things down when you have someone who's never used them before in front of you.

50 minutes should be fine, but it is cutting it very close, IMHO.

Thanks for the info! That helps me get an idea of what to expect as I make a mad dash Monday AM. I was looking at DCA's layout and you're right, there's no Metro exit to A, but the station exits to the parking lot for B and C, and from B parking lot, I saw a connection to A, and I read that there is an underground moving walkway that gets in into Terminal A. Wondering if this may be an "underutilized shortcut"

I also heard the view landing/taking off to see the monuments is nice from DCA, depending on which side of the plane to sit, though that depends on which direction they are coming in/out of. Any experience with that too? I saw some posts on FT saying left is the preferred side.

Thanks again for the input.

The security lines in A are always shorter than the others. I think 50 minutes should be more than fine at that time of the AM. The lines are long right before security opens, but most of the TSA people are still in a good mood that early, so the line moves quickly.

thank god you're not flying UA
45 minutes is the minimum time if you have checked bags

The "roundabout" walk through the terminals is slightly longer than walking through the parking lot to the A gates (which, I believe, are completely above ground). But in the heat of DC summer, you'll be thankful for the indoor A/C 50mins to the A gates would be pushing it. Don't linger and try to get on the Metro carriage closest to the south escalators that take you to the B parking-Metro-terminal walkway (coming from DC, it's the first/front carriage).

Without checked bags, I just did a run out of DCA this past Saturday, arriving at the airport at 0800 for the 0845 to ORD (B/C gates, middle concourse). No problems whatsoever. Even had time for breakfast

As for views:

Take-off
To the North: Sit on the right
To the South: No views to speak of

Landing
To the North: Sit on the left for views of Old Town Alexandria
To the South: Sit on the left for jaw-dropping views of the monuments

Wait a minute,now. "no views to speak of" Sit on the left, 4 miles outside the beltway in Maryland and the house, pier and beach down there is my house. a spectular view.

Devoid of expression, I'm gonna assume you meant that in jest. So ^

From the south entrance of the metro station, instead of turning left to go into the walkway to B, you could go straight out the doors and walk along the parking lot for congress-people in order to get to a tunnel that will take you underneath the access road and into terminal A. This is probably slightly shorter than walking in the terminal, but it's completely outdoors.... not fun if the weather is like today...

Thanks for the great info... good point about walking through the heat/humidity Hopefully it won't be so bad at 6AM, but given places like Phoenix at 98 degrees at 1AM, this may not work out so well

You should be fine at that time. Might it be worth it to arrange for a cab or something for the curb-side drop-off and saving 10 minutes of walking?

Good point. Metro is great, but do you want to chance getting to the platform and just missing the train? You'd lose at least another 5 minutes.

Their agents are either slow, or always having to deal with bizarro international paper ticketing issues I never check bags when flying from DCA, largely for that reason. Even the elite line at UA often takes 20 minutes just to get 2-3 people checked in.

Alternately, there are skycaps outside if you need to check bags. My wife has done that a number of times when she is running behind and is arriving at DCA 45-50 minutes out.

I assume the OP made it fine, but for any future readers: 50 minutes for a 6:50 flight is *plenty* of time. DCA is one of the few airports where I can continue to indulge my ingrained habit of showing up 10-15 minutes before a flight.

Thanks again for the helpful tips; I got into DCA via Metro at 5:53AM, walked through the B terminal and around to A terminal to the security checkpoint in about 8-9 minutes, with a brisk walk (with small rolling bag). They split the security line into regular and NWA Elite, Silver, etc. but it didn't seem to make any difference; no one checked the status.

Only hiccup I ran into was with TSA. One of the agents in another lane broadcasted to her lane, "We recommend you take of your shoes." I was in the next lane, and the guy there said for me to take off my shoes. I was wearing sneakers, been through other checkpoints half a dozen times with them, and haven't had any problems. I replied to him that the lady next to him just mentioned that it was recommended and not necessary. He replied, "You walk through with your shoes on, and your going to go through secondary".

I don't mind taking off my shoes, if that was what was announced. But since the other lady said otherwise, I don't see why I should have to be subjected to another standard.

Since I now had extra time to kill, I went through with shoes on, and without an alarm or anything else, he automatically said to go through to secondary. As I waited for another agent to come by, I pointed out that it was not written in TSA policy that all shoes had to go through the detector. The condescending reply was, "We don't place all the policies on the website, since that would allow potential terrorists to know how to avoid them, now would we?" All I can say is that Marcus and the other TSA agent were really on just an ego or power trip, and that they should get their act together.

Sorry, a bit off topic... in summary, a pretty easy 50 minute window to make flights out on Monday @ 6AM.