Fly from BWI, IAD, DCA?
 

Am relocating to Baltimore in early January for work. I work at a school, so it's not always easy to just take off a few hours early.

Trying to plan a couple of trips, involving flying out of the BWI/IAD/DCA area to catch either a long-haul domestic or international flight, say from ORD. I need to get an idea of what's realistic in terms of flying out after work.

If I get off work (northeast corner of Baltimore City) around 3:30-4:00, how long to get to IAD or DCA, if BWI flights aren't an option?? Or, if I get off work at XXX time, then I should not plan to fly out of DCA by YYY time, or by IAD by ZZZ time?

Thanks in advance for the help!

Northeast Baltimore? Forget IAD. BWI is really your best option. In light traffic I'd put the trip to DCA at about an hour. You've got tolls and tunnels, traffic on 95 south, traffic on the various routes from 95 to DC, Have limited choice of bridges over the Potomac all traffic clogged, etc... You'd need more than an hour in normal traffic.

The earliest flight from DCA to try for is probably an 8pm flight unless you planned to park and take metro. Traffic would probably be okay to say, New Carrollton or somewhere out in that area, as that would mostly be against the wave but after that you're stuck in the DC Metro rush hour which runs from 3:30 until around 7 pm every day. It can take 1.5 hours from the I95/I495 intersection to get to DCA on a good rush hour day, and there really aren't that many of those around (I don't know how people do that ride every day).

I don't know how long to estimate to get to a metro station (you could also park at BWI and take the train to Union Station or a bus down to the metro stop). Use http://www.wmata.com/ to figure out transit time from that point to DCA (blue line). Once you pick a place to park, you might want to ask around, there are some stations that aren't the best place to be late at night or very early in the morning.

If you're going after work then you'll be largely going against traffic to IAD and DCA. Not nearly as bad as trying to get from DC to BWI in the afternoon rush. For IAD, 95 and the outer loop of the DC Beltway should not be that bad (while it isn't my regular commute, the times I have driven it in the afternoon rush I did not get slowed down below the speed limit until around the "big curve" and that should be improved now). It used to back up for a few miles approaching the Dulles Toll Road/Access Road but they opened a 2nd lane on the exit ramp which has improved things greatly. Once you get on the Access Road the only traffic will be airport traffic.

DCA should be about the same as getting to IAD, maybe a few miles shorter. Instead of the Dulles Access Road you would go down the GW Parkway.

Even if you can go at the speed limit most of the way, it is still a long drive from northeast Baltimore. I'd guess about another hour or 1:15 longer than going to BWI.

That portion of the Beltway can get pretty bad, but it gets worse after I-270 eastern spur. I don't think I agree about how bad it is and I know my way around real good.

I-95 south to the Beltway might be ok around rush hour but then it gets ugly..... I live in McLean. I assure you that the Beltway is bumper to bumper over the bridge from Maryland.

Once I got stuck on the beltway around 5 pm on a Friday when drove back from PA on I-270 against traffic, but then I got stuck for nearly 1 hour on a stretch that normall takes ~7 minutes. There was no accident or road work.

It might not seem logical since Tysons is an employment hub. If you travel from Tysons/McLean to Springfield during the AM then there is light traffic and vice verse in the PM. However, it appears to be really bad in either direction toward Maryland during rush hour.

In summary, I would avoid IAD. However, if you want to fly UA non-stop to S. America or Europe (FRA/LHR) then the ~21:30 flights might be possible. Then you can wait to drive south until 6:45 or and hope that you get there by 8 pm.

BWI also has the best domestic fares in the region due to Southwest. However, it's a rotten airport with bad parking system. They used to charge $30 for in-terminal parking whereas IAD/DCA charge $15. However, they have decent private parking companies like Airport Fast Park (or something like that). They are pretty efficient in getting you quickly to the terminal but I hate using a shuttle. Never use the airport run long-term parking options.

Re DCA. No, that's a really bad option. you would take the "other" parkway I-295 from Baltimore to Washington. That will be against traffic and might not be that bad, actually. I once had to drive the opposite way during rush hour and it looked good in the reverse direction.

But you really won't find any flights at DCA that BWI doesn't offer.

I drive from SW balt to capitol hill for squash about 3 afternoons a week. The trip down the BW parkway to the club takes 45 min. about 35-40 min from bwi. crossing the 14th st bridge to va at 4-5pm is a zoo. I95 is ok, until you hit the dc beltway the north side, which is very ungood. you cannot get across the wilson bridge to va either. the 8pm guess is a good one as arrival at iad or dca will be closer to 7pm than to 6pm on a lot of occasions.

learn to love bwi.

If you're in northeast Baltimore you might want to think about PHL as an alternative to DCA or IAD.

I agree with the last poster who recommended PHL as an alternative. For the itinerary you're interested in flying, I can't think of a general advantage of BWI over IAD in terms of fares and choices. There may be specific advantages depending upon where you want to go. I would stick with BWI or PHL as an alternative unless there are compelling reasons to go to DCA or IAD. I define "compelling" as a fare out of one of these aprports being hundreds of dollars cheaper.

All of the traffic hassles about which others have written are absolutely accurate. It would be a bummer to buy a non-refundable ticket for $50 cheaper than one at BWI only to eat the whole thing because you got stuck in traffic.

If you have to have a second airport, as was already said, PHL is much better than the DC airports. That said, if you leave your office by 4pm, you're still going to be in Wilmington, DE traffic on the way to PHL. Keep that in mind. So I think your best bet is BWI. You can beat the crux of the Baltimore rush hour if you go there.

I completely disagree with the PHL suggestions. It is much farther away and you will hit just as much traffic or worse trying to get there during rush hour. Not to mention the tolls. I hate driving to Philly and personally think the airport is awful.

BWI is your best option and it shouldn't take you more than 20 minutes to get there. Forget IAD for that time of day. It just isn't worth it. If you want to fly out of DCA you might consider driving to the Greenbelt metro station and taking the train from there to DCA. You can park there for free on weekends. The train ride takes about an hour but you exit right into the terminal.

I second this idea

How long from NE Baltimore to PHL?
(I'm near I-695 an the Bel-Air & Overlea exits)

Without traffic, I can get from PHL to the northern part of I-695 in about 60-80 minutes. I usually encounter worse traffic going South than I do headed North.