Getting Around IAD
 

Could someone enlighten me on how to get from A to C at IAD? The airport website doesn't seem to mention anywhere about how to get between the concourses. I have about an hour to get from A to most likely C.

A bus goes across.

A mobile lounge or "people mover" will take you across from A to C. Just look for the sign over the door to direct you to the lounge. It's a very short ride and the lounges run about once every 4 or 5 minutes during peak hours. You'll have ample time to make it.

Follow the signs to the People Mover Shuttle. Make sure you get on the appropriately labeled shuttle, as some go to other terminals. It should take no more than 10-15 minutes to get from one terminal to the other.

It's no problem. Exit your A gate and walk towards baggage claim / transfers. You'll go up a set of stairs or escalators and see mobile lounge docks to the left and right; terminal B will be straight ahead. Go to your left and board the next shuttle leaving for terminal C. It'll take you there in ten minutes or less. When you arrive at C, look overhead for signs to tell you which direction (left or right) to proceed to your gate.

Whole deal should take maybe 20 minutes, worst case.

Along the way, in the A terminal you can pick up a slicer at Famous Famiglia or a sandwich at Cosi. In C terminal, if you have extra time, Vino Volo at C4 has some nice flights of red, white and sparkling wines; however, with a 60 minute connect you might be a little rushed to really enjoy them. There are other fast food options in C terminal as well; Burger King, Starbuck's, the usual. If your gate is down by the D's (look in the back of Hemispheres for a map) you could pick up a glass of amber at Gordon Biersch over by D8.

Ah, to be in the Bay Area again. Tied House, how I miss you.

Thank you all for your help! I greatly appriciate it.

Enjoy those vintage 60's people movers.

And if you run into someone on the mobile lounge, rolling his eyes, ranting about how horrible this airport is, and what were they thinking, be sure to introduce yourself. :D

Hey - the Moon Buggies are a pretty good transit system for the third-world country that is IAD. All those tired, disheveled masses overflowing into the hallways from the undersized gate areas had to get there somehow. ;)
IAD - the only developing nation with a wine bar.

I'm moving this to the Washington, D.C. forum.

iluv2fly
Moderator, UA

do you also consider CDG 3rd world? or have they discontinued their people movers? I do not recall any winebars at CDG

Held up for almost 50 years. much longer than most GM products.

Actually, the Dulles SUV's :D celebrate their 45th birthday next month.

I'm sure a lot of you remember the days when the "mobile lounges" were the only way to get from the only terminal in existence (the main terminal, which was half its present size) to the airplane. I was doing a lot of LHR-IAD-LHR in the mid 1980s, flying on jam-packed Pan Am 747s. At the published departure time, all 400 of you got on one of four mobile lounges and simultaneously arrived at one of the four doors on one side on the 747. There was no rhyme nor reason concerning which mobile lounge you boarded versus where you had your seat assignment. You could wind up on the rear-most mobile lounge with a seat in F or C and vice versa. People climbed over each other for a full hour before everyone was seated and the airplane was ready to taxi.

Oh yeah -- the only parking lot was the one which is now the hourly lot in front of the terminal. Around peak travel times, it was not uncommon to drive all the way out there and not be able to find a parking space. There was very little between the Beltway and IAD -- Herndon was a sleepy little town -- so there were no economy lots or offsite parking. No space and you were SOL for your flight.

They are building an underground train system to connect all the terminals. The portion from one of the daily lots to the main terminal to terminal B is already operational. I can't imagine the Teamsters Union not putting up a fight when it's time to end the era of the mobile lounges.

Quite right on the less than halcyon days of IAD back in the mid 1980s.

Just a sleepy airport back then. About the only flights then were European flights, maybe some nonstops out to West Coast. Everything else went in and out of DCA.

The Dulles access road from Tysons Corner likewise was hardly even used back then; the toll road slightly more traffic but not very much. No extension of the toll road via the Greenway to Leesburg. Highway 28 only two lane most of the way north and south of IAD. Reston was pretty much an isolated residential area; like you say, Herndon largely a quaint little old country town. But now, with 60% of the world's internet traffic going through the Dulles corridor (per Sun Microsystems friend), times have changed. Traffic, urban sprawl, high tech "campuses", and massive homebuilding all over the surrounding area (Ashburn and Countryside, e.g.) have certainly changed the character of the Loudoun County/Fairfax County boundary near IAD. We the people have managed to "Fairfax Loudoun" in opposition to the old bumper sticker.