Lead time at IAD this weekend?
 

Hi FT'ers,

I am a DCA regular, but am flying out of IAD this Friday morning at 8.30 to get a direct flight. Since it's a holiday weekend, I am wondering if I need to plan to arrive at IAD much earlier than usual. I will already have my boarding pass, am not checking bags and can use the Premier security line.

Any thoughts on how bad it will be Friday morning?

Thanks! Safe Travels everyone.

It can be very busy at that time of the morning on any day. I would arrive at the Main Terminal no less than 90 minutes prior to departure. It shouldn't take more than 10 minutes through security using the Premium line, but YMMV. Then you have to walk a bit, probably take a mobile lounge to your concourse, and then walk a bit more to the gate. Everything takes time.

What he said. That's prime time, and things can back up.

I'm with Annandaler on this one. 90 minutes should be fine. Keep in mind IAD has only one checkpoint, but there are two entrances to the "premium lines." There are about 20 stations at the checkpoint but I have never been lucky enough to see more than 10 open. Also, they don't always have the premium lines open, and sometimes even if they do they don't enforce the rules. So, 90 minutes may turn out to be far too much, but it is safe in case anything is not perfect. (And at IAD it hardly ever is perfect ;))

Holiday weekends generally mean a short premium security line. Just use OLCI and stay away from the amateurs.

Thanks to everyone for your replies. I'm planning to shoot for arriving 7 am and pray for a short (and open!) premium line. Last time I flew out of IAD (last month) I had to wait 15 minutes for the stupid mobile lounge to show up, so hopefully things will be better this time. My IAD experiences usually make me ever more grateful that I leave so close to DCA.

Have a safe weekend everyone.

[QUOTE=jay44;8319989] My IAD experiences usually make me ever more grateful that I leave so close to DCA.
QUOTE]

I agree! The lines and the crowd in IAD leaves much to be desired and I prefer DCA as well! It is so much easier to get through security with multiple access points in DCA.

Again I'll point out that it's not fair to compare a local airport to an international one. That said, since IAD opened an elite line I have never stood for more than a few minutes waiting to clear security.