How much extra time to allow at IAD?
 

I realize this is so new that there may not be answers yet...

I have a 530 flight leaving for Vienna. Should I get to the airport at 230 (3 hours early) to allow for all the extra screening time?

I assume all pax are going through the xrays, not random ones?

I just flew to Peru two weeks ago and didn't have to deal with this. This came up pretty fast!

Thank you.

On a relative scale, this time of day is absolutely horrible at Dulles, but, there's nothing you can do about that because of the European destination. I would get there at least two hours ahead regardless of screening. At that time of day, people are backed up just to get down the escalator. You'll also have to account for additional time to drop off your checked luggage and even more time if you want to stay there in case the screeners open it up.

I was just there earlier in the week. If you go through the security entrance closest to the parking garage, there are no NoS's in that area. I can't vouch for the security chackpoint right behind the United counters. I know there is one in the small "Black Diamond" lane downstairs near baggage claim. So, avoid that line at all costs. If you have an upgrade, you can go through the shorter line once you make it downstairs.

As of 2 weeks ago, the only NoS at IAD was at the Black Diamond lane. If you are checking baggage, I would recommend 3 hours - FW2M is right, you are going to be experiencing Dulles at the worst time possible. Unless you have status with UA, I would also avoid the UA end, because it is usually the more crowded security location.

To be a little more specific - if you arrive at 2:30pm, you will probably find lines to be reasonably short, because this is well before the peak. As it gets later in the day, the lines will increase, with 3:30 - 5:00 being very heavy. After that, the lines diminish again so that by 6:00, the lines have improved considerably.

Thanks everyone, very helpful.

I do have Premier status, and in fact flew to Peru two weeks ago and did not deal with the Xray machine then. I was surprised to hear Dulles had them already, that was FAST.

230 sounds like a good time to arrive then. Iron out any issues, and then sit in Vino Vino relaxing with a nice glass of wine before heading to my gate.

UA requested an upgrade with Austrian, but I doubt I'll get it. I have been getting repeated "teases" lately that I am on the upgrade list by UA but it hasn't happened yet.

The lines on the checkpoint down at the AA/DL/BA end of the terminal tend to be shorter than the UA end, especially since your Premier status should get you the elite line. I've had to wait as long as 25 minutes on a Sunday afternoon about 3:30 PM (usually flying AA or B6 out of the B concourse) when they only had two machines running. But it's almost always less than the wait at the UA end.

Both security checkpoints get you to the same place.

Allow no less than 2-2.5 hours....

Colleagues of mine flew ex-IAD today (Friday), clearing security around 2:30pm. At that time, the line wasn't bad at all, and not a NoS in sight in the main screening area.