There are not so many transcon flights out of DCA. With this lack of competition, I would guess that such filghts are quite expensive.

I get all that - I had to do DC -> SFO for meetings last year, and ended up renting a car from PHL and driving it down to DC (dropping it at IAD) and flying on to SFO. The car rental made more sense after factoring the cost of an Amtrak ticket + the expense of getting from 18th & K to IAD in the early afternoon rush (from what my research told me, about $60 from where I was). So I realize that Dulles isn't close to the city by any stretch of the imagination.

But completion (or hell, even the concept) of the Silver Line presents a convenient excuse for UA to say "We don't have to expand at DCA - the Metro will bring the pax to us at IAD". (Remember, these are the same people who think inconsistent IFE, a totally FUBARed boarding process and watered-down elite recognition are 'changes we'll like'. I don't hold their opinions in very high regard.)

I'm in Arlington, but I'm only three stops from D.C., and I can assure you I'll take Metro to IAD every time it's available. Saving $55 or so is easily worth taking an extra 15 minutes to get there. And in the likely event of that cab getting stuck in I-66 traffic, Metro could be as fast or faster anyway.

FWIW, a couple of years ago Metro estimated going from Metro Center to IAD will take 52 minutes. That's longer than BART to SFO, Tri-Met to PDX, Sound Transit to SEA, or CTA to ORD, but the same cost-benefit logic applies to those trips--which is why the only time I've taken a taxi to any of those airports was when I overslept.

I have flown out of DCA to SFO several times, but still prefer IAD. If there are are problems with your plane or crew at DC, you may not get out at all on UA. At least at IAD there will be numerous options still available to you.

I flew DCA - DEN and DEN - DCA a bunch last year. It's not well timed for morning flights but it's timed fine to get to the West Coast around 8-10pm PST depending on your layover time in Denver (or at least was last year - typically a 430ish departure). It was great for getting upgrades as well since it's all O&D traffic. I didn't miss one as a 1K on that route (probably flew it about 10 - 12 times connecting on to LAS and RNO)

I agree with DCA Writer on the metro front as well. Unless I'm flying on business (and therefore can expense out the cab to IAD) I automatically factor in $120 to any flight leaving from IAD which often makes a DCA flight worth it even if slightly more expensive than the IAD one since I can get to DCA from Arlington on the metro in 20 min. Once the metro is there cheaper fares from IAD will be more reasonable since the transportation cost out there won't be so high.

Or congress could simply eliminate the 1960's Perimeter Rule altogether since it now serves no purpose other than to protect the CRJ's going to places no one wants to go on the east coast.

Nope. I've paid $279 RT DCA-SFO-DCA. (Obviously purchased well in advance.)

I've been pricing the AA DCA-LAX flights for an upcoming trip and they are no more than IAD.

Most of the downtown stops will be on the silver line, while relatively few are on the yellow line. It will also be nonstop on the Silver line from Arlington, when today it requires a transfer @ Rosslyn to the Blue. So the transfer logic, depending on where you live in the city, actually inflates the times to DCA for more than it does IAD.

It's not opening all the way to IAD until 2018 anyway though, so I'm not viewing that as a game changer for the next few years.

I live much closer to DCA, so I prefer DCA, but the range perimeter limitations mean that a lot of my flights, if I want nonstop, end up being out of IAD. I view the time getting to IAD as preferable to transferring in Charlotte or Chicago.

Also, as mentioned before - United also has regular flights to the Newark, Chicago, Cleveland, and Houston hubs that aren't covered by the range limit. United's service there isn't terrible, schedule-wise. It's just expensive, to drive passengers to the cheaper IAD operation. I'm mostly okay with that.

+1 I often find that to be true... Especially with east coast flights

Silver line smells like epic failure. I drove by Tysons today and there are many metro stops in three miles stretch, I think that taking bus from West Falls Church will still be quicker than Silver line. Somehow IAD fares are stupid expensive lately, BWI fares are much better, but it so far away.

Too add my two cents here...

You are probably right - the bus from West Falls and/or L'Enfant/Rosslyn would probably be quicker to IAD, but we'll see how often the run or how they change when part of the Silver line opens up.

From an aesthetic point of view, the Silver line is awful, but Tyson's has been ugly for many years.

IAD fares aren't great, but the options and especially non-stops are very nice for UA.

That said, for folks who are centrally located (including myself), BWI and IAD are roughly on par with each other in distance and time and actually BWI is easier to get to - I can take a MARC train up to BWI or Amtrak (at odd hours of the day/weekend) or the B30 bus. Dulles (up until 2018) is bus only, of course.

Aside from COdbaUAs reliance on RJs, most people still prefer DCA, although I got burned two weeks ago on DCA-EWR (barbiejet) when we were stuck on the tarmac for 2 hours while mainline was fine...

Take most of this with a grain of salt though, I can walk from my front door to the USAir check-in counters at DCA in 10 minutes.

-jeremy