For me, I keep using IAD because I didn't think that you could fly as far as DEN or SFO from DCA.

It just looked it up and it happens that United has one flight per day from DCA to SFO and from DCA to DEN. I plan to start using that instead but it won't make a dent at IAD. I wonder how many takeoff/landing slots United has at DCA?

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_...r_restrictions

Thanks I knew Sen. McCain managed to get the 1,250 mile perimeter restriction lifted but I didn't know that there were only 20 slots. The wikipedia article shows that US Air and AA have a total of 12 of those 20 slots. Will they have to give some of those up when they merge?

Yes those will most likely go to WN. the DoT seems intent on selling them to "LCCs"

I'm sure B6 will bid, too.

OK - admittedly the OP is right about IAD and the UA facilities there. We're still in the 35+ year old Quonset huts which are C and D. The new terminal isn’t even a gleam in someone’s eye at this point. The UCs leave a lot to be desired. And taking a flight out of B can make your lower lip quiver with envy as mine did when Ogg and I flew SAA in December
But the simple fact for me is that UA is the only airline at IAD which goes everywhere I need to go direct: LHR, GRU, NRT/ICN, LAX, SFO, DEN, SEA, BOS and IAH. I think it’s simple math: direct flight=less chance of missed connection.
While it is closer for me to drive to WAS, it can be an enormous pain during rush hour as opposed to IAD which is an entirely reverse commute for me. I simply don't see any reason to connect if I can avoid it. EWR is far worse in many ways than IAD – while the facilities are a little nicer that is more than compensated for by the overall “yougoddafrikkingproblemwitdat?” attitude of the whole place. And not to mention the almost automatic delays involved in flying out of NYC airspace.

The problem isn't the total number of slots United has at DCA; it's the special restrictions on flights beyond a certain distance.

The DEN and SFO nonstops xDCA are poorly timed. Nonetheless, it can be a lot easier to fly TCON x DCA changing at IAH or ORD than to schlep to IAD and deal with getting from curbside to a gate located 7 miles or thereabouts away.

That said, while DCA is great for O&D, IAD -- as a hub -- has the connections which people need and that removes the incentive for UA to force change. So long as the runways don't crumble, UA has a fortress at IAD and people will continue to use it.

It is very unlikely that the new AA will give up any beyond perimeter DCA slots as part of what they have to give up. When the latest round of beyond perimeter exemptions (the perimeter restriction still exists, and has not been lifted) were granted in 2012 AS, B6, WN and VX were granted new slots. AA, US, UA and DL had to give up an existing in-perimeter slot and "trade" it for a beyond perimeter slot. AA is not going to voluntarily give those slots up.

It's the DoJ not the DoT that's forcing new AA to give up DCA slots, as part of the merger settlement. These slots will be just the typical in-perimeter service, and not come out of any of the several "special" type slots at DCA.

Correct. There was no discussion of AA/US ceding slots outside the perimeter as part of the deal.

Not to mention that once the Silver Line is fully operational, there will finally be a rail link from IAD to the city. Granted, not nearly as convenient as taking the Metro to/from DCA, but it removes one of the larger arguments for UA expanding ops at DCA.

"Once" it is finished? LOL, you're an optimist. Construction of phase I of the project (extension to Wiehle Ave) was supposed to start in 2005, but started in 2009. It was supposed to open in August 2013, it's now supposed to open in March 2014, but we'll see - testing of the new track has uncovered "software glitches" in the operating system. Phase II to Dulles is supposed to be finished by 2018, but given MWAA and Metro's collective incompetence, 2020 is more realistic.

I get the frustration ....the facilities are beyond crappy but I don't have to live in the terminal or even connect. 5 Min drive from my house, $20 cab ride, direct connections to 90% of the places I need to go, never a weather or ATC delay. There is almost never a reason to endure the miserable day time ride to DCA (I mean HOV 3 seriously?) and if I do it is almost always for a 6AM flight. Much as I hate to say it I am stuck there regardless of the facility quality.

IAD will be fifteen stops away from Washington DC when the rest of the Silver line is completed. I don't know how long that trip will take but I can't imagine anyone in DC taking that trip unless they are doing international travel and can't get a ride. A cab costs about $60.

If you're heading from DC to the West Coast, you can fly from DCA, switch airplanes at DEN, then travel the rest of the way. I wonder if persons inside the beltway would consider a layover in DEN better than a trip out to and then through Dulles.

If John McCain can get more DCA slots for US Airways, it seems Nancy Pelosi could get more DCA slots for united.

Assuming that you start at Union Station (where Amtrak arrives; relatively in the middle of the downtown core), it will take you 52 minutes to get to Wiehle-Reston East, which is the furthest stop that will open as part of Phase 1 of the Silver Line. Dulles itself will be four stops beyond that, so it will be over an hour from Downtown DC to IAD via Metro. An extremely long haul, considering that Union Station to DCA is 22 minutes. (Ride time data from WMATA's website.)

However, even this difference is misleading, because if you're at a downtown stop directly on the Yellow Line (e.g. Gallery Place), you don't have to transfer, and your ride is only 13 minutes, whereas your ride without a transfer to IAD would still be somewhere in the range of 55 minutes to just over an hour. In other words, transferring inflates the travel time disproportionally because the ride is so short.