Anyone fly from BWI?

aemama · May 27, 2015

First time posting here in the Transportation board! For the first time in several years Southwest flight out of BWI is cheaper or comparable to Jet Blue out of Reagan. Reagan is about an extra hour drive from our home but the smaller airport combined with early flight has been great for short lines for security baggage. SW website is saying arrive 180 minutes prior to flight time for BWI- is that accurate? We would be on a 7:30AM flight the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. What can I expect crowds in the airport to be like? Any suggestions welcome. Thanks

i*heart*gusgus · May 27, 2015

We just flew out of BWI for the first time a couple weeks ago on Southwest to Orlando at 10:35am. We arrived about 2 hours prior and the security line right next to the Southwest counter looked a little long to me so we walked down to the next security line and there was no wait at all. This was a Thursday morning though so Saturday is probably busier. BWI is a smaller airport as well so hopefully not too bad. My best tip is to avoid the security line closest to the Southwest counter, the walk to the next line is not far at all.

vicki_c · May 27, 2015

I've never arrived 3 hours early at BWI. That is my home airport. We aim to arrive 2 hours before flight time. But I believe there is still a thing on the TSA site that tells you when to arrive for specific airports, it's probably linked from the BWI homepage. They do change it depending on what's going on, days of the week, holidays.

fabfemmeboy · May 27, 2015

aemama said:
First time posting here in the Transportation board! For the first time in several years Southwest flight out of BWI is cheaper or comparable to Jet Blue out of Reagan. Reagan is about an extra hour drive from our home but the smaller airport combined with early flight has been great for short lines for security baggage. SW website is saying arrive 180 minutes prior to flight time for BWI- is that accurate? We would be on a 7:30AM flight the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. What can I expect crowds in the airport to be like? Any suggestions welcome. Thanks

No, 3 hours before the flight is excessive. I fly out of BWI pretty often and have never been there more than 2 hours in advance, even the day before Thanksgiving. While BWI is a little more crowded, I've found that people move through security faster than at Reagan.

JLitfin · May 27, 2015

BWI is our home airport and I agree 2 hours before your flight should be plenty of time.

mikehn · May 28, 2015

to pile on some more, 2 hours is plenty

aemama · May 28, 2015

Thanks everyone! We booked the Southwest flight out of BWI. Any recommendations for a park/sleep/fly hotel?

rwdavis2 · May 29, 2015

Since I live here I can't help about hotels. Bring BWI up on google maps and then tell it to search for hotels in the area.

hockeymom519 · May 29, 2015

We stayed at the BWI Marriott 2 years ago. Worked well for us. The shuttle was pretty quick picking us up after our return flight. We plan on staying here again in September.

mi*vida*loca · May 29, 2015

aemama said:
Thanks everyone! We booked the Southwest flight out of BWI. Any recommendations for a park/sleep/fly hotel?

We booked the Comfort Inn on Baltimore Annapolis Blvd. Right now it is $89 plus tax. I think it came out to $107. I paid $18 to hold it and will pay the balance upon check in.

We are 20 minutes from PHL but BWI was $500 cheaper.

maciec · Jun 2, 2015

we usually stay at the Embassy Suites because it's a nice hotel, great breakfast, and free shuttle.

Sadie22 · Jun 2, 2015

On Labor Day weekend and other significant holiday weekends crowds are large. It's better to be too early than too late.

MindyMouse76 · Jun 3, 2015

Any suggestions on where to park at BWI? Leaning towards the onsite daily garage. Thanks.

Dacky619 · Jun 3, 2015

MindyMouse76 said:
Any suggestions on where to park at BWI? Leaning towards the onsite daily garage. Thanks.

We usually use one of the offisite lots. We like Preflight the best but econopark and fast park are good too.

rwdavis2 · Jun 5, 2015

MindyMouse76 said:
Any suggestions on where to park at BWI? Leaning towards the onsite daily garage. Thanks.

Since we usually fly to WDW in January the daily garage is nice because you don't have to worry about digging the car out of the snow.

1Grumpy9 · Jun 5, 2015

When I fly it is usually out of BWI. I use the long term parking most of the time. I try to arrive 2 hrs ahead of time no matter what time of year. I flew in 2013 on Dec. 19th and the line to check into SW was at security, but since we didn't have to check bags (they were sent down early with my parents), we went right to security and there was only 4 or 5 people in front of us. It all depends when you are going to fly as to what the crowds are going to be like.

disny_luvr · Jun 7, 2015

MindyMouse76 said:
Any suggestions on where to park at BWI? Leaning towards the onsite daily garage. Thanks.

We always park at EconoPark Express. We've parked there for our last several trips and have been very pleased. I'd encourage you to make a reservation online if you plan on parking there; I've seen them turn people away.

katallo · Jun 7, 2015

There is also an Aloft BWI that provides transportation. We loved the 4 points Sheraton but they demolished it for a parking garage

Starshine · Jun 8, 2015

katallo said:
We loved the 4 points Sheraton but they demolished it for a parking garage

We were a year between trips and showed up at the 4 Points Sheraton to park only to find it gone!! :rotfl:

I miss it too.

Anyone fly from BWI?

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