Has anyone flown indirect via Dulles?

[Cumbley]

hi everyone- looking at flights for next August - found some which have 1hr 40mins stopover in Dulles, Washington. Is that enough time???? TIA

 

[chmurf]

We're talking about the uk->usa fligjt right ?

2hrs is a bare minimum when you need to clear immigration (3hrs at JFK)
Anything shorter is risky
My own personnal comfort zone starts at 2hrs30mins and longer

If you have global entry and no checked bags 1h40min is doable
If you don't then only go for this flight if you're comfortable with the idea of missing your connection and be rebooked on the next available flight ( and if your IAD-MCO flight is the last one of the day, be prepared to spend the night in washington in case you don't make the connection)

If it's for the flight back to the uk then 1h40 is more than enough

 

[Cumbley]

Thanks for the advice. Yes it is going uk-usa. I did think it would be too short a stopover. Will keep looking!

 

[steve_rob]

Dulles-Washington is a weird airport - or at least it was the last time I went through it on the way to Orlando. Granted that was about 4/5 years ago, so it may well have changed, but if it is the same, then 1hr 40mins would actually be quite do-able.

On disembarking the plane, there were two separate signs to immigration/customs - one for customers who were staying in Washington and one for people who had other flights to catch to elsewhere - and they both went in different directions. These were not like the Flight Connections signs at Heathrow/Gatwick where they both point in the same direction as the other immigration signs and only split off after you're through that area - these went to two completely separate immigration areas in different parts of the airport.

Because of this, when we got to "our" area, it turned out that maybe three quarters of the people on our flight (and I guess any other flights arriving at the same time) must have been staying in Washington, and so the queues we were in were really quite short and we were able to get through quite quickly. And once we exited customs, we followed the corridor and it basically dumped us out right in the middle of the concourse no more than 50 yards from the gate for our Orlando flight - can't guarantee you'll be that lucky though!

Also, this was flying with United, so it may just have been a feature of the terminals that they landed at / took off from.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

First, there is no such thing as an indirect flight. You are talking about a direct flight.

IAD is my home airport and I would never book a flight with a 1 hour, 40 minute connection there if I were a foreigner coming in on an international flight and had to clear customs/immigration. You might sail through, or you might face very long lines. To be safe, go for a two hour connection.

 

[Cumbley]

Dulles-Washington is a weird airport - or at least it was the last time I went through it on the way to Orlando. Granted that was about 4/5 years ago, so it may well have changed, but if it is the same, then 1hr 40mins would actually be quite do-able.

On disembarking the plane, there were two separate signs to immigration/customs - one for customers who were staying in Washington and one for people who had other flights to catch to elsewhere - and they both went in different directions. These were not like the Flight Connections signs at Heathrow/Gatwick where they both point in the same direction as the other immigration signs and only split off after you're through that area - these went to two completely separate immigration areas in different parts of the airport.

Because of this, when we got to "our" area, it turned out that maybe three quarters of the people on our flight (and I guess any other flights arriving at the same time) must have been staying in Washington, and so the queues we were in were really quite short and we were able to get through quite quickly. And once we exited customs, we followed the corridor and it basically dumped us out right in the middle of the concourse no more than 50 yards from the gate for our Orlando flight - can't guarantee you'll be that lucky though!

Also, this was flying with United, so it may just have been a feature of the terminals that they landed at / took off from.

Thank you - this is really helpful.

 

[Kath2003]

First, there is no such thing as an indirect flight. You are talking about a direct flight.

IAD is my home airport and I would never book a flight with a 1 hour, 40 minute connection there if I were a foreigner coming in on an international flight and had to clear customs/immigration. You might sail through, or you might face very long lines. To be safe, go for a two hour connection.

You need to stop saying that this is "not an indirect flight". It is two planes, with two flight numbers. If it were a direct flight, it is ONE flight number (even if it makes stops along the way - common with very long journeys e.g. London-Sydney - which means that, though direct, it is not a non-stop flight). Therefore this journey cannot be described as direct.
This is therefore referred to as an indirect flight (sometimes referred to as a connecting flight).
(Helpful list of terms here)

 

[saintrob]

I'd much prefer to sit in a waiting area by being too early off a connecting flight than running across terminals (speaking from experience at Schipol!) Three hours is my minimum in any airport.