Long Security Lines Back @ BWI

[laurabelle]

Here's a local news article:
http://www.thewbalchannel.com/travelgetaways/2381458/detail.html

 

[Kimickey]

This is just wonderful Let's see how long it takes us to get through security the coming Saturday. I guess we just have to hurry and wait! I'm jumping for joy!

 

[anitad]

Flying out of BWI tomorrow morning. May have to rethink my departure time.

 

[Luckymommyx2]

We are on the first SWA flight (8:05am) on Saturday the 30th. We were planning on getting to the curbside check-in by 6am then head straight to the gate. We'll be traveling with my 4 and 5 yr old but I'm not counting on being able to board early. Do you think 6am is early enough or should we try even earlier? This is our first time flying out of BWI and I don't want to start the trip out on the wrong foot.

I have bunches of other questions about BWI and SWA but I'll start a new thread once I get all of my questions together. Thanks for any help!

 

[dcfromva]

Luckymommyx2,
We fly out of BWI (SWA) quite often. Our last two flights have been really dicey. Don't forget to allow a little time to park your car and catch a shuttle to the terminal. There is daily parking right at the terminal where you don't have to catch a shuttle, but the last time we parked there the daily rate was $30.00 a day!! All other parking at BWI involves taking a shuttle. Rates vary. Check out the BWI web site for more info.

1. Link to BWI parking info

2. Link to BWI parking map

3. Here's a link to a private parking concern Preflight parking--(we have used them for several years--they come around to your car in the parking lot and help you with your luggage)

We flew outbound on June 21st (BWI-BDL) morning flight. This was the Saturday right after school let out. OMG! There was a backup just letting the shuttle buses drop off people and the curbside check-in line for SWA was at least a block long. Inside, at the counter, the line went around the terminal. They were waiting until your departure time was 45 mins away and pulling people from the line to check in. There was also a little backup at security, but it didn't take anymore than 15 mins to get through. I was totally stressed by the time we got on the airplane because I like to arrive at the gate two hours early!!

Our last flight out was July 20th (BWI-MCO)--a Sunday afternoon flight. It wasn't anything like our previous trip, but it still took about 20mins to curbside check (at the SWA ticket counter--forget about it! The line was even longer!). This flight was just before the announcement of increased threat and there was no back up at security (though, I would expect there to be a back up now).

One other thing you might want to check on is what time security opens. This information is probably dated, but we flew out of BWI on Thankgiving Day on 2001 on an really early flight (I believe it was a 7:00am departure). We arrived around 5:30am and found that the security was not open until 6:00am ! Maybe this is different--especially for the SWA gates. You would still want to arrive early, but it might provide you some peace of mind if you see a big line to get into security.

Lastly, with two children (and a long trip to WDW!), this is may not even possible, but if you only had carryon luggage and E tickets, you could avoid 1 line. SWA has installed kiosks where you can check in and get your boarding pass as long as you don't have to check any baggage. You just get your boarding pass and proceed directly to security.
Have a wonderful trip to WDW!
-DC

 

[Luckymommyx2]

Thanks dcfromva! We are/were planning on having my husband drop all of us off at the curbside check-in by 6am. While I unload the bags I'll have the SWA gentleman check my husband's id then let him go park the car. While he's parking the car I was going to finish checking the rest of us in then meet my husband somewhere inside. That was my plan but after reading your post I may want to get a back-up plan!

We did the no luggage-everyone-has-a-carryon method last year to Disney but with this year being a cruise I don't think I can swing it. I must admit I really liked doing it that way, especially with the kiosks. (that time it was US Air out of Philly.)

On the whole parking issue: We wanted to drive down to BWI one weekend before we leave to figure out where we're going and parking. I know there's supposed to be a park that you can watch the planes come in so we're going to try to swing by the parking garages then head over to the park. I'm just hoping that with the new security messures we can still do this.

I'm sorry to hijack the thread like this laurabelle!

PS...Does anyone know the actual flight time? I know that our flight is from 8:05-10:10 but I didn't know if that is from gate to gate or actual air time. I've seen some of the flights get there in about 1hr 40mins! Just curious.