Which airport to fly into DC?

[ImarriedGrumpy]

My sister lives in Germantown, MD and we're planning a trip out to visit her in June. We looked into flights into Baltimore, but the timing on them from here in San Jose, CA is horrible, especially with young kids involved. (no morning flights without doing all kinds of goofy layovers, switching airlines, etc.) So it's down to Dulles and Reagan/National. We're going to rent a car while we're there and will do so at the airport since we'll be hauling carseat + suitcases + stroller + an exausted preschooler. Earliest reasonable arrival is around 6:30pm, arriving on a Saturday.

My sister hates flying into Reagan because she thinks it's unsafe, and would rather we got in at Baltimore, but we just can't seem to make that reasonably work. The Dulles flight is a little more expensive than Reagan - is it worth the extra $75/person?

I'd appreciate any tips or advice - last time I was in the DC area was '86!

TIA!

 

[disney11fan]

fly into bwi. you can take the train into d.c.

 

[monkeybug]

We've flown out of Dulles a few times because the flights were cheaper than the flights out of BWI.
I think BWI is a bit easier to get through, but I didn't think Dulles was all that bad.
I don't know anything about Reagan.

 

[beautybutafunnygirl]

Why does she think Reagan's unsafe? Just wondering because, I mean, it's an airport... they're all kind of big on security! It's also veryyyy close to DC, which if anything would make me think security would be even tighter.

Of BWI, Dulles, and Reagan, Reagan's my favorite, probably because it's closest to me. I've never heard any rumors it was unsafe.

 

[rchristiansen]

Dulles could be a pain to fly into and get to MD if traffic is bad. Well traffic probably WILL be bad not matter where you fly into If Baltimore has crummy times to fly with kids, then I'd chose Reagan if Dulles is $75/person more. It's not worth paying the extra.

Why does she think it's unsafe? Reagan probably has the tightest security of all airports - remember senators and dipolomats fly in and out of there all the time.

I love flying into Reagan, it has the best scenery when landing. Many times you fly right over the city seeing all the landmarks and then turn around and fly right down the Potomac River. It's really cool.

 

[DisneyFed]

Nothing wrong with Reagan, but it is in Alexandria and subject to all the fun traffic issues that go along with that area.....

Make sure you rent a car from an onsite vendor or you will be taking a shuttle to the rental car lot--not fun if you're hauling stuff...

And for some reason I'm drawing a blank on onsite rental companies...

There are no safety issues associated with Reagan International Airport.......She's probably concerned with some of the neighborhoods in the area.

 

[arminnie]

I've flown into Dulles and Reagan dozens of times each. I vastly prefer Reagan.

I used to fly out of SFO so I know how hard it is to get to the East Coast with that time change.

 

[Aristocath]

Reagan is super easy to fly in and out of. I think we used National Rental for our car.

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

Why does she think Reagan's unsafe? Just wondering because, I mean, it's an airport... they're all kind of big on security! It's also veryyyy close to DC, which if anything would make me think security would be even tighter.

Of BWI, Dulles, and Reagan, Reagan's my favorite, probably because it's closest to me. I've never heard any rumors it was unsafe.

It's because her DH is an aeronotical (sp?) engineer (has a PhD in the field), and it's the landing/air traffic issues around the airport that they think are unsafe. Apparently it's not a popular airport among pilots - they find it harder to fly into. DSis and DBil are a bit, um, neurotic about flying thanks to his career.

fly into bwi. you can take the train into d.c.

Wish we could fly into BWI. Seriously would make life easier. Still trying to see if we could make something work out of SFO instead of SJC, but we'd rather fly from SJC since it's less than 5 miles from our home (vs. an hr drive).




thanks for all the input. I think we will go with Reagan. I'll look up which rental car companies are onsite - that's a great tip to know!

I'm looking forward to the trip - we'll be taking the train into DC for our sightseeing days, but it will be fun to have a car for other adventures (not to mention that it gives us a little freedom if we're feeling like we've had a little too much family togetherness!

 

[NotUrsula]

DCA isn't really dangerous; pilots prefer to describe it as "difficult" .

It is because DCA has the White House no-fly zone right on top of it, AND noise abatement restrictions; you have to approach low along the Potomac in what is called the "River Visual" approach; it has two turns in the path. This is the diagram of the path (note the distances based on the locations of the bridges; it's a pretty short approach, only about 12 miles.):

OP, if your sister isn't picking you all up at the airport, it really doesn't matter which airport you're using. Fly into DCA and just don't tell her so that she won't worry.

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

DCA isn't really dangerous; pilots prefer to describe it as "difficult" .

It is because DCA has the White House no-fly zone right on top of it, AND noise abatement restrictions; you have to approach low along the Potomac in what is called the "River Visual" approach; it has two turns in the path. This is the diagram of the path (note the distances based on the locations of the bridges; it's a pretty short approach, only about 12 miles.):




OP, if your sister isn't picking you all up at the airport, it really doesn't matter which airport you're using. Fly into DCA and just don't tell her so that she won't worry.

Awesome info!

We did go with DCA - managed to get flights for less than $500/ea at reasonable times with only one layover (and at least 90min between flights).

Thanks for everyone's help and input...it's good to hear from someone other than my DSis.

Now to start mentally preparing ourselves for 10+ hours of travel with a 3 yr old...

 

[kellyg403]

I have flown in and out of all 3 airports and can honestly say traffic once I get there is the only real difference for me.

Saturday evening at 6:30 pm I don't think I would worry too much about flying into Regan honestly. Traffic on the beltway to get to Germantown *shouldn't* be any worse than Dulles. But, in that area...you just never know!

I have not felt any one of the choices was any 'safer' than others, but if we are talking about pilots, well...I am not an expert there!

Kelly

I think the 'view' flying into Regan though is absolutely stunning though! You can see the city for miles.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

I used to live in the DC suburbs. You can get into Dulles or Baltimore with a non-stop from the West Coast, but you would have to have a change of flights to get into National. Since you will be renting a car, my opinion as to the best way to get to/from Germantown would be to use Dulles.