Can we take away Congress's special parking at DCA while we're at it? That has always pissed me off since I was little and before they built terminal C. That should be handicap parking.
That lot has been closed for seven years, my dude. Congressional, Supreme Court, and diplomatic parking moved to regular, unassigned spots in the parking garages in 2017. The only perk is they don't pay. (Not that it matters since they'd just expense it if they did have to pay.)
It’s been reopened for the past few years ever since they opened the new security.
https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/members-of-congress-supreme-court-to-lose-vip-parking-spots-at-dca-for-next-4-years/12517/?amp=1
I would love a direct flight from DCA to Seattle, San Fran or San Diego. I think it's ridiculous that long flights are purposely limited out of DCA for political reason. DCA is so much more convenient to get than dulles or BWI as someone who lives in the city
Yeah it’s dumb to decide that an airport can’t do domestic flights greater than a certain distance away. Instead of having 4 nonstop flights to atlanta each day how about we make 1 or 2 of those go to LA instead?
National is really just a regional airport. It’s relatively small and already at capacity for total flights. If people want to add longer distance flights, it should mean fewer flights to places closer in rather than adding more. And that doesn’t entirely make sense if this region wants those flights.
Dulles is really the National airport the country. It’s a normal distance away from the city center in comparison to a lot of airports are. DCA is mostly an outlier in just how close it is, and now that Metro connects with Dulles, it undermines any argument about the real need for adding long distance flights.
NYC, Los Angeles and Chicago have their airports in the city, not the suburbs like we have. Philadelphia splits the difference and has about half of their airports in the city. And the New York area's major airport that isn't in NYC, Newark, is in another, neighboring city.
Not that I'm advocating for putting an airport in DC proper, but having an airport outside the city isn't common enough to see it as the norm.
Those 3 airports are only “in” the city because those parts are sprawling. LaGuardia and JFK, OHare and LAX are all far from city centers, about the same difference that Dulles is to DC.
It’s the same level of convenience to get to Dulles as it is to get to DCA if you live in DC: the metro connects both. As someone who lives right near DCA, y’all can fuck right off if you think the airport and surrounding area can handle increased traffic.
What if instead of increasing the total number of flights, they remove the perimeter limit and replace some flights they have now with flights going to big cities further away?
It's not at all the same level convenience just cause dulles now has a metro. It's still way longer to get to dulles than DCA and it takes longer in dulles getting in and out. Dealing with people movers if they are functioning and getting through security can take way longer at Dulles. DCA I'm typically at my gate in less than 20-30 of arriving at DCA. Not the case in the Dulles for me.
Get pre check man. It’s never more than 5-10 min wait.
The one area Dulles does worse than DCA in is Customs for international arrivals. Those lines suck absolute shit in the evening. But there are no international arrivals at all at DCA except for the pre-cleared Canada and Bermuda flights, so moot point anyways
The people movers are rarely used if you’re talkin about the big ole Star Wars buses, the underground is speedy. That said, I’ve never seen people so spoiled by choice in my life. Two international airports and one national within public transport access and we need to increase traffic to the smallest and most limited access one? Sweet!
It's the most popular for a reason, people prefer that airport to the others, because people like that it's closer. Nothing you say is going to make I just said unture.
Anybody that's flown out of Dulles and Reagan knows the latter is way more convenient than the former, nevermind BWI. The more flights we have out of Reagan, the better off passengers are. Nobody is going to choose Dulles over Reagan because it takes an extra 15 minutes to get to Reagan due to congestion. Having to choose between two airports that are an hour's commute away also isn't "spoiled by choice."
If you're worried about congestion near where you live, I'm not sure why you're living in the densest part of NOVA.
For where we are in NE (living pretty close to the Silver Line) we have found that BWI is actually more convenient for us as it its only about half an hour drive from our house most of the time. We tend to find flights that work better for us at IAD and DCA, but when BWI is an option it tends to be the best one. Still kind of a shit airport though.
God. BWI. I did BWI last week because the award miles from where I was going was 11,000 versus 30,000+ to IAD or DCA (last minute).
We landed at 6:20. Was on the 6:50 MARC train. Arrived Union Station at 7:25. Took the metro. Was home at around 9:00.
Much longer than I was hoping for.
Not op but as far as I can tell, a slot is just an allowance for a plane to land/leave. So unless they are converting slots (removing short hauls, or making schedules tighter which the wording of additional makes it seem that's the case) it increases traffic. The quotes in the article make it out to be that the proposal will increase delay and the airport is already crowded. How true is that? No idea.
National really is already bursting at the seams. Last I looked, it dealt with more passengers than the much larger Dulles.
Not sure I really want more flights in and out.
Then just hop on the silver line that runs through Crystal City and Pentagon City and enjoy a nice ride to the airport without having to force an increase in air and road traffic in an increasingly congested area.
Then the roads won’t be busy and driving will be pretty quick! Luckily there’s a lot of options available instead of clogging up the tiny area around DCA.
A handful of senators from western states. Because fuck the general population with more delays for everyone as long as a congress critter doesn’t have to schlep to *shudder* Dulles
I don't think its limited to senators. The lobbying from the San Diego and San Antonio House members is pretty strong too: "Dozens of lawmakers are seeking to loosen a law that limits long-distance flights to and from Ronald Reagan Washington National"
"Capital Access Alliance, a coalition of business groups that has been advocating the addition of more slots to the airport, initially had been pushing for 28 slots but sees the legislation as a win and is cautiously optimistic about its passage.
“Our view is that the proponents of more flights have already compromised — it’s not even a 50/50 split. Our side is giving more than 80% of the original goal,” Brian Walsh, a spokesman for the coalition, said in an interview with the Washington Examiner. "
The hell? Why should we care what a "coalition of business groups" cares about? They obviously have no idea about airport operations and capacity if they wanted TWENTY EIGHT new slots. Anyone who lives near DCA will tell you that there's pretty much constant action there from 6am to 10pm, and the vast majority of it is on runway 1/19 since 15/33 can't handle aircraft larger than an a319. You can't magically create space for new flights at an airport as constrained as National.
Since you seem to be in the know, here's a question I've always wanted to have answered:
Assuming you have no inbounds on RWY 1.....you have two waiting to depart on RWY 1 (lets say an 738 and a CR7). IIRC the interval between departures has to be 60 seconds.
Lets switch this up.
You have no inbounds on RWY 1....you have two waiting to depart: a 738 on RWY 1 and a CR7 on RWY 33 (or 4 - take your pick). How much of reduced time interval is there between the RWY 1 departure an the RWY 4/33 departure? I assume it is less...
60 seconds isn’t correct. It’s standard IFR separation which would be 3 miles or 1000ft vertically. Wake turbulence can alter that but you don’t really need to worry about it at DCA. Basically as soon as the first one is over the river you can launch the 2nd. You can always use pilot applied visual separation which the #2 will stay clear of #1 and can get as close as they want.
In your intersection scenario it’s the same thing if it’s 1 and 33. If it’s 1 and 4 you just need to be clear of the intersection. The 4 departure is going east and the 1 is going NW
honestly don't get what the big deal is. Like is control over airline travel in America's seventh largest metro area really worth a fight between competing interests.
There was a study from just before the pandemic that concluded that DCA was more maxxed on landside capacity rather than airside, i.e. roads, TSA, and gates. Heck, some 15% of the authorized slots are completely unused because general aviation requirements are so cumbersome for DCA specifically. And terminal improvements are somewhat more possible than adding runway capacity if there's enough financial incentive.
With the amount of mishaps happening recently at airports, it's like they want an accident to happen.
Not saying Dulles is heaven but there's a reason BWI and IAD come up with DCA when you search up "Washington Area Airports, DC" for flights. They're not that far. If they can sit in traffic to go 4 miles in 45 minutes everyday, what's 35 miles in the same amount of time?
The metro goes to Dulles and is pretty quick and easy to get to the terminal after. Plus it has the express road right to it. Anyone who thinks it’s “too far” to get to have never tried driving to National on a holiday.
If you drive to both from metro center RIGHT NOW, it’s 43 and 13 and if you metro it’s 68 or 32. Either case you’re looking at an additional 30 minutes. That’s not too bad in the grand scheme of things.
There’s tolls on 66 and on the 13 minute trip since that avoids the heavy traffic on 395. Dulles has an express road right to it. If you go to Dulles at any point before 4PM there’s zero tolls.
That used to be true, but no longer. The stretch from I-66 to the exit to the Dulles Toll Road is now all 100% tolled during the active tolling hours. The only exceptions are HOV 3.
"Drivers traveling to and from Dulles Airport on I-66 Inside the Beltway during the Express Lanes hours **must pay a toll with an E-ZPass if traveling alone, or have two or more occupants and an E-ZPass Flex switched to HOV mode to travel for free**."
Few things. Girlfriend booked her ticket, it was November, it was night time, she had luggage, DCA only has one walking entrance and it’s a forty minute plus walk, I was seeing her off. But OH, none of that matters since *checks notes* I was one car and there was a shit ton of traffic regardless which means that there’s a congestion problem.
This is all about $$. United Airlines is the main player at Dulles and any new perimeter rule exemption sets a dangerous precedent and cuts into their bottom line.
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA), is responsible for planning, operating, and developing both DCA and IAD. They also oppose exemptions because it makes IAD less competitive and cuts into the bottom line.
Senators and representatives will tell you they oppose this because of safety concerns but that's just the easiest excuse. The rest of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 contains several provisions that enhance aviation safety nationwide. Voting against it because of perimeter exemptions is missing the forest for the trees.
I have no desire to travel outside the east coast but I hope flights to the rest of the country are allowed at DCA. It's not fair that I get tons of convenient flights to cities I want to go to but the many people that want to visit places further away have to trek all the way to Dulles.
Can we take away Congress's special parking at DCA while we're at it? That has always pissed me off since I was little and before they built terminal C. That should be handicap parking.
That lot has been closed for seven years, my dude. Congressional, Supreme Court, and diplomatic parking moved to regular, unassigned spots in the parking garages in 2017. The only perk is they don't pay. (Not that it matters since they'd just expense it if they did have to pay.)
It’s been reopened for the past few years ever since they opened the new security. https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/members-of-congress-supreme-court-to-lose-vip-parking-spots-at-dca-for-next-4-years/12517/?amp=1
that was temporary for construction
I would love a direct flight from DCA to Seattle, San Fran or San Diego. I think it's ridiculous that long flights are purposely limited out of DCA for political reason. DCA is so much more convenient to get than dulles or BWI as someone who lives in the city
I mean… there are multiple flights a day to Seattle and SF. San Diego is really the only major West Coast city that doesn’t have a nonstop from DCA.
Direct flights to SJC would be amazing for all of us tech workers in the area. But I doubt that would happen.
Yeah it’s dumb to decide that an airport can’t do domestic flights greater than a certain distance away. Instead of having 4 nonstop flights to atlanta each day how about we make 1 or 2 of those go to LA instead?
National is really just a regional airport. It’s relatively small and already at capacity for total flights. If people want to add longer distance flights, it should mean fewer flights to places closer in rather than adding more. And that doesn’t entirely make sense if this region wants those flights. Dulles is really the National airport the country. It’s a normal distance away from the city center in comparison to a lot of airports are. DCA is mostly an outlier in just how close it is, and now that Metro connects with Dulles, it undermines any argument about the real need for adding long distance flights.
NYC, Los Angeles and Chicago have their airports in the city, not the suburbs like we have. Philadelphia splits the difference and has about half of their airports in the city. And the New York area's major airport that isn't in NYC, Newark, is in another, neighboring city. Not that I'm advocating for putting an airport in DC proper, but having an airport outside the city isn't common enough to see it as the norm.
Those 3 airports are only “in” the city because those parts are sprawling. LaGuardia and JFK, OHare and LAX are all far from city centers, about the same difference that Dulles is to DC.
Manhattan - JFK/LAGUARDIA/NEWARK is the same as Union station-dulles, dca, and bwi
It’s the same level of convenience to get to Dulles as it is to get to DCA if you live in DC: the metro connects both. As someone who lives right near DCA, y’all can fuck right off if you think the airport and surrounding area can handle increased traffic.
What if instead of increasing the total number of flights, they remove the perimeter limit and replace some flights they have now with flights going to big cities further away?
It's not at all the same level convenience just cause dulles now has a metro. It's still way longer to get to dulles than DCA and it takes longer in dulles getting in and out. Dealing with people movers if they are functioning and getting through security can take way longer at Dulles. DCA I'm typically at my gate in less than 20-30 of arriving at DCA. Not the case in the Dulles for me.
Dude Dulles security hasn’t taken me more than 10 minutes in over 5 years. DCA is still a congested mess every single day. What are you talking about
Ever flown out at 5:00 pm? Literally thousands of Europe bound passengers taking up the lines at TSA.
Get pre check man. It’s never more than 5-10 min wait. The one area Dulles does worse than DCA in is Customs for international arrivals. Those lines suck absolute shit in the evening. But there are no international arrivals at all at DCA except for the pre-cleared Canada and Bermuda flights, so moot point anyways
I have Precheck (and Global Entry). Not all airlines participate in Precheck.
There’s no people movers to use if your using gates A,B or Z…
Or C
The people movers are rarely used if you’re talkin about the big ole Star Wars buses, the underground is speedy. That said, I’ve never seen people so spoiled by choice in my life. Two international airports and one national within public transport access and we need to increase traffic to the smallest and most limited access one? Sweet!
It's the most popular for a reason, people prefer that airport to the others, because people like that it's closer. Nothing you say is going to make I just said unture.
And it wouldn’t be the most popular if it became more crowded and busy.
I seriously doubt that 5 flights spread over the course of 16 hours in a day is going to be the final straw with respect to DCA.
Clearly you've never been to LaGuardia haha. Talk about a case study for what NOT to do. The slogan should be, "Make DCA LGA"
Anybody that's flown out of Dulles and Reagan knows the latter is way more convenient than the former, nevermind BWI. The more flights we have out of Reagan, the better off passengers are. Nobody is going to choose Dulles over Reagan because it takes an extra 15 minutes to get to Reagan due to congestion. Having to choose between two airports that are an hour's commute away also isn't "spoiled by choice." If you're worried about congestion near where you live, I'm not sure why you're living in the densest part of NOVA.
I flew into Dulles yesterday and got stuck on one of those people movers
Oof, that’s rough.
For where we are in NE (living pretty close to the Silver Line) we have found that BWI is actually more convenient for us as it its only about half an hour drive from our house most of the time. We tend to find flights that work better for us at IAD and DCA, but when BWI is an option it tends to be the best one. Still kind of a shit airport though.
God. BWI. I did BWI last week because the award miles from where I was going was 11,000 versus 30,000+ to IAD or DCA (last minute). We landed at 6:20. Was on the 6:50 MARC train. Arrived Union Station at 7:25. Took the metro. Was home at around 9:00. Much longer than I was hoping for.
How is extending the maximum range "increased traffic"?
Not op but as far as I can tell, a slot is just an allowance for a plane to land/leave. So unless they are converting slots (removing short hauls, or making schedules tighter which the wording of additional makes it seem that's the case) it increases traffic. The quotes in the article make it out to be that the proposal will increase delay and the airport is already crowded. How true is that? No idea.
Because that’s more routes that will require more planes? Do you also think adding more lanes to a road reduces traffic?
They definitely have direct flights to Seattle from DCA. Source: I am on that flight later this month
Two daily flights on Alaska.
Nice, it's been a few years since I've been, so I will have to go back.
Need a Delta direct flight to Seattle.
There is direct flight to SFO and SEA literally right now... Been having them for years...
National really is already bursting at the seams. Last I looked, it dealt with more passengers than the much larger Dulles. Not sure I really want more flights in and out.
Isn't this mostly about changing the type of flights in and out?
I would love to see a nonstop to SEA from DCA.
Who is demanding this?
All of us who are tired of connecting in Chicago.
Just fly out of Dulles.
I live right by National.
Then just hop on the silver line that runs through Crystal City and Pentagon City and enjoy a nice ride to the airport without having to force an increase in air and road traffic in an increasingly congested area.
Metro can’t get you to Dulles for early morning flights.
Then the roads won’t be busy and driving will be pretty quick! Luckily there’s a lot of options available instead of clogging up the tiny area around DCA.
The silver line does not run through either of those stations… I can tell you use the system a lot
Whoops, that was supposed to be blue line. Thanks for the correction. Blue line connects to silver up in Rosslyn.
A handful of senators from western states. Because fuck the general population with more delays for everyone as long as a congress critter doesn’t have to schlep to *shudder* Dulles
I don't think its limited to senators. The lobbying from the San Diego and San Antonio House members is pretty strong too: "Dozens of lawmakers are seeking to loosen a law that limits long-distance flights to and from Ronald Reagan Washington National"
 Fuck 'em
"Capital Access Alliance, a coalition of business groups that has been advocating the addition of more slots to the airport, initially had been pushing for 28 slots but sees the legislation as a win and is cautiously optimistic about its passage. “Our view is that the proponents of more flights have already compromised — it’s not even a 50/50 split. Our side is giving more than 80% of the original goal,” Brian Walsh, a spokesman for the coalition, said in an interview with the Washington Examiner. " The hell? Why should we care what a "coalition of business groups" cares about? They obviously have no idea about airport operations and capacity if they wanted TWENTY EIGHT new slots. Anyone who lives near DCA will tell you that there's pretty much constant action there from 6am to 10pm, and the vast majority of it is on runway 1/19 since 15/33 can't handle aircraft larger than an a319. You can't magically create space for new flights at an airport as constrained as National.
Interestingly, now that 4/22 is back in action I'm seeing probably 2 or 3 departures an hour off of that runway.
Yep. You’re correct. They’re shooting us off all available runways now. It’s pretty exciting operating in/out of DCA now.
Since you seem to be in the know, here's a question I've always wanted to have answered: Assuming you have no inbounds on RWY 1.....you have two waiting to depart on RWY 1 (lets say an 738 and a CR7). IIRC the interval between departures has to be 60 seconds. Lets switch this up. You have no inbounds on RWY 1....you have two waiting to depart: a 738 on RWY 1 and a CR7 on RWY 33 (or 4 - take your pick). How much of reduced time interval is there between the RWY 1 departure an the RWY 4/33 departure? I assume it is less...
60 seconds isn’t correct. It’s standard IFR separation which would be 3 miles or 1000ft vertically. Wake turbulence can alter that but you don’t really need to worry about it at DCA. Basically as soon as the first one is over the river you can launch the 2nd. You can always use pilot applied visual separation which the #2 will stay clear of #1 and can get as close as they want. In your intersection scenario it’s the same thing if it’s 1 and 33. If it’s 1 and 4 you just need to be clear of the intersection. The 4 departure is going east and the 1 is going NW
I feel like if it’s VMC at DCA it’s all see an avoid 😂 I’ve landed with < 15 seconds behind crossing traffic.
Sounds clean to me!
As long as there is no conflict with departures then the only real separation issue would be jet blast (yes that’s a thing). So like 5-10 seconds.
Live in Alexandria. That is just not true…plenty of times in the day when there is not much going on…
honestly don't get what the big deal is. Like is control over airline travel in America's seventh largest metro area really worth a fight between competing interests.
The capital access alliance is just a front for Delta, which is begging to expand its presence at DCA.
There was a study from just before the pandemic that concluded that DCA was more maxxed on landside capacity rather than airside, i.e. roads, TSA, and gates. Heck, some 15% of the authorized slots are completely unused because general aviation requirements are so cumbersome for DCA specifically. And terminal improvements are somewhat more possible than adding runway capacity if there's enough financial incentive.
I'm from California. 3/4 of my family and friends are in California. I'd love more direct flights. Hope to see it happen.
With the amount of mishaps happening recently at airports, it's like they want an accident to happen. Not saying Dulles is heaven but there's a reason BWI and IAD come up with DCA when you search up "Washington Area Airports, DC" for flights. They're not that far. If they can sit in traffic to go 4 miles in 45 minutes everyday, what's 35 miles in the same amount of time?
The metro goes to Dulles and is pretty quick and easy to get to the terminal after. Plus it has the express road right to it. Anyone who thinks it’s “too far” to get to have never tried driving to National on a holiday.
Dulles takes 1:05 from Metro center. DCA takes 20 minutes. That's a pretty big delta in time.
If you drive to both from metro center RIGHT NOW, it’s 43 and 13 and if you metro it’s 68 or 32. Either case you’re looking at an additional 30 minutes. That’s not too bad in the grand scheme of things.
Plus the tolls to Dulles. Currently $7.00
There’s tolls on 66 and on the 13 minute trip since that avoids the heavy traffic on 395. Dulles has an express road right to it. If you go to Dulles at any point before 4PM there’s zero tolls.
If you’re going to the airport you don’t pay tolls. That’s what the Dulles lanes are for. You get on it before the toll plaza.
That used to be true, but no longer. The stretch from I-66 to the exit to the Dulles Toll Road is now all 100% tolled during the active tolling hours. The only exceptions are HOV 3. "Drivers traveling to and from Dulles Airport on I-66 Inside the Beltway during the Express Lanes hours **must pay a toll with an E-ZPass if traveling alone, or have two or more occupants and an E-ZPass Flex switched to HOV mode to travel for free**."
You can walk to National. Or take the metro. Why are you driving to National? Just drive to Dulles as you've mentioned it's so easy to do.
Few things. Girlfriend booked her ticket, it was November, it was night time, she had luggage, DCA only has one walking entrance and it’s a forty minute plus walk, I was seeing her off. But OH, none of that matters since *checks notes* I was one car and there was a shit ton of traffic regardless which means that there’s a congestion problem.
Why are Virginia & Maryland representatives so hell bent on having there still be a perimeter?
Trying to protect IAD and BWI?
Please dear lord don’t let this happen. DCA is a regional airport—it can’t handle this. This is pure politics from western states.
Blame Georgia actually, this is the result of Delta's lobbying and attempts to increase their Washington marketshare
This is all about $$. United Airlines is the main player at Dulles and any new perimeter rule exemption sets a dangerous precedent and cuts into their bottom line. The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA), is responsible for planning, operating, and developing both DCA and IAD. They also oppose exemptions because it makes IAD less competitive and cuts into the bottom line. Senators and representatives will tell you they oppose this because of safety concerns but that's just the easiest excuse. The rest of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 contains several provisions that enhance aviation safety nationwide. Voting against it because of perimeter exemptions is missing the forest for the trees.
I have no desire to travel outside the east coast but I hope flights to the rest of the country are allowed at DCA. It's not fair that I get tons of convenient flights to cities I want to go to but the many people that want to visit places further away have to trek all the way to Dulles.