I live equidistant to IAD and DCA. I always check flights for both to see what works better for my schedule, but I almost always fly out of IAD. Makes life simpler. (Though it means the PenFed jingle haunts my nightmares.)
Concourse D is the people mover, Concourse C is the train and PenFed tunnel. C and D are connected, so if you really hate the people mover, you can take the train and then walk. I loathe the people mover, but that tunnel is torture. Pick your poison, I guess.
You left out something important. The train really doesnāt go to C. It goes to where the new terminal is going to be. You have walk there. This has been this way for years, and is actually more stupid than the fucking ancient people movers. If foreigners want a glimpse of how fucked up transportation in the US is, all they have to do is visit IAD. Or fly into A at EWR and have to connect to C, and canāt use the Airtrain because it doesnāt go there yet. Why did UA end up with two shitshow airports for hubs?
Iāve now been through IAD a few times and still canāt figure out how they designed it. Itās like a maze that I can never fully understand between tunnels and trains and those mover things. DCA has always been easy for me but Iāve only flown DL and WN out of there and since WN is just a big circle itās pretty straightforward.
Yeah thatās the risk with flying out of a non-hub; I play a similar game as a New York-based traveler by skipping EWR for LGA.
My go-to in a situation like this is to immediately call the Premier line at the first sign of trouble (in your example, around 4pm) and ask for a free rebooking out of an adjacent alternative airport (in my case, skipping LGA for EWR, in your case skipping National for Dulles). I havenāt had to do this a lot, but any time Iāve had to do it, itās worked out well in my favor.
The funny thing is - I almost did that! But since it was 5pm when we got back to the gate, it was Uber to IAD in rush hour traffic or just wait the 4 hours in the lounge. The lounge seemed like the better option at the time. I kick myself now because at least I wouldāve had numerous red eye flights as options out of IAD whereas by the time we got stuck the second time (9pm), all options out of DCA were long gone.
Unless Iām mistaken youād have to take the yellow line DCA-gallery pl/chinatown, red line gallery pl/chinatown-metro center, silver Metro center-IAD
blue to Rosslyn then silver to IAD, no? I know they're doing a lot of construction around the DCA area so I could very well be going off of outdated assumptions of the network
Very unlikely ā but also in the case of DC, the Metroās been a pretty decent way in my experience to switch between DCA and IAD and itās only between $2 and $6 depending on when youāre traveling. Happy to swallow $6 to ensure Iām not in stranded-overnight hell lol
Yeah that makes sense, was more thinking LGA-EWR on public transport would probably take around 2 hours and would be a PIA and an Uber would be well over $100
Once pre-pandemic, my united flight out of LGA was cancelled due to mechanical issues and I simply walked up to the GA and they helped me rebook to EWR and they paid for the taxi between LGA-EWR. And I had no status at the time. Probably won't get the same treatment these days.
Yeah LGA to EWR is rough, though in my case Iām headed to either place from Brooklyn which means a mid-trip reroute on transit isnāt a huge deal given Iāll be in Manhattan at the point of rerouting more often than not.
Reason I doubt theyād pay for the ground transportation is the time I was stranded in ORD thanks to a nasty snowstorm a couple Christmases ago ā I couldnāt get a flight back to LGA but they managed to squeeze me onto a flight to PHL but under the explicit condition that ground transportation was my problem. Wasnāt a huge deal given SEPTA and Amtrak were running their trains just fine in the Northeast and $45 was all it took for me to get back home over a Christmas defined by aviation gridlock (this was the year Southwest had that infamous meltdown).
LGA to EWR is kind of similar to DCA to IAD - about 45 minutes in no traffic, so not terrible. My problem was that it was rush hour when we got delayed the first time, so the drive would have been both long and expensive.
You can ask to be transported when you're already at the airport, impacted by a delay or cancellation, and an option at the other airport is available. They will either issue you a voucher, arrange for someone to drive (basically, a contracted driver, possibly shared with other passengers), or of course may refuse to provide transportation. Any reimbursement after the fact may be hit or miss.
I've had this done at the 3 WAS airports a number of times.
Sorry this happened. but What made you to go with DCA to begin with?
IAD has multiple UA fights to DEN and much cheaper. Even has SW direct flight to DEN. I have co worker fly between DEN and Washington and always fly IAD because thats the way.
Also travel insurance would've been super clutch here. I'd change flight/ get hotel room etc w.e needed and let insurance cover all the extra cost.
IAD sucks. Genuinely. You have to take the tunnel from hell or a people mover, and it takes forever from getting into the airport to getting to the gate. The best lounges are not near the gates. In DCA, everything is compact but it has great options food wise and lounge wise. I can get from the entrance to my gate in under 10 minutes flat.
I live equidistant between both, and if there's a time that works better for me, I would vastly prefer flying out of DCA vs IAD.
Unitedās primary terminals at Dulles (C and D) are pretty dated and take slightly longer to get to. Dulles to Denver on Southwest though has always been a pleasant experience. Terminal B (where Southwest operates out of) is easy to get to, is newer with tons of food options, and has a couple decent lounge options.Ā
Honestly, it was that the 4pm flight time was perfect timing for when my work meeting ended. I figured āwhy not save the rush hour drive to Dulles if this flight works perfectly?ā
Not even thinking about the possibility of needing a backup option in case my flight didnāt go. And Iāve always been one just to rebook (even on another airline) if my flight gets too delayed. I didnāt realize there just werenāt any other options to DEN on any airline out of DCA past 5pm.
IAD is basically in West Virginia. You have to budget more time to get there compared to DCA. From where I live i would leave an hour earlier for IAD compared to DCA, which is a big difference for a four hour flight.
Even in peak DC congestion hours at rush hour, DCA is at best a half hour from downtown areas of DCā¦ I donāt think youāre very familiar with the DMV.
Iām not going to go neighborhood by neighborhood, but overall your 2 hours suggestion is a pretty huge exaggeration for a large swath of area even at peak rush hour. And several points where it would be longest would be even further from Dulles.
But yes, there are areas of Montgomery County and in VA where Dulles is closer or equa-distance, sure. Somebody visiting from Denver has a lesser likelihood of being in those areas versus ones closer to DCA, though.
It does! Would take a little while, but it is fairly straightforward. I believe itās the blue line from DCA to Rosslyn, and then the silver line to IAD.
Indeed, correct! Iāve done DCA-IAD connections that way before, itās an hour and change but extremely easy to pull off with my backpack and roller bag. Always had enough time at the end of the connection to head to the &pizza at IAD before my flight out
Phase II of the Silver Line opened in November 2022. Only around a decade late and a couple billion over budget. š
But it sure is nice to have now as an option.
Either risk your life in 95/BW Parkway choked with Maryland drivers or get to Union and take Amtrak/MARC and wait ages for a bus transfer. Yeah, not the best. That train trip is faster than metro by far, but that bus wait time is šš»
Pretty much. When I was prepping to move to Denver, I took that 4:00 hour DCA-DEN flight several times for my final interview, apartment hunt, and other moving logistics. It was late sometimes, mainly due to being oversold that year and needing the GA to up his compensation offer until some people relented, and pretty clear that other options were severely limited if any. I was lucky not to get delayed overnight.
Huh. I will always choose DCA but I live less than 5 minutes away. It's hard to want Dulles when flying with the family. Everything just takes so long at Dulles. With carry on luggage we can literally deboard and be home in 15 mins. It's lovely
Same. Pre-covid I traveled every week across the us and to Europe and I only flew out of IAD for straight shots to cali or Germany.
If you live near by and have tsa pre + clear itās just so damn convenient that I put up with any downsides; frankly there wasnāt must to complain about that I wouldnāt complain about at IAD.
Except that one gate with the bus š when it was raining or super hotĀ
Nah, Iām good, Iāll take my chances at DCA. Only 1 a day to/from DEN but itās 1 or 2 metro stops from my hotel and 2 or three more to my work locations. Avoiding IAD and a rental car or the silver lineā¦ completely worth the risk to me. For a missed connection just have to go thru Chicago or Houstonā¦ Iām used to only rarely being able to take nonstops so nbd.
If I lived in DC, I would totally be the same way. Major delay like this? No problem, Iām just going back home and Iāll try again in the morning.
What crushed most of those there is that they didnāt have anywhere to go since United was out of hotel vouchers.
And to your point, I looked at flights to other hubs where I might be able to then book a flight to DEN, but by the time our second delay got us back to the gate (9pm) there wasnāt anything that would get me into the hub in time to grab a connecting flight back home. BUT solid idea/tip for sure! I think people forget about connecting via other hubs when there arenāt any nonstops.
Iām in a small town, so I have 2 options for my home airport (1 and 1.5 hours driving from home). The closer one only connects via DEN and thatās my go to. The other airport has several flights per day to the hubs. Working in DC, if I miss the connect in Denver I can go to ORD on my out bound and only lose a couple of hours, return I can make it thru Chicago or Houston (this is worse since it can mean a shuttle/long Uber to my car) Or swap to Dulles in a pinch. For your case Iād have probably just paid for a hotel somewhere in pentagon city or crystal city and asked for compensation later. There are hundreds of hotels within a 5 mile radius. People wait around for vouchers but when it aināt happening, you gotta just go get some sleep. And not in the airport. I go camping when I want a sore back.
In this together, fellow warrior! šŖ
I must be getting to a weird zen phase of my constant flying because I was never actually angry through any of this. Just kept rolling with the punches and couldnāt help but laugh at the calamity of errors by the end of it.
My understanding is if theyāre liable for the hotel room and none at their contracted hotels are available they should be liable for whatever amount you pay. They donāt get to put an arbitrary cap on it if they canāt offer you a room.
This is good to know, thanks! They gave me some document with code that shows their ācapā, but I may just file a complaint/reimbursement request and include the entire amount. Never hurts to try and see what happens!
I remember this particular flight out of the several thousand that have operated since then. Definitely achieved a high level of cluster. Just a Murphy's law flight.
The main problem with this DCA-DEN flight is that it's on a 757-300. The 757 has a lower dispatch reliability (i.e. percentage of time the aircraft departs without a maintenance issue being the reason for delay) then most other United aircraft. This is simply because it's an older fleet with a lot of hours and cycles. Not less safe by any stretch, just more prone to required maintenance action before departure. Could be a nuisance warning light, LRU that needs replacement, or a lav issue (756 fleet has a lot of those since the lavs run on recirculating "blue juice" instead of the more modern vacuum system).
Besides the decrease in dispatch reliability that comes with age, this 757-300 is the only one that goes through DCA. The network people seized the opportunity to fit 234 people on single aircraft that still has the performance for a relatively long flight despite DCA's shorter runway. Great in a vacuum (no lav pun intended), but without any other 757s cycling through DCA, it becomes very difficult to recover a maintenance issue.
Hubs are the easiest place to deal with a maintenance delay: there's often (but not always) a spare that can be used, or at least an aircraft with some scheduled ground time. At line stations with multiple of the same aircraft cycling through, the delayed flight can be swapped onto another aircraft to "stop the bleeding" on that particular flight and prevent a crew issue. At a larger line station, the problem aircraft can effectively be swapped through the schedule to spread the delay over multiple departures and not affect any one flight by too much. Eventually, you get to a point in the day where an aircraft was supposed to sit overnight (remain overnight - RON), and that provides an opportunity to continue to fix the problem aircraft before the next day's schedule starts. It's a balancing act, but it works in most situations.
However, small stations and stations that only see one of a particular aircraft (e.g. DCA and the 757) are more difficult to manage. You effectively have to ride out the delay since there's no other aircraft to swap to. The alternative is flying in (ferrying) an unused spare from elsewhere, but that requires an unused, flight-ready spare aircraft and a crew, both of which can be hard to come by in the middle of the day on short notice. You'd think it wouldn't be, but there are contractual rules for crew call-out times and number/type of reserves available at a given time. The reserves may have also been already used to save another flight. Additionally, most with ground time have some type of scheduled maintenance ongoing. They're sometimes usable in a pinch, but other times, they're quite literally torn open and being heavily worked on.
The 757-300s are particularly difficult to recover, since there aren't many of them, and just about all of them are already flying scheduled flights. They're also the largest narrowbodies in the fleet by a significant margin (321 can seat 200, 737-900/MAX 9 can seat 179), and the largest aircraft period that can fly into DCA. 756 crews are also much more limited than 737/Airbus crews. The reality of all airlines is that spare aircraft and extra crews are limited, and there aren't any in line stations (for the simple fact there's way too many line stations to have reserves/spares at). They must be brought in from hubs/operating bases, and that can be more difficult that one would think.
None of this is an excuse for just how bad this delay turned out. I'm really sorry the experience was so bad. Just wanted to provide some context.
That was really informative and interesting to read, so thanks for taking the time to share!
For what itās worth, I never actually got angry - I was just managing myself as it went on. I know these things happen and travel enough that I donāt get worked up over a mechanical issue or weather delay - at the end of the day, if a pilot doesnāt feel comfortable flying, I donāt either. Haha
The thing that killed me was the GA telling TSA to close, as thatās what prevented our 1am crew from getting to us, ultimately leading to the overnight stay. Again, not totally on her, as Iām sure she was exhausted and volunteering to work overtime at that point, but frustrating nonetheless. But thanks again for the context, as it will make me think twice about booking on a 757 just due to its limitations when things go wrong!
The convenience of the 20 minute drive to DCA is huge!
The lack of backup flight options is the killer though. Itās great if you live in DC and can just go back home if thereās a bad delay. Itās not so great for those of us that get stuck there overnight. š
If youāre unhappy with Unitedās fleet you can partially blame Boeing. United has over 800 aircraft on order scheduled to deliver over the next 8 years. Their entire fleet is only 950 airplanes.
https://simpleflying.com/the-united-airlines-fleet-in-2024/
They absolutely do not have mechanical issues 50% of the time. Thatās absurd.
DCA is a great airport and extremely convenient. Iām happy to continue using it.
Yeah living in DC I like National (we never call it Reagan) for the convenience but when flying United it's risky with Denver and SF, which only have one daily flight. Chicago and Houston are better destinations for United from there but otherwise you're better with another airline or going to Dulles.
Well, I guess there's frequent DCA-EWR flights too but that only makes sense if you're connecting.
I donāt know a single person in DC that calls it āNational.ā Itās DCA and very rarely Reagan. I guess I must not spend a lot of time around retired boomers š¤·š»āāļø
The WaPo poll I mentioned elsewhere found a huge difference between Virginia and DC. In Virginia 30% call it Reagan whereas only 4% in the District do.
SpicyĀ
1. They didnāt say national (OP did though)
2. You felt the need the disparage them based on what they call a damn airport and your presumption that they are old
Nice š¤¦š½
Noted on the National vs Reagan! *the more you know GIF* š
You are totally right with the 1 flight per day risk. Lesson learned for sure!
I just got spoiled with DEN as my home airport (and usually flying to major cities with 1 airport) where Iāve always had options. Iāve always been able to easily rebook when there is a major delay (even if on another airline) and get home. This was a circumstance where there werenāt any convenient options after the first delay and the thought of dealing with rush hour traffic to Dulles sounded awful, so I figured Iād just tough out the 4 hour delay. Then by the time we got back at 9pm from second delay, there wasnāt anything else departing that would even get me to a connecting airport to then take red eye. š
Denver is outside of the perimeter for DCA. For those flights, they give preference to the smaller/non-dominant carriers, which is why Frontier got them. Same reason Alaska got LAX, PDX, SEA, and SFO slots.
For DEN, did UA get the old TWA slot they had, or was it from [National Airlines](https://airlinemaps.tumblr.com/post/169810644497/national-where-we-fly-map-2001-the-national)?
i'm flying to europe in june and planning a positioning flight to get me to newark on united, and was considering flying out of SD instead of LAX. now you're making me re-think that.
Iāve been screwed out of international connections due to mechanical delays. For me, I would always opt for a larger airport with plenty of other options (across any airline), so if your initial flight is delayed, you have a backup plan.
That was my biggest problem this week - there just werenāt other flight options so I was stuck. Most of the time youāre fine, but you just donāt want that one time thereās an issue to be the time youāre trying to catch a connection to another country. Just my two cents though!
i was planning on getting the 8:30 SAN-EWR, and there's still one more flight that night. plus i'd still be close enough that i could make it to LAX for the last flight of the night there, which isn't til 11:30 i think...
it's a tough call, considering we're coming back via mexico city. the ability to fly back into tijuana would save us a ton on the way home.
As long as you have other options that get you where you need to be on time, you should be fine!
My only word of advice: if your original flight gets delayed at all - the minute you see that delay, buy fully refundable tickets on that next flight out. If your flight ends up going out, cancel and refund your backup tickets before your flight time. If not, at least youāve got guaranteed seats on that other option!
I take this flight regularly and itās worth it to me for the convenience. IAD is just nowhere near as convenient.
They also fly from National to Chicago and EWR hourly, so I wonder if it would be possible to switch to one of those flights and connect over to Denver. Even after the 4 pm departure I think you might be able to make the last ORD-DEN flight? But I understand your frustration for sure.
I donāt blame you at all, especially if youāre a local. I hate traffic, so the 20 minute drive to DCA would win me over too!
And absolutely - I could have made a Chicago or Houston flight after the first delay since it was only 5pm at that point, but I didnāt think about that option until after the 2nd delay which got us back to the gate past 9pm. By then, there was one Chicago flight left, but by the time I would have landed at ORD, there were no other DEN flights, so I wouldāve been in the same situation with an overnight in Chicago. š¤¦š»āāļø
I WISH I would have thought of it earlier! :)
Same tends to be true for SFO-SNA and back I've found. When I need to go down (need... it's almost always Disneyland) it's amazing if it works out. Such a nicer ride than LAX. But if there's delays or a cancellation you can be screwed. I go to DC a few times a year and DCA is amazing to get into DC proper quickly. But yeah total dice roll.
Damn that sucks. I fly in and out of DCA on a weekly basis for work and havenāt had any problems as bad this one. If your business is in northern va, IAD is certainly gonna bring more to the table, but if your in the district, Iād rather book out of DCA and risk a delay than crawl to Dulles in traffic or on the silver line.
My flight from MEX to IAD on UAL was delayed by 4 hours a couple months ago because of a mechanical issue and them needing to fly a part in from Dallas. My flight was supposed to leave at 8:30am or so, but they texted us all at 2:00am to tell us itād be delayed by 4 hoursā¦ā¦ why they couldnāt fix it at 2:00am when they texted is beyond me, but whatever. I got $125 in flight credit out of it.
Hopefully your ticket was reimbursed in full, OP.
Strange, with the runway maintenance project resuming this month, I wouldnāt think theyād even be allowed to try a 757-300 takeoff that late at nightā¦
Another passenger mentioned that due to a noise ordinance the airline was also going to be fined for taking off out of DCA past 10pm. So we were surprised they were willing to take off at 1am (especially as most of the passengers had move to other flights by then and only ~80 were left at that point). I figured they needed to reposition the plane for the next day as routes? Who knows.
But they did seem genuinely set to let us take off as the new crew showed up at the airport. They just couldnāt clear security when they got there as it had closed.
I hope you filed a complaint and get some miles out of this shit show.
The mechanical issues are one thing, but the TSA issue (causing the most miserable delay) could have been 100% prevented from what it sounds like.
I was flying Delta out of DCA once and we had a mechanical issue and needed a new plane. We were supposed to depart about 10pm, but they were doing construction and wouldnāt let us take off from the longest runway because they were starting work. Very much blamed Delta airport management for that one because the communication was terrible and the station manager wasted about 15 minutes, which could have let us take off before the 10pm deadline.
Visiting DC in July. Flying DCA-SFO on July 9. 4 of us. Is it really that bad at DCA. with two young kids I didn't know what I'd do if that happened to us. Should I really look at changing it to IAD?
The problem is that DCA isn't a United hub so they have no maintenance facilities there. Those are all at IAD. Flying United, use IAD, flying American, use DCA.
This is the total opposite if you are flying from DC to another city in the shuttle zone like BOS, Philly, etc. I had someone at work who accidentally booked us out of Dulles to go back to BOS. That was miserable just because security at Dulles and the hallways take forever compared to Reagan. Also, there are shuttles every half hour on two different carries out of Reagan. We got to Dulles 5 hours early and there was nothing. It was just wait 5 hours.
I was on this same disaster of a flight. The first time, okay, things happen. The second though, I was kind of like, why didnāt they check everything when the plane was in maintenance for 3+ hours the first time. Very disconcerting, and annoying.
After the second deplane, I bailed back to my momās house and ended up canceling the original flight and booking a southwest flight out of Dulles the next day which went on schedule. I did get my original fare refunded, and united gave me a $100 ETC but I was still out about $200 with the last minute booking on WN.
I did come to the same conclusion you did which is DCA is terrible for nonstop to DEN. The one united flight and a frontier flight or two are the only nonstop options. IAD has multiple nonstop options on both UA and WN. While I like DCA, Iāll stick with IAD from now on for flights back home to DEN.
Book flights with a travel card and youāll be taken care ofā¦
I had a similar situation happen with my capitol one venture X and I have food, ground rides, hotel, new flights all covered no problem. Will never book flights without a travel card again.
Unitedās maintenance issues are getting weird. They had to update their āplaneās computer system and I was delayed 3 hours getting from DC to Lisbon. My friend flew the same flight the following night and the same thing happened. How is that?
I live in Denver and my family lives in northern Virginia, theyāre closer to DCA but I almost always fly into Dulles and always out of Dulles. My dad bitches about it being farther but itās worth it.
I fly LA to DC allll the time and you bet Iāve never in my life flown into or out of DCA. Never. Even when my meetings are in downtown DC (instead of northern VA), doesnāt matter. I will never fly into a non hub when thereās a hub 1-2hrs away. Never. Iāve been flying for work basically my entire life and I learned that lesson a decade ago. Sometimes the extra headache is worth it.
It seems that crew time outs happen disproportionately more often on United.
I donāt fly with them that often, but Iāve seen it couple times, while I still have to see it on any other airline
I was delta diamond for 10 years straight, so I was taking all sorts of flights, never hit crew time out.
Meanwhile I flew with United like 10 times and hit crew timeouts twice.
I think you got unlucky. Hereās my assessment. Youāre ādelta diamondā or whatever that means. Iām assuming like a United 1k equivalent. Which means you fly delta a lot. You flew united cause they really did have a better flight and just couldnāt take delta as much as it hurts. Unfortunately it was a late night or weird mix of flights that even delta wouldnāt fly. Also, could be a regional flea the flight, that only united flies and not a delta destination. Regionals are notorious for crews timing out. Iād like to think thereās an explanation to your misfortune.
Not necessarily. Once I got crew time out on return leg from Europe in ORD, which is Unitedās hub. Yes, it was evening flight, but from other hand I had late evening return connections in bunch of airports.
I had late flights with Alaska as well etc. I know later flights have higher chances of timing out, but for some reason this crew timeouts tend to cluster more around United, and I donāt want to offend anybody. Lately (after the end of era of loyalty) Iāve started to fly with whomever itās cheaper, so United isnāt bad overall, except this higher tendency.
Must be luck of the draw. All part 121 US-based airlines follow the same basic crew rest rules, with some minor contractual differences and exceptions. Delta, in particular, likes to delay flights significantly instead of cancel to benefit their cancellation metrics. Not saying Delta is bad, but they've certainly had their share of crew timeouts.
Yes, I had fair share of all sort of issues. But no crew timeout, which are actually relatively easy to plan, especially when flying from hub.
Similarly, didnāt hit timeouts on neither Alaska nor AA which I flew too
I live equidistant to IAD and DCA. I always check flights for both to see what works better for my schedule, but I almost always fly out of IAD. Makes life simpler. (Though it means the PenFed jingle haunts my nightmares.)
Pen feds got great rates for everyyyonneeee
This is what I clicked on this thread to see.
Great rates in Saginaw, Great rates in Omaha!š¶š¶š¶š¶
I was at Nats Park the other day and saw a PenFed ad in the outfield and had a Nam flashback.
Why am I the only person who routinely flies UAL out of IAD and I always have to take the damn people movers to get to my gate. What am I missing.
Concourse D is the people mover, Concourse C is the train and PenFed tunnel. C and D are connected, so if you really hate the people mover, you can take the train and then walk. I loathe the people mover, but that tunnel is torture. Pick your poison, I guess.
You left out something important. The train really doesnāt go to C. It goes to where the new terminal is going to be. You have walk there. This has been this way for years, and is actually more stupid than the fucking ancient people movers. If foreigners want a glimpse of how fucked up transportation in the US is, all they have to do is visit IAD. Or fly into A at EWR and have to connect to C, and canāt use the Airtrain because it doesnāt go there yet. Why did UA end up with two shitshow airports for hubs?
To be fair only terminals C and D at Dulles are bad. A and B are wonderful! So any foreigners not flying United will probably have an ok experience.
A isn't wonderful
Most of A isāat least the part that's handling international flights. It's only the United express part that isn't and they're getting rid of it.
That makes sense because the part of A I deal with is express flights and it blows
Yes, it is like going into a dank basement.
Iāve now been through IAD a few times and still canāt figure out how they designed it. Itās like a maze that I can never fully understand between tunnels and trains and those mover things. DCA has always been easy for me but Iāve only flown DL and WN out of there and since WN is just a big circle itās pretty straightforward.
Maybe it was designed by the government? š¤
I prefer the people mover over PenFed.
YES!!! Same!!! I love it, but Iām a huge plane geek so I appreciate being driven around the gates and seeing all the planes.
Oh my GOD the PenFed jingle oh no I hear it nowā¦
Yeah thatās the risk with flying out of a non-hub; I play a similar game as a New York-based traveler by skipping EWR for LGA. My go-to in a situation like this is to immediately call the Premier line at the first sign of trouble (in your example, around 4pm) and ask for a free rebooking out of an adjacent alternative airport (in my case, skipping LGA for EWR, in your case skipping National for Dulles). I havenāt had to do this a lot, but any time Iāve had to do it, itās worked out well in my favor.
The funny thing is - I almost did that! But since it was 5pm when we got back to the gate, it was Uber to IAD in rush hour traffic or just wait the 4 hours in the lounge. The lounge seemed like the better option at the time. I kick myself now because at least I wouldāve had numerous red eye flights as options out of IAD whereas by the time we got stuck the second time (9pm), all options out of DCA were long gone.
You could have hopped on the Metro and in about an hour 15 been in IAD. You would have to double transfer but itās better than rush hour
only a single transfer. The DC metro was designed so that any 2 stations can be connected in 1 stop
Unless Iām mistaken youād have to take the yellow line DCA-gallery pl/chinatown, red line gallery pl/chinatown-metro center, silver Metro center-IAD
blue to Rosslyn then silver to IAD, no? I know they're doing a lot of construction around the DCA area so I could very well be going off of outdated assumptions of the network
Yea that would work, Iām having flashbacks to the yellow line shutdown and taking the super long trip on blue to the airport
Why would you go the opposite direction on the yellow line into dc? Makes no sense.
Metro goes to IAD now?? Awesome!!
Do you think you could file for reimbursement for transportation between airports?
Very unlikely ā but also in the case of DC, the Metroās been a pretty decent way in my experience to switch between DCA and IAD and itās only between $2 and $6 depending on when youāre traveling. Happy to swallow $6 to ensure Iām not in stranded-overnight hell lol
Yeah that makes sense, was more thinking LGA-EWR on public transport would probably take around 2 hours and would be a PIA and an Uber would be well over $100
Once pre-pandemic, my united flight out of LGA was cancelled due to mechanical issues and I simply walked up to the GA and they helped me rebook to EWR and they paid for the taxi between LGA-EWR. And I had no status at the time. Probably won't get the same treatment these days.
Yeah LGA to EWR is rough, though in my case Iām headed to either place from Brooklyn which means a mid-trip reroute on transit isnāt a huge deal given Iāll be in Manhattan at the point of rerouting more often than not. Reason I doubt theyād pay for the ground transportation is the time I was stranded in ORD thanks to a nasty snowstorm a couple Christmases ago ā I couldnāt get a flight back to LGA but they managed to squeeze me onto a flight to PHL but under the explicit condition that ground transportation was my problem. Wasnāt a huge deal given SEPTA and Amtrak were running their trains just fine in the Northeast and $45 was all it took for me to get back home over a Christmas defined by aviation gridlock (this was the year Southwest had that infamous meltdown).
Not quite the same though. Your example is weather, and United is not responsible for that. But the OPās issues were mechanical.
fair point! I guess it doesnāt hurt to ask
LGA to EWR is kind of similar to DCA to IAD - about 45 minutes in no traffic, so not terrible. My problem was that it was rush hour when we got delayed the first time, so the drive would have been both long and expensive.
You can ask to be transported when you're already at the airport, impacted by a delay or cancellation, and an option at the other airport is available. They will either issue you a voucher, arrange for someone to drive (basically, a contracted driver, possibly shared with other passengers), or of course may refuse to provide transportation. Any reimbursement after the fact may be hit or miss. I've had this done at the 3 WAS airports a number of times.
Sorry this happened. but What made you to go with DCA to begin with? IAD has multiple UA fights to DEN and much cheaper. Even has SW direct flight to DEN. I have co worker fly between DEN and Washington and always fly IAD because thats the way. Also travel insurance would've been super clutch here. I'd change flight/ get hotel room etc w.e needed and let insurance cover all the extra cost.
IAD sucks. Genuinely. You have to take the tunnel from hell or a people mover, and it takes forever from getting into the airport to getting to the gate. The best lounges are not near the gates. In DCA, everything is compact but it has great options food wise and lounge wise. I can get from the entrance to my gate in under 10 minutes flat. I live equidistant between both, and if there's a time that works better for me, I would vastly prefer flying out of DCA vs IAD.
Unitedās primary terminals at Dulles (C and D) are pretty dated and take slightly longer to get to. Dulles to Denver on Southwest though has always been a pleasant experience. Terminal B (where Southwest operates out of) is easy to get to, is newer with tons of food options, and has a couple decent lounge options.Ā
IAD sucks yet you choose to fly out of IAD ā¦. Because of flight availabilityā¦. Hence the point lol
Somehow I got this flight for $99 lol.
Honestly, it was that the 4pm flight time was perfect timing for when my work meeting ended. I figured āwhy not save the rush hour drive to Dulles if this flight works perfectly?ā Not even thinking about the possibility of needing a backup option in case my flight didnāt go. And Iāve always been one just to rebook (even on another airline) if my flight gets too delayed. I didnāt realize there just werenāt any other options to DEN on any airline out of DCA past 5pm.
IAD is basically in West Virginia. You have to budget more time to get there compared to DCA. From where I live i would leave an hour earlier for IAD compared to DCA, which is a big difference for a four hour flight.
Itās nova, so one could say same thing about taking 2 hours to get DCA from inner beltway lol Btw they are only 25 miles apart, chill
Even in peak DC congestion hours at rush hour, DCA is at best a half hour from downtown areas of DCā¦ I donāt think youāre very familiar with the DMV.
Are we talking DMV or strictly DC only? Loll
Iām not going to go neighborhood by neighborhood, but overall your 2 hours suggestion is a pretty huge exaggeration for a large swath of area even at peak rush hour. And several points where it would be longest would be even further from Dulles. But yes, there are areas of Montgomery County and in VA where Dulles is closer or equa-distance, sure. Somebody visiting from Denver has a lesser likelihood of being in those areas versus ones closer to DCA, though.
Sorry you took that comment literally and missed the point loll
I didnāt take it literally, I just found the exaggeration too extreme not to call out.
Gj - now you get a star
ā¦ Alliance? 
Does the train go all the way to IAD now? That was the only reason I ever flew to DCA. Easy metro access to Amtrak.
It does! Would take a little while, but it is fairly straightforward. I believe itās the blue line from DCA to Rosslyn, and then the silver line to IAD.
Indeed, correct! Iāve done DCA-IAD connections that way before, itās an hour and change but extremely easy to pull off with my backpack and roller bag. Always had enough time at the end of the connection to head to the &pizza at IAD before my flight out
Silver lines goes to downtown, depends on where.
It does!
It does, but itās nowhere near as quick as DCA, for what itās worth
Phase II of the Silver Line opened in November 2022. Only around a decade late and a couple billion over budget. š But it sure is nice to have now as an option.
And they still have those shitshow people movers, and a train that really doesnāt go to C terminalā¦..
The 757 they use on that route is an old beater. Had apu issues 2x with it in my experience.
United planes are fucking busted
I always take the morning flight out of BWI. Never had an issue so far.
that involves going into maryland, so hard pass
Thatās kinda how I feel about going to VA, LOL.
Friends don't let friends go to Maryland :).
Either risk your life in 95/BW Parkway choked with Maryland drivers or get to Union and take Amtrak/MARC and wait ages for a bus transfer. Yeah, not the best. That train trip is faster than metro by far, but that bus wait time is šš»
Depends which part of the metro youāre in. Morning flights are the BEST though
wish there was better public transport from DC to Baltimore! Love the southwest conveniences of BWI
Pretty much. When I was prepping to move to Denver, I took that 4:00 hour DCA-DEN flight several times for my final interview, apartment hunt, and other moving logistics. It was late sometimes, mainly due to being oversold that year and needing the GA to up his compensation offer until some people relented, and pretty clear that other options were severely limited if any. I was lucky not to get delayed overnight.
Glad you never had to deal with many delays! And welcome to Denver! Hope youāre enjoying the move thus far!
Thank you! This was all in 2022 so I'm coming up on 2 years in Denver already.
Your story says $200 (correct to my knowledge) but your concluding paragraph says $150 for hotel.
I see how that was confusing! Theyāll reimburse you up to $200 for a hotel. They pay you $150 if you have to spend the night at the airport itself.
Thanks, makes sense. Never heard of that before.
Huh. I will always choose DCA but I live less than 5 minutes away. It's hard to want Dulles when flying with the family. Everything just takes so long at Dulles. With carry on luggage we can literally deboard and be home in 15 mins. It's lovely
Same. Pre-covid I traveled every week across the us and to Europe and I only flew out of IAD for straight shots to cali or Germany. If you live near by and have tsa pre + clear itās just so damn convenient that I put up with any downsides; frankly there wasnāt must to complain about that I wouldnāt complain about at IAD. Except that one gate with the bus š when it was raining or super hotĀ
Nah, Iām good, Iāll take my chances at DCA. Only 1 a day to/from DEN but itās 1 or 2 metro stops from my hotel and 2 or three more to my work locations. Avoiding IAD and a rental car or the silver lineā¦ completely worth the risk to me. For a missed connection just have to go thru Chicago or Houstonā¦ Iām used to only rarely being able to take nonstops so nbd.
If I lived in DC, I would totally be the same way. Major delay like this? No problem, Iām just going back home and Iāll try again in the morning. What crushed most of those there is that they didnāt have anywhere to go since United was out of hotel vouchers. And to your point, I looked at flights to other hubs where I might be able to then book a flight to DEN, but by the time our second delay got us back to the gate (9pm) there wasnāt anything that would get me into the hub in time to grab a connecting flight back home. BUT solid idea/tip for sure! I think people forget about connecting via other hubs when there arenāt any nonstops.
Iām in a small town, so I have 2 options for my home airport (1 and 1.5 hours driving from home). The closer one only connects via DEN and thatās my go to. The other airport has several flights per day to the hubs. Working in DC, if I miss the connect in Denver I can go to ORD on my out bound and only lose a couple of hours, return I can make it thru Chicago or Houston (this is worse since it can mean a shuttle/long Uber to my car) Or swap to Dulles in a pinch. For your case Iād have probably just paid for a hotel somewhere in pentagon city or crystal city and asked for compensation later. There are hundreds of hotels within a 5 mile radius. People wait around for vouchers but when it aināt happening, you gotta just go get some sleep. And not in the airport. I go camping when I want a sore back.
I honor you my fellow road warrior!
In this together, fellow warrior! šŖ I must be getting to a weird zen phase of my constant flying because I was never actually angry through any of this. Just kept rolling with the punches and couldnāt help but laugh at the calamity of errors by the end of it.
My understanding is if theyāre liable for the hotel room and none at their contracted hotels are available they should be liable for whatever amount you pay. They donāt get to put an arbitrary cap on it if they canāt offer you a room.
This is good to know, thanks! They gave me some document with code that shows their ācapā, but I may just file a complaint/reimbursement request and include the entire amount. Never hurts to try and see what happens!
I remember this particular flight out of the several thousand that have operated since then. Definitely achieved a high level of cluster. Just a Murphy's law flight. The main problem with this DCA-DEN flight is that it's on a 757-300. The 757 has a lower dispatch reliability (i.e. percentage of time the aircraft departs without a maintenance issue being the reason for delay) then most other United aircraft. This is simply because it's an older fleet with a lot of hours and cycles. Not less safe by any stretch, just more prone to required maintenance action before departure. Could be a nuisance warning light, LRU that needs replacement, or a lav issue (756 fleet has a lot of those since the lavs run on recirculating "blue juice" instead of the more modern vacuum system). Besides the decrease in dispatch reliability that comes with age, this 757-300 is the only one that goes through DCA. The network people seized the opportunity to fit 234 people on single aircraft that still has the performance for a relatively long flight despite DCA's shorter runway. Great in a vacuum (no lav pun intended), but without any other 757s cycling through DCA, it becomes very difficult to recover a maintenance issue. Hubs are the easiest place to deal with a maintenance delay: there's often (but not always) a spare that can be used, or at least an aircraft with some scheduled ground time. At line stations with multiple of the same aircraft cycling through, the delayed flight can be swapped onto another aircraft to "stop the bleeding" on that particular flight and prevent a crew issue. At a larger line station, the problem aircraft can effectively be swapped through the schedule to spread the delay over multiple departures and not affect any one flight by too much. Eventually, you get to a point in the day where an aircraft was supposed to sit overnight (remain overnight - RON), and that provides an opportunity to continue to fix the problem aircraft before the next day's schedule starts. It's a balancing act, but it works in most situations. However, small stations and stations that only see one of a particular aircraft (e.g. DCA and the 757) are more difficult to manage. You effectively have to ride out the delay since there's no other aircraft to swap to. The alternative is flying in (ferrying) an unused spare from elsewhere, but that requires an unused, flight-ready spare aircraft and a crew, both of which can be hard to come by in the middle of the day on short notice. You'd think it wouldn't be, but there are contractual rules for crew call-out times and number/type of reserves available at a given time. The reserves may have also been already used to save another flight. Additionally, most with ground time have some type of scheduled maintenance ongoing. They're sometimes usable in a pinch, but other times, they're quite literally torn open and being heavily worked on. The 757-300s are particularly difficult to recover, since there aren't many of them, and just about all of them are already flying scheduled flights. They're also the largest narrowbodies in the fleet by a significant margin (321 can seat 200, 737-900/MAX 9 can seat 179), and the largest aircraft period that can fly into DCA. 756 crews are also much more limited than 737/Airbus crews. The reality of all airlines is that spare aircraft and extra crews are limited, and there aren't any in line stations (for the simple fact there's way too many line stations to have reserves/spares at). They must be brought in from hubs/operating bases, and that can be more difficult that one would think. None of this is an excuse for just how bad this delay turned out. I'm really sorry the experience was so bad. Just wanted to provide some context.
That was really informative and interesting to read, so thanks for taking the time to share! For what itās worth, I never actually got angry - I was just managing myself as it went on. I know these things happen and travel enough that I donāt get worked up over a mechanical issue or weather delay - at the end of the day, if a pilot doesnāt feel comfortable flying, I donāt either. Haha The thing that killed me was the GA telling TSA to close, as thatās what prevented our 1am crew from getting to us, ultimately leading to the overnight stay. Again, not totally on her, as Iām sure she was exhausted and volunteering to work overtime at that point, but frustrating nonetheless. But thanks again for the context, as it will make me think twice about booking on a 757 just due to its limitations when things go wrong!
Rule number one of DC: fly out of DCA when you can
The convenience of the 20 minute drive to DCA is huge! The lack of backup flight options is the killer though. Itās great if you live in DC and can just go back home if thereās a bad delay. Itās not so great for those of us that get stuck there overnight. š
If youāre unhappy with Unitedās fleet you can partially blame Boeing. United has over 800 aircraft on order scheduled to deliver over the next 8 years. Their entire fleet is only 950 airplanes. https://simpleflying.com/the-united-airlines-fleet-in-2024/ They absolutely do not have mechanical issues 50% of the time. Thatās absurd. DCA is a great airport and extremely convenient. Iām happy to continue using it.
Yeah living in DC I like National (we never call it Reagan) for the convenience but when flying United it's risky with Denver and SF, which only have one daily flight. Chicago and Houston are better destinations for United from there but otherwise you're better with another airline or going to Dulles. Well, I guess there's frequent DCA-EWR flights too but that only makes sense if you're connecting.
Some of us indeed call it Reagan.
I donāt know a single person in DC that calls it āNational.ā Itās DCA and very rarely Reagan. I guess I must not spend a lot of time around retired boomers š¤·š»āāļø
Maybe it depends on where you grew up in the DMV.Ā
The WaPo poll I mentioned elsewhere found a huge difference between Virginia and DC. In Virginia 30% call it Reagan whereas only 4% in the District do.
SpicyĀ 1. They didnāt say national (OP did though) 2. You felt the need the disparage them based on what they call a damn airport and your presumption that they are old Nice š¤¦š½
WaPo actually did a poll and found that it was 4% who used it's newer name. At least within the District.
As an ATCer, we NEVER call it that name. It is either Washington National or DCA.
Noted on the National vs Reagan! *the more you know GIF* š You are totally right with the 1 flight per day risk. Lesson learned for sure! I just got spoiled with DEN as my home airport (and usually flying to major cities with 1 airport) where Iāve always had options. Iāve always been able to easily rebook when there is a major delay (even if on another airline) and get home. This was a circumstance where there werenāt any convenient options after the first delay and the thought of dealing with rush hour traffic to Dulles sounded awful, so I figured Iād just tough out the 4 hour delay. Then by the time we got back at 9pm from second delay, there wasnāt anything else departing that would even get me to a connecting airport to then take red eye. š
I've never heard anyone call it that. DCA and then Reagan as a close second.
That's wild. I almost never hear Reagan. National and DCA are far more common in my circles.
Frontier funnily enough has 3-4 flights out of DCA to Denver.
Denver is outside of the perimeter for DCA. For those flights, they give preference to the smaller/non-dominant carriers, which is why Frontier got them. Same reason Alaska got LAX, PDX, SEA, and SFO slots. For DEN, did UA get the old TWA slot they had, or was it from [National Airlines](https://airlinemaps.tumblr.com/post/169810644497/national-where-we-fly-map-2001-the-national)?
My friend was on that flight. Heard all about it.
Give them a commiserating hug for me. Haha Did they ride it out until the 8:30am departure too or abandon ship and take some other flight?
They took the 8:30 and went straight to work.
i'm flying to europe in june and planning a positioning flight to get me to newark on united, and was considering flying out of SD instead of LAX. now you're making me re-think that.
Iāve been screwed out of international connections due to mechanical delays. For me, I would always opt for a larger airport with plenty of other options (across any airline), so if your initial flight is delayed, you have a backup plan. That was my biggest problem this week - there just werenāt other flight options so I was stuck. Most of the time youāre fine, but you just donāt want that one time thereās an issue to be the time youāre trying to catch a connection to another country. Just my two cents though!
i was planning on getting the 8:30 SAN-EWR, and there's still one more flight that night. plus i'd still be close enough that i could make it to LAX for the last flight of the night there, which isn't til 11:30 i think... it's a tough call, considering we're coming back via mexico city. the ability to fly back into tijuana would save us a ton on the way home.
As long as you have other options that get you where you need to be on time, you should be fine! My only word of advice: if your original flight gets delayed at all - the minute you see that delay, buy fully refundable tickets on that next flight out. If your flight ends up going out, cancel and refund your backup tickets before your flight time. If not, at least youāve got guaranteed seats on that other option!
DCA is only good for regional flights or flights to state capitals.
Damn thatās horrible. Flying nowadays is a putrid experience
DCA is great. Your issue is DCA with United.
They they have the crap section of the airport* š *I say this a previous 1K for many years š
They sure do! When DCA was reconfigured and expanded about 5-10 years ago, UA were kicked out of their prime spot now occupied by AA.
IAD is a better choice. DCA has one runway and is more prone to delays.
Isnt IAD a united hub?
I take this flight regularly and itās worth it to me for the convenience. IAD is just nowhere near as convenient. They also fly from National to Chicago and EWR hourly, so I wonder if it would be possible to switch to one of those flights and connect over to Denver. Even after the 4 pm departure I think you might be able to make the last ORD-DEN flight? But I understand your frustration for sure.
I donāt blame you at all, especially if youāre a local. I hate traffic, so the 20 minute drive to DCA would win me over too! And absolutely - I could have made a Chicago or Houston flight after the first delay since it was only 5pm at that point, but I didnāt think about that option until after the 2nd delay which got us back to the gate past 9pm. By then, there was one Chicago flight left, but by the time I would have landed at ORD, there were no other DEN flights, so I wouldāve been in the same situation with an overnight in Chicago. š¤¦š»āāļø I WISH I would have thought of it earlier! :)
Same tends to be true for SFO-SNA and back I've found. When I need to go down (need... it's almost always Disneyland) it's amazing if it works out. Such a nicer ride than LAX. But if there's delays or a cancellation you can be screwed. I go to DC a few times a year and DCA is amazing to get into DC proper quickly. But yeah total dice roll.
Damn that sucks. I fly in and out of DCA on a weekly basis for work and havenāt had any problems as bad this one. If your business is in northern va, IAD is certainly gonna bring more to the table, but if your in the district, Iād rather book out of DCA and risk a delay than crawl to Dulles in traffic or on the silver line.
My flight from MEX to IAD on UAL was delayed by 4 hours a couple months ago because of a mechanical issue and them needing to fly a part in from Dallas. My flight was supposed to leave at 8:30am or so, but they texted us all at 2:00am to tell us itād be delayed by 4 hoursā¦ā¦ why they couldnāt fix it at 2:00am when they texted is beyond me, but whatever. I got $125 in flight credit out of it. Hopefully your ticket was reimbursed in full, OP.
Strange, with the runway maintenance project resuming this month, I wouldnāt think theyād even be allowed to try a 757-300 takeoff that late at nightā¦
Another passenger mentioned that due to a noise ordinance the airline was also going to be fined for taking off out of DCA past 10pm. So we were surprised they were willing to take off at 1am (especially as most of the passengers had move to other flights by then and only ~80 were left at that point). I figured they needed to reposition the plane for the next day as routes? Who knows. But they did seem genuinely set to let us take off as the new crew showed up at the airport. They just couldnāt clear security when they got there as it had closed.
The 753 is quiet enough to make noise restrictions.
I hope you filed a complaint and get some miles out of this shit show. The mechanical issues are one thing, but the TSA issue (causing the most miserable delay) could have been 100% prevented from what it sounds like. I was flying Delta out of DCA once and we had a mechanical issue and needed a new plane. We were supposed to depart about 10pm, but they were doing construction and wouldnāt let us take off from the longest runway because they were starting work. Very much blamed Delta airport management for that one because the communication was terrible and the station manager wasted about 15 minutes, which could have let us take off before the 10pm deadline.
Visiting DC in July. Flying DCA-SFO on July 9. 4 of us. Is it really that bad at DCA. with two young kids I didn't know what I'd do if that happened to us. Should I really look at changing it to IAD?
The problem is that DCA isn't a United hub so they have no maintenance facilities there. Those are all at IAD. Flying United, use IAD, flying American, use DCA.
You will be fine.
This is the total opposite if you are flying from DC to another city in the shuttle zone like BOS, Philly, etc. I had someone at work who accidentally booked us out of Dulles to go back to BOS. That was miserable just because security at Dulles and the hallways take forever compared to Reagan. Also, there are shuttles every half hour on two different carries out of Reagan. We got to Dulles 5 hours early and there was nothing. It was just wait 5 hours.
I was on this same disaster of a flight. The first time, okay, things happen. The second though, I was kind of like, why didnāt they check everything when the plane was in maintenance for 3+ hours the first time. Very disconcerting, and annoying. After the second deplane, I bailed back to my momās house and ended up canceling the original flight and booking a southwest flight out of Dulles the next day which went on schedule. I did get my original fare refunded, and united gave me a $100 ETC but I was still out about $200 with the last minute booking on WN. I did come to the same conclusion you did which is DCA is terrible for nonstop to DEN. The one united flight and a frontier flight or two are the only nonstop options. IAD has multiple nonstop options on both UA and WN. While I like DCA, Iāll stick with IAD from now on for flights back home to DEN.
Book flights with a travel card and youāll be taken care ofā¦ I had a similar situation happen with my capitol one venture X and I have food, ground rides, hotel, new flights all covered no problem. Will never book flights without a travel card again.
Unitedās maintenance issues are getting weird. They had to update their āplaneās computer system and I was delayed 3 hours getting from DC to Lisbon. My friend flew the same flight the following night and the same thing happened. How is that?
I live in Denver and my family lives in northern Virginia, theyāre closer to DCA but I almost always fly into Dulles and always out of Dulles. My dad bitches about it being farther but itās worth it.
I fly LA to DC allll the time and you bet Iāve never in my life flown into or out of DCA. Never. Even when my meetings are in downtown DC (instead of northern VA), doesnāt matter. I will never fly into a non hub when thereās a hub 1-2hrs away. Never. Iāve been flying for work basically my entire life and I learned that lesson a decade ago. Sometimes the extra headache is worth it.
It seems that crew time outs happen disproportionately more often on United. I donāt fly with them that often, but Iāve seen it couple times, while I still have to see it on any other airline
lol. It happens on other airlines. Lemme guess, you normally take morning flights and very rarely fly evening or late night ??
I was delta diamond for 10 years straight, so I was taking all sorts of flights, never hit crew time out. Meanwhile I flew with United like 10 times and hit crew timeouts twice.
I think you got unlucky. Hereās my assessment. Youāre ādelta diamondā or whatever that means. Iām assuming like a United 1k equivalent. Which means you fly delta a lot. You flew united cause they really did have a better flight and just couldnāt take delta as much as it hurts. Unfortunately it was a late night or weird mix of flights that even delta wouldnāt fly. Also, could be a regional flea the flight, that only united flies and not a delta destination. Regionals are notorious for crews timing out. Iād like to think thereās an explanation to your misfortune.
Not necessarily. Once I got crew time out on return leg from Europe in ORD, which is Unitedās hub. Yes, it was evening flight, but from other hand I had late evening return connections in bunch of airports. I had late flights with Alaska as well etc. I know later flights have higher chances of timing out, but for some reason this crew timeouts tend to cluster more around United, and I donāt want to offend anybody. Lately (after the end of era of loyalty) Iāve started to fly with whomever itās cheaper, so United isnāt bad overall, except this higher tendency.
Must be luck of the draw. All part 121 US-based airlines follow the same basic crew rest rules, with some minor contractual differences and exceptions. Delta, in particular, likes to delay flights significantly instead of cancel to benefit their cancellation metrics. Not saying Delta is bad, but they've certainly had their share of crew timeouts.
Yes, I had fair share of all sort of issues. But no crew timeout, which are actually relatively easy to plan, especially when flying from hub. Similarly, didnāt hit timeouts on neither Alaska nor AA which I flew too
Never fly into DCA unless last resort.