American Dream

washingtonpost.com
Rating the Airports
BWI for Price, National for Convenience, Dulles for Choice

By Mark Chediak
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, July 4, 2005; D01

Quotes:

With wait times increasing at airports across the country -- a J.D. Power and Associates study last year found the average time spent waiting for security checks was up 15 percent in 2004, to an average of 15 minutes -- pleasing business passengers is more challenging than ever.

"We know people are time crunched," said Linda Hirneise, executive director of travel industry research at J.D. Power. Hirneise said airports that move people through check-in, departure and arrival quickly rated the highest in J.D. Power's customer satisfaction study, which surveyed more than 9,000 passengers.

According to the study, National rated highest of the three local airports, 15th out of 34 mid-size international airports, defined as serving 10 million to 30 million passengers a year. Baltimore-Washington International ranked 20th and Washington Dulles International was third-worst, in part because of its long security lines.

Still, given tight corporate budgets, local business travel managers are more concerned about the price than customer satisfaction when making travel arrangements, said Dillon H. Boyer, chairman of the Baltimore-Washington Business Travel Association, a nonprofit group of corporate travel executives and travel management companies.

"The decisions are really based on cost savings and are fare-driven," Boyer said.

Dulles and BWI are expanding. Dulles is building a train system, a new air traffic control tower, a fourth runway, a new security mezzanine behind the main terminal and 12 additional gates at Concourse B. Those projects are planned to be completed by 2009. At BWI, a terminal-widening project, upgrades to baggage claim and ticketing areas and road widening will be completed by the end of 2006.

Officials at all three airports said they were encouraged by the increase in passengers. "This will be a record summer for us in terms of traffic," said James E. Bennett, president and chief executive of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which manages National and Dulles. BWI is also looking at "very busy" season, said Paul J. Wiedefeld, executive director of the Maryland Aviation Administration.

Here's what travelers can expect at each airport:

Washington Dulles International

As part of the expansion, two parking garages were completed in the past 2 1/2 years, adding 8,500 daily spaces. Projects including an underground train are to be completed in 2009, connecting all the concourses. Improvements to the baggage-claim area and a new security screening area will help the airport run more smoothly.

Despite Dulles's drawbacks, including its distance from downtown Washington and limited public transportation options (an $8 shuttle runs every 30 minutes from the West Falls Church Metro station), the airport offers more West Coast destinations than National, and 40 international routes.

Baltimore-Washington International

"Part of the program was to anticipate growth, but also to take care of some the problem areas we had such as the roadway
system," Wiedefeld said.

Travelers will have to put up with another year of construction needed to expand the main access roads. Drivers wanting to drop off or pick up passengers can park free for the first hour in the covered parking garage, where electronic signs alert them to empty spaces. There is also a free lot where cell phone users can await a call from arriving passengers. Those parking in the daily A garage can go to the airport's Web site (www.bwiairport.com) and print out a $2-off coupon.

Erin Reid, of Dayton, Md., a regular flier at BWI who was waiting for a friend there on a Friday afternoon, said she was tired of the seemingly endless construction at the airport. "The remodeling is an inconvenience," she said.

Reagan National

National scores high with business travelers, given its proximity to downtown Washington, easy Metro access and efficient terminals.

National's Achilles' heel is its limited parking. On busy travel days during the week, the hourly garages can fill up, forcing people who want to spend an hour there to circle the airport until a space opens, or to pull into the more expensive daily parking garages.

Web sites:
Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (Dulles and National)
Baltimore/Washington International Airport
Maryland Aviation Administration (MAA)