Travel time between terminals at Dulles

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John Campbell - 31 Jan 2008 18:38 GMT

I'll be arriving back in the U.S. from a visit to Britain on June 10,
2008. I'm flying United from London to Dulles, and will have a
United Express connecting flight from Dulles to my final destination.
My flight from LHR is scdeduled to land at 7:34 pm, and the flight I
must catch leaves from an A gate at 9:15 pm.

With only 1:41 between flights, I wonder if I will have enought time
to catch the connecting flight, Tthe horror stories I have seen
online dealing with average times required to pass through
immigration and customs at Dulles are rather dated. I know the time
required depends, among other things, on how many planes are landing
close together and how many lanes are staffed at a given time, but
does it still often requiring an hour or more just to clear Dulles
immigration and customs and recheck luggage?

Thanks in advance for anyone's opinions or suggestions.

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Graham Harrison - 31 Jan 2008 20:28 GMT

> I'll be arriving back in the U.S. from a visit to Britain on June 10,
> 2008. I'm flying United from London to Dulles, and will have a
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>
> Thanks in advance for anyone's opinions or suggestions.

If the 1:41 is part of a through ticket (all the flights on one ticket) then
it will have been set by the airline(s) involved and while that is no
guarantee is likely to be OK. If, however, you have purchased separate
tickets and simply decided that "should" be enough time then the first step
is to determine whether that is actually a connection they would offer. If
it is not then you may have an issue. If it is one they would normally
offer then return to my first answer with the following caveat:

Strictly speaking one ticket = one contract and the airline has some
responsibility for getting you to your ulimtae destination - they probably
won't hold the connection for one person but they should provide an
alternative (although that may not be until the next day0. However, if you
hold two separate tickets their responsibility on the first ticket ends at
Dulles. Only when you've managed to check in again does any form of
responsibility start again. Now, that's a UK centric view - it's my
understanding that US carriers may not be quite so black and white (and
let's face it, the view I've put forward mya be "official" policy of many UK
airlines what happens on the ground is often something different).

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John Campbell - 31 Jan 2008 20:49 GMT

>If the 1:41 is part of a through ticket (all the flights on one ticket) then
>it will have been set by the airline(s) involved and while that is no
>guarantee is likely to be OK.

Sorry, I didn't think to specify that I am on a through ticket.
Trouble is, airlines will sometimes offer tickets with as little as
40 minutes between flight segments, which is questionable in this day
and age.

So my question is, on a typical day at Dulles (if there is such a
thing), between the hours of 4:30 and 5 pm would I have time to
get through immigration and customs, recheck baggage, and get from
international arrivals to an A gate? All within one hour and 41
minutes?

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Jeff Hacker - 31 Jan 2008 23:14 GMT

If you'reon time youll be fine. The flights are well after the "rush hours"

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Travel Forum / Travel Types / Air Travel / January 2008

Travel time between terminals at Dulles