In the Washington, D.C., area, airlines, ride-sharing drivers, and customer service representatives have long been accustomed to dealing with a specific type of anxious traveler: the one who gets to the incorrect airport. Recent social media posts from Dulles International Airport (IAD) made fun of this frequent error, but many visitors find the confusion between IAD, Reagan National (DCA), and Baltimore-Washington International (BWI) to be serious.
“Just an airport, standing in front of its passengers, asking them to double check which airport they are flying out of,” Dulles wrote on Friday. Although precise statistics on the number of tourists who make this particular error are not easily accessible, experts in the travel business attest that it occurs regularly. A confluence of variables is the issue. Despite being geographically separate, IAD is located in Virginia, DCA is located directly across the Potomac River from DC, and BWI is located in Maryland. All three airports serve the broader D.C. metropolitan region.
A passenger may find themselves on a possibly hour-long journey to the incorrect terminal due to a careless mistake made when purchasing a flight or inputting a destination into a GPS, frequently with little time to rectify the situation. The names Dulles, Reagan Washington National, and Baltimore-Washington International can be confusing, especially for those who are unfamiliar with the area. The three-letter airport codes (IAD, DCA, and BWI) are not intuitively related.
This is especially true for people who may hear Dallas by mistake rather than Dulles, a mix-up that has also been documented. Even though each of the three airports has different flight options—IAD handles most international flights, while DCA only offers domestic flights—the busy traveler frequently forgets these details, which can result in a flurry of activity that can make a business or vacation trip into a nightmare.
