lmh2588

I was looking into a flight that lands at Dulles and after a connection, leaves from Reagan airport.

There are 4 hours in between the flights. Approximately how long would it take to go in between airports and what would be my cheapest method of doing this?

Thanks in advance for any help.

doug_stallings

Go Airport Shuttle offers a transfer service for $59 for the first person and $9 for each additional person in a shared van. That's probably going to be the cheapest way to do the transfer. It's a long drive (at least an hour), and that seems like enough time even if you are arriving on an international flight and have to go through immigration, collect your luggage, and go through customs. I think at best you'd arrive at DCA 2-1/2 to 3 hours after landing at IAD. But if something goes wrong (there's a lot of traffic, long lines at immigration, or your IAD flight is lae), I am not sure you'd make it.

mlgb

That is not the "cheapest" method.

With one transfer you could take Metrobus 5A to L'Enfant Plaza and then MetroRail Yellow Line to DCA.

Fare $7 for the bus and $2.25 for the rail.

Check the Dulles airport website for details and links,as well as schedules and travel times.

http://www.flydulles.com/iad/other-p...tation-options

rkkwan

Isn't Silver Line Express ($5) + Metro ($3.6) even cheaper?

yestravel

The price of Metro would depend upon the day & time of day -- rush hour fares are higher. If taking the Metrobus 5A I would get off in Rosslyn and then take the Blue Line to National (DCA). It's a shorter distance from IAD to Rosslyn & during rush hour could save a fair amount of time. If you take the Silver Line Express to Reston stop, then you have to change again to the Blue Line at Rosslyn to get to National. So the 5A bus has one less transfer.

yestravel

Four hours should be plenty of time. How long would depend upon the day and time. During rush hour it will take well over an hour. Look at the metro site and plug in the options, it will give you the time for the different options.
http://www.wmata.com/rider_tools/tri..._form_solo.cfm

sparkchaser

Cheapest? Get a friend to give you a life.

LT

As a DC-area resident, I would advise not to skimp on this portion of the trip, and use one of the shuttles that will take you directly to DCA. DC has the 2nd-worst traffic in the nation. That means that even at off hours, you are one accident away from a miserable trip on the roads. Driving here is a complete crapshoot. This obviously includes local buses. If you are dead-set on saving $$ with this, then I would take the Silver line express to Wiehle-Reston East and avoid the roads as much as possible. That said, Metro is about to undergo a major maintenance push for the next year, with some rail lines/stations being completely shut down. So, check www.wmata.com for the latest info, and plan accordingly. Good luck!

wickett

In order to parse this out properly, we'd need to know
1) what time of day you are arriving and leaving - traffic varies quite a bit
2) when (the week will suffice); as LT says, the Metro is about to start a maintenance program and various lines will experience slow downs or shut downs...if we know what week you are coming we can let you know whether the lines you need are affected.

yestravel

Anyone planning on using Metro in the DC area really needs to check the website for the above mentioned maintenance that will be ongoing for about a year.
http://www.wmata.com/index.cfm?forcedesktop=1