How do I fly into the DC area? (Baltimore, Greenbelt: rental car, rental)

[itinérant]

[SIZE=2]Hello: [/SIZE]

I am to go to the federal court house at 401 Courthouse Square, Alexandria, Virginia 22314. I am presently in Columbus. I went on Priceline and it seems that all the flights are into Baltimore? Is this common? It seems like DC and/or Alexandria would have their own airport due to their immense popularity.

Let's suppose I must fly into Baltimore. Where should I stay at. I have to be at the courthouse at 10:00 AM on Sat the 18th. I heard the traffic in that area is a nightmare. So, my concern is that, if I say in Baltimore, it will take me forever to get to my destination in Alexandria.

Also, how am I supposed to get from the hotel to Alexandria. Is it easy to drive from Baltimore to Alexandria? Again, I heard the traffic is a nightmare there. So, what am I supposed to do: take a cab all over town? If I do that, won't I be subjected to the same traffic that I would have been exposed to had I driven.

I think I will stop there. I hardly ever go out of town so this is something new to me.

In short, i would like it if you would just me some suggestions about how to approach taking this trip.

[wells1999]

I would suggest fly to Regan National Airport which is very close to Alexandria (or is it in Alexandria already?). Regan National Airport is inside metro transit so that you can take metro train easily if your hotel or courthouse is metro accessible. You can book hotel right beside that airport.

Baltimore airport is at Maryland and it will take much much longer to commute to VA, very stressful if your meeting is at 10am.

[J_Lurk]

If Priceline only gives you Baltimore, then you need to be using a different interface. I'd use kayak.com .
The airport code for Reagan National is DCA.

[kcmo]

Maybe there are not many flights from Columbus to DCA if any at all so you might have to fly into BWI.

I think it would be worth the extra cost to fly into DCA if there are flights though. It might even be worth a layover or something if there are no nonstops from Columbus to DCA. Even though you could reach VA and DC from BWI, it wouldn't be easy, especially for a first time visitor. Traffic is light on saturdays, so that's not a problem but I've never heard of a courthouse open on saturday. You can rent a car pretty cheap, so long as you also do that on priceline. If you walk into the BWI car rental facility, it will cost you $75 a day.

You could also do Dulles (IAD), but it too wouldn't be near as convenient as National.

BWI is sort of between Baltimore and DC, so staying in Baltimore would put you even more out of your way.

[J_Lurk]

Originally Posted by kcmo

Maybe there are not many flights from Columbus to DCA if any at all so you might have to fly into BWI.

US Airways operates 6 flights a day from CMH to DCA.

[dkf747]

Put DCA for airport code, instead of WAS, into the search options.

[GoPhils]

Flying into Baltimore (BWI, which is south of Baltimore and only about an hour drive from Alexandria), is doable. Since you are going to the courthouse on a Saturday, traffic shouldn't be bad that day, so if you wanted you could stay near BWI and maybe even be able to save a day on a rental car by not renting it until Saturday (if you stay near BWI most hotels have shuttles to the airport, although once at the airport you'd have to get a different shuttle to the rental cars). Of course you'd have to allow time for all this, plus the hour drive to the courthouse, although the drive is pretty much just a straight shot down 295/495 and where you're going looks to be not far off 495.

You could also drive to Alexandria Friday night, but depending on the time of day there could be traffic, plus I would think the hotels in Alexandria would be pretty expensive.

Another option when flying into BWI airport could be to stay in Greenbelt, about a half hour drive from BWI (could be some traffic depending on what time you get in on Friday), and then take the metro (free parking and not as crowded on Saturday). I'm not a daily metro user but it isn't that difficult for first-time users, although the ride from Greenbelt to the closest station (looks to be either King Street or Eisenhower Ave., about a 10 minute walk to the courthouse) may be a bit long and involves a transfer to the yellow line.

If flying into BWI is the most likely, I think the first option would be the easiest since you are worried about the traffic, although if you wanted to save some of the hassle you could just get the rental car on Friday.

[bmwguydc]

You can even take the train from Baltimore to Alexandria. Amtrak goes from BWI Airport to about two blocks from the court house in Alexandria. There is an Embassy Suites hotel in walking distance, or a couple of minutes by cab; and a little further away is a Holiday Inn right near the court house, about a block away on the other side by the Eisenhower Metro stop. There's a Courtyard Marriott nearby on Eisenhower Avenue as well. All of them are less than 5 minutes by car, and perhaps 10-15 walking.

http://embassysuites1.hilton.com/en_...ginia/index.do

http://www.holidayinn.com/hotels/us/...td/hoteldetail

http://www.marriott.com/hotels/trave...rd-alexandria/

[The Ghost of Tom Joad]

"How do I fly into the DC area?"

Flap your arms really hard?

[43north87west]

Fly to DCA, follow instructions to use the Metro from your hotel and the airport. A cab is possible as well, since the distance is very short. The airport code is DCA. I commuted in and out of DCA for more than a year.

In my opinion, check Orbitz.com to get a rough fare comparison, find out what airline and flight fits your requirements, and then search the airline's site directly, and book directly with the airline. It sounds like your appointment may be rather important, and it would be most unfortunate to have some sort of multiple-carrier mess or other ticketing problem. Although I have nothing against sites like Priceline, I can tell you that in all of my years commuting by air, I have never, ever used any site except the airlines' sites, to book tickets. I always get the best price from the airline, when taking into consideration my schedule and requirements.

Search for hotels close to DCA (Reagan airport). There are a lot.

The Metro is easy to figure out, but I don't know which hotels are closest to which Metro stops. I would personally recommend taking a cab to the courthouse on Saturday, just because it would be easy.

Flying into DCA is usually the most expensive of the area airports, but it is by far the most convenient.