Hung Up at Dulles Airport
Wednesday, November 1, 2006; Page A20
On the Oct. 18 editorial pages, there were two highly critical references to Washington Dulles International Airport.
In an op-ed column, Ruth Marcus complained of missing her flight to Italy primarily because of the enormous line for passing through the one security portal at that airport. She had arrived at Dulles 2 hours and 15 minutes before her flight time, her airline having recommended two hours. Her story came as no surprise to me. It took my wife and me almost three hours to negotiate check-in and security flying out of Dulles in June. At Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport recently, we had only a brief wait to pass the security check because the airline had its own security portal.
In a letter, Colleen M. Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, expressed concerns about and explained reasons for long waits for international travelers arriving at Dulles. Overseas guests of ours complained not long ago that the process took them three hours.
Dulles must be among the world's least passenger-friendly of international airports.
ANTHONY B. MAUGER
Kensington
