Advice on staying in DC/NYC

[BoomGoestheDynamite]

Re: Advice on staying in DC/NYC

One thing to remember about DC is the morons who designed the Metro system forgot to put a station at Washington Dulles Airport (but there is one at Reagan National). Just something to keep in mind if you're flying into DC.

You realize Dulles is something like 25 miles outside the city, while Reagan is directly across the Potomac.

And they're building a line heading out to Dulles though it will be a few year before its complete

 

[BoomGoestheDynamite]

Re: Advice on staying in DC/NYC

But it might explain those great rates on Priceline.

Who doesn't love playing priceline chicken though?

Alright, maybe people with families.

 

[moe24]

Re: Advice on staying in DC/NYC

You realize Dulles is something like 25 miles outside the city, while Reagan is directly across the Potomac.

And they're building a line heading out to Dulles though it will be a few year before its complete

I do. And do you realize that Metro already has lines that travel well outside the city? When making mass transit it's usually a good idea for one of the first areas addressed to be the busiest airport serving that city.

 

[Beer Pong Horn]

Re: Advice on staying in DC/NYC

I do. And do you realize that Metro already has lines that travel well outside the city? When making mass transit it's usually a good idea for one of the first areas addressed to be the busiest airport serving that city.

Blame Fairfax County, Virginia for their lack of foresight and general fear of development - they chose to serve (poorly) Fairfax and George Mason University instead of the boomtown of Tysons Corners and the Dulles Airport.

 

[Patman]

Re: Advice on staying in DC/NYC

I do. And do you realize that Metro already has lines that travel well outside the city? When making mass transit it's usually a good idea for one of the first areas addressed to be the busiest airport serving that city.

Define "well"... 25 miles is not short exactly... when the silver line comes on line to Dulles I wonder how long its going to take.

 

[blockski]

Re: Advice on staying in DC/NYC

Rail to Dulles has always been in the plans. They left room at the terminal for a station. They left room in the median of the Dulles Greenway for the tracks. It was always a matter of money.

It makes sense to put an airport out in the sticks, as you need a lot of space. It doesn't make sense to run a freaking subway out into the sticks, however. Especially when Metro was being planned. There was nothing out there. Subways are expensive, it doesn't make sense to run them out there amongst farm fields.

Very few subway systems in the world travel 25 miles outside of the city center. The only reason it makes sense to do so now is that the development there is finally dense enough.

Also, rail transit to airports is great. Dulles, however, has always been a sort of white elephant since it was built. If they had closed National and that was the only option, that's one thing. But as it is, National is a far superior option. Great airport to fly in and out of.

 

[moe24]

Re: Advice on staying in DC/NYC

Rail to Dulles has always been in the plans. They left room at the terminal for a station. They left room in the median of the Dulles Greenway for the tracks. It was always a matter of money.

It makes sense to put an airport out in the sticks, as you need a lot of space. It doesn't make sense to run a freaking subway out into the sticks, however. Especially when Metro was being planned. There was nothing out there. Subways are expensive, it doesn't make sense to run them out there amongst farm fields.

Very few subway systems in the world travel 25 miles outside of the city center. The only reason it makes sense to do so now is that the development there is finally dense enough.

Also, rail transit to airports is great. Dulles, however, has always been a sort of white elephant since it was built. If they had closed National and that was the only option, that's one thing. But as it is, National is a far superior option. Great airport to fly in and out of.

We'll have to agree to disagree, but thank you for the solid and well thought out response. While it's true that few light rail systems travel 25 outside their city center the flip side to that is that very few light rail systems fail to serve the area's busiest airport either.

And I agree that Reagan National is a fantastic airport to fly into. The view as you approach over the Potomac is spectacular.

 

[Ralph Baer]

Re: Advice on staying in DC/NYC

We'll have to agree to disagree, but thank you for the solid and well thought out response. While it's true that few light rail systems travel 25 outside their city center the flip side to that is that very few light rail systems fail to serve the area's busiest airport either.

And I agree that Reagan National is a fantastic airport to fly into. The view as you approach over the Potomac is spectacular.

If Dulles is indeed now the DC area's busiest airport, it is only because of the limited capacity of National and distance limit to flights from there. In addition, when the Metro was being planned about 40 years ago, Dulles was far from busy and there was nothing within miles of the airport. The fact that the connection to the orange line was planned shows some foresight, as does the space for the tracks on the road out to there.

 

[Patman]

Re: Advice on staying in DC/NYC

If Dulles is indeed now the DC area's busiest airport, it is only because of the limited capacity of National and distance limit to flights from there. In addition, when the Metro was being planned about 40 years ago, Dulles was far from busy and there was nothing within miles of the airport. The fact that the connection to the orange line was planned shows some foresight, as does the space for the tracks on the road out to there.

I couldn't imagine not flying out of DCA... its just too close to the city anyhow.

 

[moe24]

Re: Advice on staying in DC/NYC

If Dulles is indeed now the DC area's busiest airport, it is only because of the limited capacity of National and distance limit to flights from there.

I guess I'm assuming Dulles is the busiest based on having flown to both airports. It just seemed to me that Dulles was easily 3 or 4 times as big as Reagan and the flow of takeoffs and landings certainly seemed to be a whole lot busier at Dulles.

 

[blockski]

Re: Advice on staying in DC/NYC

I guess I'm assuming Dulles is the busiest based on having flown to both airports. It just seemed to me that Dulles was easily 3 or 4 times as big as Reagan and the flow of takeoffs and landings certainly seemed to be a whole lot busier at Dulles.

Well, it depends on the measurement. Planes are limited by size at National, hence the direct flights are almost all to the Midwest and east coast. There's no international traffic, save for a few pre-cleared flights from Canada.

Dulles is indeed more busy, but not by much. It's definitely much larger, but doesn't handle that many more passengers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airports_in_the_United_States_by_passengers_boarded

21 VA Washington, DC Washington Dulles International Airport IAD 11,045,217
22 MD Baltimore Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport BWI 10,297,607
23 UT Salt Lake City Salt Lake City International Airport SLC 10,289,129
24 FL Fort Lauderdale Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport FLL 10,204,579
25 HI Honolulu Honolulu International Airport HNL 9,855,838
26 FL Tampa Tampa International Airport TPA 9,187,865
27 VA Washington, DC Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport DCA 8,973,410

Almost 9 million passengers on nothing but domestic traffic is pretty good. Also, because of the restrictions on flying into DCA, 95% of traffic into National is origin/destination traffic - very few transfers.

The other option for people flying into DC is to head to BWI. BWI is only a little bit further away from DC as the crow flies (~30 miles compared to ~25 for Dulles) and has far easier access to DC via Amtrak and MARC trains at the BWI Rail Station.

 

[JohnB]

Re: Advice on staying in DC/NYC

NYC I'd play the priceline game for hotels. I travel there for work about once a month and getting anything much under 150/night is unheard of if you stay in Manhattan. yes there are some cheaper alternatives if you stay on NJ side but be careful where as some areas are rough.

Not sure what your budget it or what you consider tolerable. I often work in Queens and Manhattan when I'm there so will stay at a Best Western in Long Island City (the one on Greenpoint - do NOT even think about the other one in L.I. city as it's a bad unlit area). The BW on Greenpoint is often around 90-100/night. It's not a nice hotel by any stretch but it's not thatterribly bad and for a NYC hotel the rooms are pretty large if the family is coming. Small rooms can be a big issue w/ more then 2 of you for more then a night in NYC. Rooms are notoriously tiny at hotels. They are a few short blocks from the 7 train and offer a free shuttle to drop you or pick you up at the 7 stop as well as a shuttle to LaGuardia at no charge.

The 7 is a decent line and from there is about 5-7 min subway ride directly into Times Square or Grand Central where you can proceed to anywhere in Manhattan. Again, depends on budget if you want to stay around 100 or not. Anytime I stay in Manhattan I priceline it, even though it's company money not mine I can't bring myself to pay the ridiculous rates even in this economy.

I'd book a hotel now rather then risk the economy improving when you'll get less flexibility with prices.