Living in the metro DC area gives a traveler the luxury of having a choice of airport. With three airports situated almost identical distance away it is a good choice to have. My preference is of course DCA. The fact it is metro bound and I can just take the metro the airport is a big plus in addition to its compact size and predictable security line.
Alas, this time I am going to Barcelona, and DCA is not an international airport (Canada excluded). BWI is not really a big international hub, so this leaves the least favorite airport of them all – IAD. Now getting to IAD is a mess. Driving is almost the only reasonable way to get there, but leaving the car for two weeks (and coming back into DCA) ruled that option out. Taxi is my usual route, after the 5A bus is just too complicated to get to and operate, but at 70-80 dollars I thought it would be a little excessive.
It seems Super Shuttle it must be. At a total cost of $36 dollars (including tip and after the discount code easily found online), it seems reasonable. The last time I have used Super Shuttle was about 7 years ago and the experience was not that good as they were VERY late for the pickup and I almost missed my flight.
Booking on the site had vastly improved, although it is still too complicated and requires many unnecessary steps. I chose to be picked up about 4 hours prior to my flight, as this would leave enough room for late pickup and any other misfortunate events that might happen.
Luckily I did book an early pick-up. I was the first person to be picked up and the shuttle arrived on time. However, some other people were not as considerate to other passengers and thought that showing up 15 minutes late for their shared pick-up is just fine. All in all it took about double the time to reach the airport than it would have otherwise. On a leisurely Saturday morning it was fine.
Check-in was quick an efficient albeit not very personal, as one could expect from Lufthansa. No surprises there, which now a days is a very good thing. Lufthansa Senator lounge did not disappoint as well. Thanks to A3 Start Gold status I have the ability to use it. It is miles away from the lousy offering of the United Club and much nicer than the Lufthansa business club as well.
The flight over was uneventful. Seamless connection in Frankfurt, despite the German insistence that the lounge opens at 5:30 am, no matter that the flight landed at 5:00 and the line to enter it is long. Boarding the connecting flight to Barcelona was the usual zoo, but as it was mostly empty in Business class it had little effect on me.
All in all pleasant trip.
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| Lounge Food |
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| Seared Salmon, Wild Rice and Baby Carrot - Dinner on the flight |
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