Totoro

I recall seeing a thread about standing-by from co-terminal airports and couldn't find it. In any case, I don't believe the thread addressed fare differences.

I am booked BWI-EWR-STL tomorrow afternoon. I just called the elite desk regarding stand-by for DCA-EWR-STL. Elite desk said I cannot stand-by for free at DCA and would need to use the confirmed stand-by option. In addition to confirmed stand-by fee, they want the fare difference, and only full-fare Y is now available out of DCA!

Should I just give up on flying from DCA? Thanks to all who have advice to share!

WBurcham

Yep. It's not going to happen (unless you can convince someone that the BWI flight has been canceled/will be canceled or maybe it's severely oversold).

Xyzzy

I would plan on either going to BWI or forking over a wad of cash.

CO 1E

Most DC-area fares treat only DCA and IAD as co-terminals, not BWI/DCA/IAD.

CHIC SILBER

The only justifications I can imagine for any one using BWI

would be if they lived in Baltimore or absolutely needed the

advantage of the usually lower fare basis

Renaming Friendship Airport Baltimore Washington International

certainly did not alter it's distance from D C

They think they are smarter than we are (maybe they are)

NOGO on the departure change (sorry)

Chic

channa

IAD/DCA/BWI are most definitely co-terminals for nearly all airlines. The key is that co-terminals does not mean you can standby.

You can only stand by to the same city on your fare. DCA and BWI are not the same city.

IAD/DCA, however, are the same city (WAS), since most fares are published to WAS. If they need to include only one airport (often an IAD-only fare), they will take a WAS fare and note it as such (FARE VALID TO/FROM IAD ONLY).

When I say WAS, it's not what Expedia will return to you when you type in WAS (IAD/DCA/BWI). It's what IATA considers WAS to be, which is IAD and DCA only.

The purpose of co-terminals is for fare calculation purposes, not standby.

CO 1E

Well, if using public transportation, it actually can take less time to get from downtown Washington to BWI than to IAD.

For example, if one takes an Express MARC train or an Amtrak train from Union Station to BWI, travel time is 28-30 minutes. Add a five minute wait for the shuttle bus, and a five to seven minute ride to the terminal. Total travel time from Union Station is just under 45 minutes.

The only ways to access IAD from downtown Washington are by bus from L'Enfant Plaza, or by taking the Orange Line Metro from any downtown station to the West Falls Church station and connecting to a Washington Flyer bus. The bus from L'Enfant Plaza stops once at the Rosslyn Metro station and continues on to IAD. If there is no traffic, the bus takes approximately 70 minutes, but can take much longer during rush hour.

The Metro ride from Metro Center station (in the center of downtown Washington) to West Falls Church is about 30 minutes. Add another 10 minute wait, on average, for the Washington Flyer bus because it only runs twice an hour. The bus ride to IAD takes 25 minutes if there are no traffic issues. Total travel time is about 65 minutes, but is more consistent than the L'Enfant Plaza bus.

That said, DCA is preferable, but is the most expensive DC-area airport for CO flyers.

Totoro

Again, many thanks for all the advice. After several calls to the elite desk last night, I found out that Continental's stand-by policy hasn't changed regarding co-terminals. Rather, they dropped BWI as a co-terminal for DCA. The lady I spoke with said the change must be fairly recent as she recalled that BWI was a DCA co-terminal. For any fellow travelers out there, I also found out that SJC is no longer a co-terminal for SFO.

Alas, my BWI-EWR flight isn't delayed or cancelled, so I'm heading out to BWI Have a good weekend!

crnk

Is this like when CO tries to tell someone on full Y that they ALSO need to pay the confirmed sby fee (I think that has been reported on here)? It is one thing if the OP had to pay the Y difference and the change fee, but the Y difference and sby fee doesn't make much sense......

CHIC SILBER

[QUOTE] "If using public transportation, it actually can take less time
to get from downtown Washington to BWI than to IAD.
That said, DCA is preferable, but is the most expensive DC-area
airport for CO flyers."


Back when CO considered IAD as it's mid atlantic hub and had more

than 90 daily flights I was often forced to pack a lunch and trek out

to the Rural Virginia Regional Airport (I hear rumor has it that they

finally dug the tunnel after all those years)

One of DC's best assets is their Metro system and the ability to

get to DCA quickly and easily at most hours

BTW the MARC trains don't run that often and not on weekends

Chic

channa

Wow, look at that:

vs.

The old CO rules used to look very much like US's rules.

What this means now is that someone flying something like SFO-DCA, returning BWI-OAK would be hit with two one-way fares instead of 1/2 the RT of each as they were in the past.

This is a serious change for those of us who live in multiple-airport cities.

CO Insider, any reason for the change in policy?

burghboys

And look your flight left 9 minutes early and arrived in EWR 30 minutes early.

UA Insider

Hi channa, we did recently update our definition of "same point" cities. This wasn't to be more restrictive so much as it was an attempt to match up co-terminous markets with those that have near-identical tariff rules. For example, we always say that you may use a same-point cities interchangeably if the rules of the fare allowed it, but as it turned out, the fare rules almost never allowed some of these combinations (e.g. BWI vs. DCA and EWR vs. LGA). For that reason, we've pared down our same point city list to be a more realistic guide for what's allowed with respect to voluntary airport changes (still provided that your fare isn't limited to a specific airport). Below is a recap of our current same-point city definitions:

• Chicago Area: MDW / ORD
• Houston Area: IAH / HOU
• New York Area: LGA / JFK
• Washington Area: DCA / IAD

Please note these new same point city definitions only impact voluntary changes to tickets, and have no bearing on the co-terminous logic we use (and will continue to use) for pricing itineraries. For example, your SFO-DCA/BWI-OAK will still allow the combination of the 1/2 roundtrip of each to be combined.

channa

That sounds good, thanks for clarifying!