Washington Dulles Changes. US Airways Moves To Concourse B, British Airways Expanding Lounge
Check your boarding pass before your next US Airways flight at IAD. US Airways used to operate out of the Z Gates at Dulles but it appears the move to alongside American Airlines was completed as of the first of June. I flew on the US out of the Z gates last week.
On my way to the airport yesterday evening I saw that US Airways was servicing all of their flights through gate B67, which is right alongside the two American gates. I see good and bad in this change. It’s good for all of the American operations to be consolidated in one place for connecting passengers (and for the airline to save money on staffing in the future).
I can’t imagine there are a ton of folks connecting, though, since we’re only talking about Charlotte passengers for US Airways and Dallas, Miami and LAX for American. LAX makes some sense, but I’m probably one of the few people crazy enough to connect through IAD to get from Dallas to Charlotte. And, the Z gates are literally a 100-foot walk from security.
All in all, not a big deal, just a note that you may want to leave 5-10 extra minutes if you used to fly US Airways out of the Z gates.
On that same walk, I saw that British Airways had moved from the A terminal to the B terminal, right near the Southwest gates. This puts them closer to their lounge, which is also under renovation. Interestingly enough, the renovation also appears to include taking over the old American Airlines Admirals Club, which was adjacent. You can see the club windows draped up above. They are currently operating out of an old lounge beside Lufthansa that has contained, among others, Air France and Virgin over the years.
This is truly inside baseball, just for those folks who might fly out of IAD frequently and remember the old Admirals Club in B. You can see a gap in the window draping in the first picture above. It happens to be right at the position of the old bar in the Admirals Club. If you look closely, you can see the framing for a new wall right where the cocktail tables were in the bar.
I remember talking to the lounge employees when they announced the closure of the club about 2 years ago. At that point, I was pretty sure there wasn’t high demand for additional airlines to open clubs there. Since there’s still one empty club in B, I think that’s still where we are. I’m guessing the airport authority saw the reduced demand and worked out something with British Airways to fold in an expansion along with their renovation.
At this point, I’ve heard no announcement that Admirals Club members will be able to use this club in a similar arrangement to the shared club in Philadelphia. It’s an idea that makes a ton of sense to me, but that doesn’t mean the airlines will embrace it. The increased space for BA is a nice tease that this might happen, but I’m not getting my hopes up.
The expanded BA lounge will be essential once they start flying the A380 to IAD later this year. I used the temporary lounge a couple weeks ago (the 1st day it was used) and it was not bad for a temporary lounge. There’s no dining option like the permanent lounge had, but the snacks and beverages were still decent.
Good point about the A380, John. That temporary lounge is very old. Did BA do anything to dress it up?
It’s not hip or modern but it wasn’t worn or tired either. Despite it being large, it still got a little crowded when the 8:30 flight was delayed and the passengers for both the 8:30 and the late 10:30 flight both crowded the lounge. The wine selection was ok and the champaign average. Still better than you would get in an Admirals Club but not up to BA standards. I was there on the 1st night it was opened so they may have improved it since then.
Thanks, John. My recollection of that club definitely doesn’t envision it fitting passengers from both of those flights well. 🙂
When’s the renovation supposed to be finished?
I heard September but I’ll try to confirm.