Travel Tips

Welcome BWI Travelers and Guests!

The staff at BWI Thurgood Marshall airport welcomes you. We understand (and hope you will too!)that often travelers can be unfamiliar with airline and security procedures, as well as navigating their way around a busy terminal to depart for a flight or meet and greet arriving family and friends.

BWI offers these tips as a portal to information you need to ensure your travel arrangements go as planned.

Flight Information:

The best travel advice is to arrive at the airport early. This way you have time to react to any changes you might encounter. If you are making travel plans, or expecting a guest, check your flight status on-line or check with your airline for appropriate information. Make sure you have your airline’s 800 telephone number with you, or preprogrammed in your phone, so if your flight is cancelled, or if you are in a line, you can reach them on the phone for rerouting. Remember, if you’re traveling out of the country, new rules might require you to take your passport to get back to the U.S. Also, we suggest you keep your wallet, keys and/or cell phone with you and not in your checked luggage.

If you are experiencing long delays, denied boarding, or your flight is cancelled, BWI recently published a guide as a resource for getting help. It addresses airline services as well as customer information at BWI. For a downloadable print out, please download the "Trip Going As Planned?" brochure.

Customer Assistance:

While you are in the BWI terminal, questions can be addressed at our passenger information desks located throughout the terminal. The Concourse D customer service desk is operated daily from 5:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Please note, BWI’s customer service desks are staffed by Pathfinder volunteers, and hours at other desk locations may vary. For assistance with facilities and after-hours assistance, call on our airport management assistants at 410-859-7736 or pick up a white courtesy phone located throughout the terminal. For other key contacts at BWI, please check out our contact information on the website under the customer assistance tab, or dial 1-800-I-FLY-BWI.

Parking and Ground Transportation:

At BWI, parking is plentiful. BWI’s Smart Park system makes it easy to find a space in the Hourly or Daily garages. Just follow the green lights to an empty space. Or choose BWI’s Express lot, now offering a special Express for Less rate of $9.00/day through September 1, 2008. (Visit www.bwiexpressserviceparking.com for coupon.) Since we know this lot may fill on peak travel days, please use your coupon at the Daily lot IF the Express lot is closed. If you’re picking up a passenger and time is of the essence, use our cell phone lot located in front of the Express lot on the parking map and have your guests call you when they deplane. It’s quick, easy and you avoid circling around the terminal.

BWI offers a variety of ground transportation options, so if you are renting a car, or looking for shuttle or taxi information, you’ll find these service desks on the lower level of our terminal. BWI is also served by an airport train station. Access to the Amtrak and Marc train schedules is available through the ground transportation area of our website.

Security:

TSA is educating passengers how to SimpliFLY your travel by expeditiously navigating through security checkpoints. Remember, there are some other Do’s and Don’ts regarding what you can carry through the checkpoints. Please be reminded, to not wrap gifts in your luggage; they may be opened for inspection. Instead, the U.S. Postal Service may be a good option.

Spending Time in the Terminal:

BWI is Wi-Fi Accessible. The high-speed Wi-Fi network at BWI is now operational in all secure areas, concourses A/B, C, D and E of the airport as well as the Observation Gallery. Areas outside of the security zones, including ticketing and baggage areas, will be online in the near future. Travelers can purchase either a day pass or a monthly plan for their internet access services.
BWI has opened new restaurants and retail offerings both pre-security and down our concourses. Check out the concession offerings in A/B Terminal and Terminals C, D and E and choose what interests you.

Baggage Claim:

Baggage is a service of the airline. At BWI, particularly in the A/B concourse (served by Southwest), often you arrive in the baggage area before your luggage. To help simplify your retrieval when suitcases arrive en-mass, we suggest using a distinctive luggage tag, or marking, on your luggage so you can identify it quicker.

BWI -- Doing our Best to Accomodate You!

We hope that the above is helpful and ask all of our passengers to understand that traveling can be a bit stressful. We will be doing our best to accommodate you and your fellow passengers. Your patience and understanding is appreciated to help expedite all travelers’ plans. Thank you for flying BWI and for letting us be a part of your journey.