Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD)

It is basically a terrible airport, bad service, lazy and sour responses from staff everywhere. Most importantly avoid transit as immigration is so slow that you risk losing your connecting flights. USA is a terrible country to transit through as you need entry visa and are forced to enter the country also when you simply are travelling in transit. Do not travel there unless you really have to. Avoid transit by all means.

While I like flying into Dulles as a private pilot, I had a very bad experience here as a passenger changing planes. I arrived on an international flight from Switzerland last Saturday, on time, with a scheduled 2-hour stopover. By the time I lined up for US immigration, lined up for the exit from the baggage area, then lined up again for a second security screening (totally unnecessary, since we'd never left the secure area), I'd used up most of the stopover time, and my next flight had already boarded. I made it on board after a very long run, but just barely.

So if you're switching from an international flight at Dulles, 2 hours is barely enough -- I'd suggest leaving more if you can, at least until the airport decides to stop abusing passengers with redundant security screenings.

It's been four years since I flew into Dulles, so I called Signature (1-703-572-0001) for a fees update for a piston single. They're still extremely reasonable for an FBO at a major airport:

Ramp fee: $30 (waived with minimum 8 gal fuel purchase)
Landing: $10.04
Parking: $20.92/night
Customs: no fee

Staff estimated that a taxi into DC would cost $100, and a compact rental car is $45/day.

I came to Dulles for the first time as pilot yesterday. The ADIZ was a total non-issue when I was IFR (just like any IFR flight). Potomoc approach and Dulles tower were friendly and co-operative, fitting me into the jet traffic in bad weather without any delays and giving me the runway I asked for. It was about a 3-minute taxi to Signature. They had a follow-me van waiting on their apron, and then a shuttle to take me about 50 meters to the FBO (in the rain). I waited 8 minutes for a Washington Flyer taxi to arrive from the terminal. All prices as quoted in a previous message -- cheap for a big airport (except for the fuel, of course).

I called Signature in late March 2008, and had the following fees quoted for a single-engine piston (PA-28):

$8 landing fee
$18.19/night parking
$28 handling fee, waived with purchase of 7 gal fuel

Customs will meet Canadian planes at the Signature FBO, and there is no extra charge. Their number is (703) 661-7100.

Finally, Signature's radio frequency (for when you're taxiing in) is 131.87 MHz.