During my Aria Suite Adventure to Hong Kong, I had the chance to check out several lounges at Washington Dulles Airport (IAD), starting with the Capital One Lounge. The Capital One Lounge network has been growing nicely, and prior to this, I had only visited the Capital One Lounge Dallas Fort-Worth.
Continue reading: Review: Capital One Lounge Washington Dulles Airport (IAD)
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Also need to be aware that capital one generally enforces a 2 hr window to get into the club before your flight, unless you are connecting. I believe it’s also like this at DEN and DFW.
Drinks are great, but I wish the food options weren’t so…exotic. Like chicken noodle soup or chicken tenders boring.
But my picky eatings shouldn’t influence this.
I still like it here better than the Etihad/Chase Sapphire Lounge which many readers may also have access to.
Capital One Lounges have definitely impressed me. I'm lucky to have one at my home airport, but the other ones I've been to have left a strong impression. Wait times sometimes suck, but if you time it right (like getting onto the online queue right after landing), it really is not that bad. I hope they expand to more airports in the future.
Will the line be as long as some Amex lounges?
Menu seems to skewed to unhealthy items.
Being based in the DC area, I can say every aspect of the lounge is great except it gets crowded very fast. The amount of seating is insufficient for the number of people in the lounge. A lot of people seek to use this lounge and Capital One's is aggressively marketing its Venture X credit card, so this lounge will be in even more demand in the future. The footprint of the lounge is definitely not sized properly for the number of people which will use it.
Capital One lounges are nice and I get why they chose DCA/IAD for early lounges since they're a Virginia based company.
But on a practical level, why are they doubling up so much in airports that have plenty of existing lounges already?
It seems like there's better opportunity for market penetration in airports that have far less lounge options. For example, one of their next openings is JFK T4, which already has Amex and Chase Sapphire lounges in T4.
Frankly, I was a bit underwhelmed by this lounge. Staff were great, and the grab-and-go was very useful as I was about to board a transcontinental flight so I was able to bring plenty of substance with me. But the actual buffet...I agree with another commenter, why not also have the basic go-to comfort food things, in addition to rotating the more creative dishes?
Being my home airport I am so happy its here. I've been to other lounges at IAD and this is my favorite. The food is well prepared and delicious. The service staff is continuously cleaning tables and removing plates you are finished with. Great layout and relaxing. The only thing that was negative and this could have changed by now - was the restroom toilet seats. If you lifted it up it does not stay upright and you need one hand to hold it up.
I’d go so far as to say that this lounge is sited to cater to originating traffic (vs transfer traffic) more than any other lounge I’ve encountered.
It’s a haul to get there if you’re transferring between mainline flights.
"I really think Capital One does a stellar job with the quality of the dishes it serves"
But if you didn't try any of the food, can you say that? I mean yeah it looks good, but presentation doesn't always correlate with tasting good...
Home airport, do like this lounge but wish they would spend a little and have brand name soft drinks. The unbranded 'coke' or whatever is definitely substandard. Besides that, a good experience. Note that best to use your credit card to enter. Tried to use the wallet/app and they could not scan it.
I have used that lounge several times around 8:30 am and never even close to full.
This is a great lounge. Where it has the others (except Polaris lounge) beat is the on-site coffee bar near the entrance. It's the best coffee in the airport. The location as noted is only good for originating passengers - not connecting ones. The lack of showers is very peculiar, though. Decor, pre-plated buffet, and outstanding bar are the highlights.
Yes, last time I was in Dulles, there was a 45 minute wait to access the lounge. I was less than pleased.