Airports / Flights, Dallas

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The Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory has become a must do on each trip to DFW. We really enjoy the caramel apples and the assortment of chocolate is just amazing. So if you’re in the area and have time to run over to terminal D I highly recommend you come by and get your picture taken with the bear who loves chocolate.

Also appearing in terminal D is the most horrific Fuddrucker's on the planet. Seriously folks, the company should pull the name off of this its that bad.

So you get good and you get bad here in terminal D, DFW

DFW is a huge airport! Once you've grabbed your bags, if you are renting a car, go downstairs where a huge white shuttle bus will grab everybody who needs to ge their rental car. There is no individual shuttles for Hertz, Budget, Avis, etc. There is also a digital clock that tells you how soon the next shuttle bus will come. Once on the bus it's about a 10 drive so leave some time when you return your car. Also, if you are flying American Airlines double check the DFW terminal at the car rental desk. There's a good chance that the outbound flight might be at a different terminal than the inbound flight since American Airlines uses multiple terminals. The different terminals are quite far from each other.

This is largest airport in Metroplex, and currently the 4th busiest airport in the US and also one of the more expensive airports in the country to depart. It's located between Dallas and Fort Worth (in Irving, TX).

Like everything else in the state, construction at DFW is constant. They just opened SkyLink (a train system around the terminals) and their opening a new terminal--section F (I think it's that one).

Something else to remember is you can't get in and out of DFW nowhere near as fast as Love Field.

Guarenteed not to disappoint you, DFW lives up to its name as one of the largest airports in the world. Because of its Central location in the US, its relatively warm weather, and the wide open spaces known as the Texas plain, DFW seems to be an ideal location to link your travel needs.

I will definitely recommend a couple things.

#1 If you are flying out of American anytime when business travelers are likely flying, prepare to wait in line.

#2 If you think you can make it to your connecting gate within 15 minutes, think again.

#3 If you are any further away from your next gate than 10 gates away...use the train. You will not make your flight if you try to walk from one end of the airport to the other.

#4 Don't waste your time asking for an upgrade. There are so many 100K miles a year guys like me that you do not have a huge chance.

As we were leaving the Reunion Tower parking lot, we saw a helicopter landing nearby.

I found that the Heliport is one of the great advantages of the Metraplex. Dallas thinks of itself as a city on the leading edge of intramodal transportation, but if there is one advantage that sets it apart from other large municipalities, it’s the Dallas Heliport/Vertiport. There are two helicopter manufacturers in the area (Bell Textron and Eurocopter).

I do not know if we saw a landing at the Dallas Heliport which is located atop the southwest corner of the Dallas Convention Center - I would not have thought we were that close to the DCC.

You can get Helicopter tours of the area.

The shortest tour is the 30 Minute Red Tour
$225 Garland Heliport, past White Rock Lake, Fair Park (Cotton Bowl), Deep Ellum, Downtown Dallas, Am. Airlines Center, Texas Stadium, Love Field, Park Cities, Back to Heliport

Dallas Fort Worth airport is a very big airport and it is said to be the 3rd busiest in the US. It covers more than 29.8 square miles; real property consists of 18,076 acres (7,318 hectares) which is the 2nd largest airport land mass in the US.. It is a hub for American Airlines. It is in what they call the Metroplex which consists of 126 communities in addition to Dallas and Fort Worth.

The Airport is operated and managed by the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Board. The Board is comprised of seven members from the City of Dallas, four from the City of Fort Worth, and one non-voting position occupied by - on an annual, rotating basis - each of the Airport’s neighboring cities of Irving, Grapevine, Euless and Coppell.

When I visited in 1997, we flew in on Continental via Detroit or Cleveland, and then flew back via Houston. This time - 2004, we flew on a pass from BWI first class which was definitely MUCH better.

On my recent trip to Egypt, I first had to fly from DFW to New York. I've flown out of DFW airport many times and usually park. The cheapest parking is to park & ride just outside the airport for $5/day. However this time, I was lucky to be able to get my friend, Angela, to drop me off! :) So, find a friend to drop you off! If not, go for the $5/day parking. Once you park, you just hop on a bus and it takes you right to your terminal. No need to pay a higher price for the closer parking!

Since it's opening in the 1970's, DFW has been the economic engine which has provided growth to North Texas. This is the third busiest airport in the world (larger in physical size than the island of Manhattan in NYC), so that should tell you that this place is huge.