MWAA--Problems Everywhere It Seems

       The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) was created by Congress in 1987.  Congress, run by Republicans at the time, decided that an autonomous, quasi-governmental body would act more like a big business and, of course, be more efficient operating two of Washington’s major airports (Dulles and National) than the Federal Aviation Administration.  Congress decided that MWAA’s Board of Directors would all be political appointees of the Goverrnor of Virginia, the Governor of Maryland, the Mayor of Washington D.C., and the President of these United States.                                                                                 Subsequently, the Authority and its Board of distinguished former elected officials, lobbyists and such, had their portfolio enlarged by the Governor of Virginia to include managing the Dulles Toll Road and building the rail line connecting Dulles Airport to metro region.                                                                   Like everyone else I’ve watched with some concern as the Dulles Toll Road became the principal source of money for constructing rail to Reston and Dulles, and tolls began to rise sharply as the Feds and the Commonwealth of good ol’ boys Virginia discovered a way keep taxes lower by making the Toll Road the go-to piggy bank for building rail.                                                                                  Then Dullles rail construction, which had been going smoothly and apparently on schedule until just a couple of months before the Wiehle Avenue Station was to open, ground to a halt.  It is now likely to be at least a year late in opening, i.e., summer 2014 at best.                                                                             Okay, so the MWAA folks who I thought had been doing a pretty good job were proving to be less than the best in handling the additional responsibilities added to their charter by then-Virginia Governor Tim Kaine.                                            Still, despite these problems, MWAA appeared to be doing a good job operating the ever-expanding Dulles Airport.  Or, so I thought until we happened to fly into Dulles Friday night.                                                                                         What a disaster area in the huge international areas of the airport!  We deplaned and walked down a dark hallway which narrowed into a nonworking escalator down to a jammed area like a loading dock where a few hundred of us tried to get aboard two of the old mobile lounges already filled to overload.  And, it got worse!                                             `                                                                  When we were offloaded at the terminal, we found the main hall totally congested, with no one to guide the huge influx from a couple of Boeing 777-size aircraft or to direct the unfortunates with tight onward flight connections.  We spent the next 50 minutes in lines winding back and forth, a la the entrances to crowded Disney World attractions, trying to get to the few booths with actual Customs and Board Patrol staff present.  Even the USDA food and illicit substance sniffing hounds were absent on this lovely Friday evening!  Nothing was working.                                                                                                                       In over 40 years of flying, I think this was the worst experience I had had in a U.S. airport.  The failing equipment, the disorder, confusion and the sense of an absence of management in the facility left me wondering, indeed what is it that MWAA does well these days??