Baltimore (BWI)

As one of the few Southwest Airlines focus cities (and former AirTran hubs) that served Dayton, Baltimore generally served as my layover to or from Orlando when I wasn’t able to take the one daily direct Orlando flight. However, Southwest no longer serves Dayton after moving down to Cincinnati, so I rarely fly Southwest anymore.

All in all, it’s not a bad airport for a layover; it’s not too huge, and Southwest’s concourses A, B, and C all converge on the central A-B food court and atrium which, though largely fast food, does manage to have a large enough selection that I can always find something I want.

It also is extremely easy to hop in and out of the secure area (particularly with TSA PreCheck) at nine in the evening, with effectively zero wait for security. This allowed me to take advantage of one of the best coincidences I’ve had in air travel. One year, my sister and her family were moving to Germany, and the final US layover for her and my nephews was Baltimore. Meanwhile, I had a work trip to Orlando that I’d booked a month prior that gave me an hour and a half layover at Baltimore on the same evening. Her flight was in the international terminal and mine was in Southwest’s domestic area, so meeting airside wasn’t an option, but I was able to leave the secure area and meet her landside with plenty of time to spare.