RDU Raleigh Airport - A review kinda

I am only writing about this mostly because the TSA must have a great manager here because it is the only time I have ever seen them be friendly.

This relatively small airport is in a medium-size city in North Carolina (less than half a million people live here). If you are not from the United States there is a good chance you would have not heard of the place. We were only flying from here because it is one of the few places that flies to the Dominican Republic without huge layovers and we also happened to be in the state anyway.

RDU (the code for the airport) is small and very easily accessed. From the rental car drop to the check in counter was about 5 minutes. It was extremely easy and not crowded – this is something that is quite common with smaller airports (except for the one in my hometown of Krabi – that airport is a dump.) After getting our tickets at a very poorly designed kiosk by American Airlines, we were first in line to check our bags. Then we saw the moving sidewalks start immediately, which is always great in long hallways.

Then we were off to the TSA section, which always makes me worry. However, I somehow got this TSA precheck on my boarding pass so I was able to skip ahead of 90% of the other people waiting. This is where my mind got blown. The TSA people were actually friendly. I thought I might have been dreaming because this has never happened before. Perhaps all the bad press that they have received from literally (figuratively) everyone in the world is starting to catch up to them and some sort of overhaul is taking place. It certainly wasn’t the case in NYC, I doubt it ever will be since being rude seems to be the default in that place.

Anyway, I am giving RDU the @gooddream stamp of approval and a rating of A+ because of these reasons

• more than enough parking and roadways entering and throughout the airport facility
• plenty of check in counters and staff at the airline check in areas
• friendly and efficient TSA staff (this is the most amazing thing to me)
• A nice variety of food and drinks once inside and surprisingly reasonable prices for an airports
• Those moving sidewalks are plentiful and placed exactly where you need them.
• Free Wi-Fi that friggin works and has no time limit on it (I hate it when time-limits are imposed at airports and I can’t understand why it would ever be that way)

There aren’t a great many choices of airports in North Carolina because none of the cities are terribly large. However, I can’t really imagine why anyone would end up here because it isn’t exactly a massive tourist destination. Maybe it could be if you really want those #1 cupcakes in America that I wrote about. :)