The plane carrying the Inland Northwest Honor Flight veterans left Spokane, Washington early this morning. Rather that arriving at 4:30 pm, they are now scheduled to arrive at 3:53 PM.

The veterans from Spokane, Washington (Inland Northwest Honor Flight) will be arriving on Monday (4/29) and heading home on Tuesday (4/30). The flight arrives at 4:30 PM on Monday and the buses return to Dulles at 4:00 PM on Tuesday. We hope that you can join us for one or both of these opportunities to honor our veterans. To sign up for their arrival, click HERE. To sign up for their departure, click HERE. Signups will close on Saturday evening (4/27).

Updated as of 12 March 2024

We are making you aware of the opportunity to greet our honored veterans other than at Dulles Airport. Not all Honor Flight hubs come by plane so that opens other opportunities for greeting the veterans. The ones who are located closer to the Washington, DC area typically come by bus. Many times the veterans are here for one or two nights, staying in a local hotel. Unlike the airport greetings, there is no big crowd of greeters when they pull up to their hotel.

Listed below are several opportunities where you can greet the veterans at their hotel. Often times, the veterans will have more time to spend chatting with you. Plus you get to help them into the hotel and possibly assist with their luggage. Individual attendance at these greetings does not require an RSVP – just show up.  IF you have a group that would like to get more involved handling luggage, unloading wheelchairs, singing, etc., there is contact information below. 

Please note that estimated arrival times may vary – with variables such as weather or traffic. Please consider participating in this unique opportunity. Should you decide to attend, bring flags, banners, balloons, signs, and smiles. Also check with the the hotel front desk for parking if you are coming with a group.

In case a hub makes changes in their hotel accommodations, it is advisable to send an email to jbrawley@honorflight.org several days in advance to confirm the hotel location and estimated arrival time.

05/17/24 Friday – Hotel greeting 

• GROUP: 25 Veterans from Honor Flight Savannah (GA)  
• ARRIVAL AT HOTEL:  Hilton Alexandria Mark Center Hotel, 5000 Seminary Rd, Alexandria, VA approximately 8:15-8:30 pm 

• No sign up needed, just show up – remembering that arrival times may fluctuate 

05/17/24 Friday – Hotel greeting 

• GROUP: 25 Veterans from Honor Flight of the Appalachian Highlands 
• ARRIVAL AT HOTEL:  Hilton Washington Dulles, 13869 Park Center Rd, Herndon, VA 20171 approximately 8:00-8:30 pm 

• NOTES: if you have a group interested in singing as the Veterans arrive and pass through, please email Jenny at jbrawley@honorflight.org .  

06/01/24 Saturday– Hotel greeting 

• GROUP: 85 Veterans from Texas South Plains Honor Flight 
• ARRIVAL AT HOTEL:  Double Tree by Hilton Crystal City, 300 Army Navy Drive, Arlington, VA 22202 – arriving approximately 8:00-8:30 pm 

• NOTES: if you have a group interested in singing as the Veterans arrive and pass through, please email Jenny at jbrawley@honorflight.org .  

The Honor Flight of Dubuque and Tri-state hub has decided to cancel the three flights that were originally scheduled for May 20, 21, and 22. They have been removed from the signup page. If you have already signed up to attend any of those flights, please adjust your calendar.

Hello, greeters and interested parties. The Spring 2024 Honor Flight at Dulles schedule has been posted. We start greeting our honored veterans on the 14th of April and continue through the 15th of June. We have lots of opportunities for you to greet or send off the groups of veterans.

In addition to our usual hubs, we will be welcoming the veterans from Western North Dakota Honor Flight (Bismarck, ND) and Permian Basin Honor Flight (Midland, TX). We have three visits from our friends with Stars and Stripes Honor Flight (Milwaukee, WI) and five flights from the Honor Flight of Dubuque & Tri-States (Dubuque, IA).

So get busy completing the signup forms and adding dates to your calendar. See you on April 14th!!

Click HERE to head to the signups page.

With the departure of the Stars and Stripes veterans back to Milwaukee last Saturday evening, the fall flight season has ended. The ground crew of Honor Flight at Dulles thanks the many, many greeters, their family members, and friends who came out for the past three months to greet the arriving and/or departing veterans who visited their memorials here in the Washington, D.C. area. The veterans were always very appreciative of the enthusiasm of the greeting, especially when children were around. We wish to thank all of the corporate teams, sports teams, scouts, service and civic leagues, musical groups, and Honor Guards (especially Prince William County) for joining the welcoming crowd at each flight. We look forward to seeing all of you again in the spring of 2024.

On Thursday, 19 October, we will receive our next to the last flight of veterans for this fall.  The crew of the Rocky Mountain Honor Flight will be arriving at 2:50 PM from Denver.  They will be here for three days and return home via BWI airport (not Dulles).  Being a Southwest Airlines flight, we will have the opportunity to have folks greet the veterans at the gate when they get off the plane.  You will note that there are two signups for this flight — “At the Gate” and “In the Terminal”.

To signup for this flight, click HERE.

  — AND —

We received an email from one of the board members from Stars and Stripes Honor Flight team which included the following excerpt from a thank you email from one of the Green Bay flight guardians.  While we frequently have comments based on delayed flights, early flights, bus snafus, achy feet, and miscommunication, THESE WORDS do make greeting the veterans all so worthwhile.

“I wanted to comment on one activity that just shook me to the core. When we got off the plane in D.C., I never expected the greeting the veterans received when walking through the terminal. These people really touched my heart and made you feel so proud to be an American. And think what the vet’s are thinking; these people are all here to honor us. I hope the random adults, the girl scout and boy scout leaders and their troops, the sports teams and their coaches, and parents of all these kids, I hope they all understand the impact they have. This is a Saturday morning of navigating out to a busy airport to pay their respects. I know having kids myself, some of these kids will not fully understand their actions at the time, but they will. What a teachable moment. I let the hand shaking and “thank you for your service” attention focus on the veterans, but I wanted so much to stop and tell each and every one of them, “thank you for your support of these vets”. Again, I don’t want to down play the impact of the same ceremony in the Green Bay airport, it’s just this gathering totally surprised me. I am guessing none of these people knew these veterans at a personal level, but that did not matter. What mattered most was they knew them as men or women to served their country. Again, so proud of our United States.“

If anyone chooses to pay for their own parking at the airport, the hourly rate for Garage #1 and Garage #2s and the Terminal Lot out front are still $6.00 per hour. However the maximum total payment has risen to $32 for the terminal lot and $21 for the garages.

Updated 4 February 2024

Please be cautious when using a company-sponsored email address to receive information from Honor Flight at Dulles. The Spring 2023 Signup notification that went out this morning saw several unsubscribes from business emails including a bunch from one company site. Some business systems automatically filter incoming emails to avoid spam. Getting multiple emails to company employees from one sending address might trigger this unsubscribe action as a spam blocker. Please consider a personal email address when communicating with us.

Parking at Dulles Airport will continue to be free in 2024!!

If you have signed up to greet the arrival or the departure of the veterans on any Flight this spring, you will receive a note from iadcoordinator@honorflight.org with instructions between 48 and 24 hours before the event.

THE IMPORTANT PART OF THIS MESSAGE — BEFORE YOU LEAVE HOME, YOU WILL HAVE TO PRINT OUT A PLACARD TO PLACE ON YOUR CAR DASHBOARD. The lot where we will be parking — for free — is patrolled by the airport police. WITHOUT A PLACARD ON YOUR DASHBOARD, you risk getting ticketed or towed.

A map with directions is included in each flight’s informational email.

Updated 4 February 2024