And Then There Were Five

Only five times remain to greet our veterans at Dulles Airport this spring.

Honor Flight of West Central Florida will arrive on Tuesday, 9 June, at 8:00 am. They will return to Dulles at 5:00 pm that day.

Mid-Michigan Honor Flight will arrive on Tuesday, 16 June, at 10:30 am. They will return to Dulles the next day (Wednesday, 17 June) at 6:00 pm.

Saturday, 20 June, will see the Stars & Stripes Honor Flight bring three planes for their Flight of Champions arriving at 8:30, 9:15, and 10:15 am from Milwaukee and Green Bay, WI. They return to Dulles at 5:30, 6:15, and 7:30 pm.

The last flight of the spring season will be on Tuesday, 7 July, when Honor Flight of the Ozarks arrives at 8:00 am. They will return to Dulles at 4:30 pm.

To sign up for any of these remaining flights, click HERE. Signups close 48 to 36 hours in advance of the arrival or departure.

Parking Placards – Housekeeping Item

To get free parking at Dulles airport requires getting a parking placard and the directions to the parking lot.

We’ve learned that some groups have an “internal” signup process so they know how many people from the group will be attending. Unless the group redistributes the instructions and placard to its members, the Honor Flight at Dulles team has no way of knowing who needs the information.

If you are a driver, the best bet for you to get the instructions and placard is to fill out the signup form on our website. Unless you misspell your email address (and that still happens), you will get the information in your email 48 to 36 hours before the plane lands or buses return to Dulles.

The signups are here — heroeswelcomeiad.com

End of the Season

The spring Honor Flight Season has come to an end.  When the Greater Peoria veterans headed home on Tuesday evening, the Honor Flight Ground Crew breathed a collective sigh of relief.  While we love having all the veterans come to see their memorials, it’s been a busy spring season with a total of 2306 veterans arriving at Dulles.

The fall season will start on 13 August with the veterans from Honor Flight of the Ozarks and end on 11 November with Honor Flight Columbus.  It’s also going to be a busy season with a total of 2356 veterans scheduled to visit with us.  To see the tentative schedule, click HERE.

We would like to thank the multitude of greeters who came to Dulles to greet our heroes.  You made them smile. You made them tear up.  You made them feel proud.  You gave them the welcome home that many never received.  It’s what we are all about and we hope to see you in the fall.

A Thank You

We received an email from one of the board members of the 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.

Business E-mail addresses

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 for any Honor Flight at Dulles

Parking at Dulles Airport will continue to be free in 2026!!

If you have signed up to greet the arrival or the departure of the veterans on any flight, you will receive a note from iadcoordinator@honorflight.org or heroeswelcomeiad@gmail.com 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. The placard is not valid for free parking in any other parking location.

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

Updated 26 November 2025

Fraud Alert

It has come to our attention that some of the Honor Flight hubs have had problems with people posing as members of the hub soliciting funds which never get to the hub. This is yet another form of scamming. Please be aware that no one from the Honor Flight of Dulles team ever solicits funds for our operation. We are not a 501.c.3 non-profit organization and, as such, cannot solicit funds. If any person calls or emails you requesting funds, DO NOT GIVE! If you have any information about the requestor, contact your local police department as well as letting us know.