well considering Neeleman started JetBlue and not Frontier one would certainly hope that’s the case.
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Wake county leasing land from Umstead to make new Mt Bike trails to replace the ones a lost in the RDU deal.
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Now that’s a compromise… we can have both leisure and bike trails.
With the shutdown, does anyone have anything to share regarding TSA wait times at RDU? I fly out Wednesday AM for a vacation.
I flew out Friday and back in today, no issues
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I appreciate the report!
Good to know! I’m on a 6am tomorrow and was wondering if I should do my typical “nick of time use Clear + pre-check to get to the gate right at boarding” commute or my “let’s save time to walk up and down T2 to get my steps in” commute.
Flew out Sunday morning and the TSA queues were short, both Pre-Check and non.
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TSA (terminal 1) heading out Friday morning was super easy and fast. TSA leaving Portland at 4AM… NOT FAST! By the time I finally got through security, I had 8 minutes to run through the airport to the furthest terminal before my flight boarded. Good thing I am a runner. 
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T2 expansion looks to be gearing up, at least Phase 1 which is not more gates, but more space for the FIS/check-in/baggage. When you walk north into the C-gates you’ll see C-8 and C-10 partitioned off. Looking out the windows there (there’s retail in front still open, you can walk to the glass windows just to the side and look out), you’ll see construction fencing has gone up between the current FIS (that’s Federal Inspection Services / Customs) and where planes would part to use the jet bridge at C-10. All that space on the cement apron there will be construction area. See the area shaded blue.
Let’s hope we get more lounges out of this since it’ll be 3 floors tall, from the lowest level where bag claim is, all the way up to check-in level (where we’ll get more checkin kiosks and bag check islands), up to the 3rd floor which has lounges for AA and Delta currently. Lounges for United and the USO are on the D side to the South, on the 3rd floor.
Also soon to start is the roadway in front of T1 to unsnarl the traffic jam at T2, and the new bridge at Sheetz stoplight to allow buses to P3 not to have to wait for a light, speeding up getting between parking and the terminals. Meanwhile the expanded P3 lot continues to be a cluster. Allow an extra 15-20 minutes compared to what you used to allow, if you are parking there, as the giant new volume of parking is very hard to navigate and crowded AF. Employees are moving to P4, so there’s less availability for those coming in from Glenwood to RDU if that’s where you used to park. Gonna be a long 4-5 years of construction that’s starting now, and that’d before they add any gate additions at T2.
Still trying to learn if T1 is going to expand to make up for lost gates during construction at T2. I do know they are scrambling for $ to pay for all this. Orange detour signs are already up along the main roadways, some have black plastic bags covering them, while some have blown off.
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Does this mean we get a global entry office
that’d be nice! They even have one in WILMINGTON lol.
the interview takes 5-10 mins and can be a tiny room. When I did mine, I scheduled it at an airport I’d be connecting at. I mean they could always convert some small office space in T2 to DHS space such as in bag claim, but I think we’re SEVERAL years away from this new space under construction being ready to open for anything, let alone DHS for Global Entry.
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One current problem with the lounges is that everyone in business class on the outbound transatlantic flights of American, Air France/Delta, and Lufthansa/United is admitted. (This is standard practice at just about all airline lounges.) In the late afternoon, business class passengers for those flights overlap with the usual lounge members who are flying domestic. Overcrowding is the result. Delta will even limit admission to its lounge, and that really ticks off the people who pay a lot for lounge membership. Twenty years ago, the original T2 architects didn’t see this coming.
I did my Global Entry interview at Washington Dulles, and my wife had to do hers in Jacksonville, Fla.
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WOW looks like we finally get a long-awaited daily nonstop to San Diego. Brought to us by our friends at Alaska Airlines
Alaska Airlines Flight 12, beginning 4/22/26 on a 737. They currently have a daily Seattle-RDU flight. Would love for it to have been Delta instead, but AS (their code like DL or AA) is a good airline.
Times are
• AS12 Depart SAN 9:40 AM Arrive RDU 6:00 PM
• AS12 Depart RDU 6:55 PM Arrive SAN 9:13 PM
This twitter user @xjonnyc is a solid newsbreaker, good intel in the industry for those interested, and he reposted a tweet from a consulting firm in the business @IshrionA.
No idea if they will code share with AA, but Alaska joined Oneworld alliance with AA and a bunch of other non-USA airlines, so we will need that extra lounge space pronto!
Also this from garbage site Axios:
https://www.axios.com/local/raleigh/2025/10/17/whats-on-rdus-wishlist-international-destinations
!
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My MIL takes the Seattle>Raleigh direct flight several times a year with Alaskan. We took it the last time we went out to Seattle as well. Our experience was great! I see their planes at more and more airports across the country.
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for anyone who wants a deep dive on all things RDU development wise, environmental impacts & sustainability, nearby park land and bike trails, transit/parking/money, future air service (existing, future, Europe/Asia/Middle East), traffic, air service, and construction projects (new terminal, new runway, new roadway, new parking), there’s a one-hour presentation the chief development officer gave at a local senior center yesterday.
I liked the “here’s how the airport works and what’s coming” kind of approach. Some info at the end about the proposed water attraction at Lake Crabtree on RDU land that Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon is involved with.
Not sure why that particular audiience would care, as they probably travel the least of all, but it’s a fascinating Q&A at the beginning for 10 mins, followed by details on all of the above with lots of graphics. Very transparent and up front video. Really thorough, lots of good details for those who like that sort of thing. Timelines/dates and what to expect. How things will improve for those using RDU.
For those who’ve been talking about a major Terminal 1 expansion, it’s quite clear from the presentation that is not coming anytime soon. It’s all about Terminal 2 as far as additonal gates and space for travelers and planes/gates.
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- Delta Air Lines adds nonstop flights from RDU for Kentucky Derby.
- Delta offers one-off flights for Masters tournament in Augusta, Georgia.
- Delta has previously provided temporary nonstops for college football games.
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I knew both downtown Raleigh and Durham had can-opener bridges but did not know RDU had one too. From RDU socials TRAFFIC ALERT: International Drive is closed at the tunnel near John Brantley Boulevard due to a vehicular accident. Motorists should avoid using International Drive and enter the airport from Aviation Parkway or Airport Boulevard. Expect traffic congestion.
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That’s the underpass beneath taxiway C, which goes back to 1986 when 5L/23R was built for Terminal C and the American Airlines hub. There have been clearance problems ever since. There were originally two low-clearance bridge in that area. One of them was replaced about 20 years ago, but for some reason the RDUAA never replaced the other.
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