BWI Meeting & Greeting Information
Greeting at the airport – General Information
Greeters at the airport is a fulfilling opportunity for those living in the greater BWI area. Many of us assume that our veterans had a warm welcome when they arrived home from the battle front. That may have been the case for returning GIs from World War II. It certainly was not the case for Vietnam veterans. Many have told us that they didn’t receive ANY welcome home and thus thought that they have been forgotten and were not appreciated.
Greeters’ basic role is to meet, greet, and thank our Veterans. The more smiling faces in the crowd to let them know — WE HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN YOUR SACRIFICE — the better! With over 130+ scheduled trips arriving at BWI this year, there are plenty of opportunities to be a greeter. The time commitment for a greeting can vary from 2-4 hours; as some days there are multiple flights arriving during the same time period. Greeters are asked to wear patriotic clothing, and are welcome to bring banners, flags, and smiles.
Depending on the date, there may be multiple options for greeting a flight. Some airlines provide gate passes, so you can greet at the gate as the Veterans step off the jet bridge, while some greeters find it easier to greet outside security.
Greeting at the gate inside security – non-escort gate passes are provided at the discretion of airlines, which allows greeters to be at the gate. As of now, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Alaska Airline and Contour typically provide gate passes for arrivals. Allegiant and other charters do not provide gate passes.
To request a gate pass to greet an arrival at BWI, please send an email to bwigap20@gmail.com with the following information: first name, middle initial, last name, date of birth (mm/dd/yy format) and gender. Please submit in this format: John D Smith, 03/16/99, male. Please enter the date you are requesting a gate pass on the subject line and in the body of the email. If you are military, please indicate this in your request.
The deadline for requests is 36 hours prior to the first flight of the day. Requests received after this deadline will not be honored. Walk up requests are not taken.
Everyone, even babes in arms, needs a gate pass. Picture ID is not required for those under the age of 18.
Please park in the Hourly Garage and bring in your parking ticket for validation along with your government issue picture ID. The parking validation deadline is 60 minutes before the flight arrival time. If you miss this deadline, validation may still be possible, but will need to wait until after all flights are in.
The pick up point for all gate passes and parking ticket validation is inside on the ticket counter upper level by Doors 9 – 11 (by the Jet Blue ticket counter). If you do not find a yellow-shirted ground crew volunteer there, please check with the Information Desk adjacent to Door 13.
Greetings outside security – greeters are always welcome to greet our Heroes outside security as the arrive or depart BWI. Please note these times can be influenced by unexpected travel delays or early arrivals. Please take this into consideration when planning your trip to BWI.
The schedule of arrival times into BWI, and the time the hubs are due back at the airport, are on our scheduling page.
Parking is still free in the Hourly Garage, but you still need to email bwigap20@gmail.com so they can ensure a ground crew member is there to validate your parking ticket. In this email, please indicate the date, time and Honor Flight you are meeting. Also state that this request is for parking validation only, not a gate pass.
BWI Ground Crew volunteers (look for the neon-yellow Ground Crew t-shirts) will be staged around Door 9-11 on the Upper Level (adjacent to the Jet Blue ticket counter) and will validate your parking ticket up to 60 minutes prior to the flight arrival (or return time for departures). If you arrive after that time, validation cannot be guaranteed. The ground crew cannot validate overnight parking. If there are no ground crew members there; please go to the Information Desk by Door 13 and the United ticket counter, and they can help find a ground crew volunteer.
The Ground Crew will provide additional information on the exact meeting location so that you will be in the best location to greet our Heroes as they exit security enroute to their buses.
If you do not need validation, it is suggested you arrive about 30 minutes prior to the listed arrival time. You can go to the Upper Level between Doors 9 -11 to find a ground crew member and receive more information, or you can proceed directly to the location to meet the Honor Flight.
There are five concourses at BWI. To find out which concourse you need to go to, check the flight information listed <here> (especially the airline and flight #) – then check the airport overhead monitors to determine which concourse the flight will arrive at. NOTE: Allegiant charters will not appear on the overhead monitors. Maps can be found <here>.
