Traveling can be great — jet-setting over beautiful blue waters or rolling hills, taking in cloud formations, and landing in a completely different location in a matter of hours is unlike anything else.

The wholenavigating the airport part? Less exciting, and sometimes pretty stressful.

To help make your time at Richmond International Airport as smooth as possible, we’ve created a guide that covers everything from gates and parking to details on the airport’s nonstop flights.

What to know

TSA: RIC recommends arriving at the airport around 90 minutes prior to departure if you're traveling during non-peak periods. It should only take you 15 minutes or so to get through security. For peak periods — think weekends and holidays — shoot for two hours.
Map it out: If you’re like us and need to completely visualize a place before setting foot inside, these airport maps will be your saving grace.
Food and drink: Grab a beer and a sandwich at Cross Grain Brewhouse in Concourse A or fuel up with Cheeburger Cheeburger in Concourse B. Applebee's offers sit-down dining in the Atrium, and Ironclad Coffee Roasters operates in the Atrium as well as both concourses.
Flight status: While we recommend staying updated via your respective airline, you can also check the airport’s dashboard for your flight status in a pinch.

Parking, shuttles + rideshare

Not everyone has a bestie who will drop everything to pick them up from their 3 a.m. landing. Each lot and garage offers differing pricing depending on how long your car is parked.

Short-term parking: $4/hour (less than 60 minutes free)
Daily garage parking: $15/day
Economy parking: $10/day or $1/hour
Valet: $30/day

Hate the thought of driving yourself? Try out a shuttle, rideshare, or taxi service that will take you to and from the terminal. These services are suggested by RIC:

Lyft + Uber | Rideshare | Follow the green signs with the company logos to find your pickup location.
GRTC | Bus system | Fares are free for any bus route — the 7A and 7B will get you to the airport
EasyPark | Shuttle | Free 24/7 shuttle service helps transport visitors from economy parking lots A + B to the terminal building every 10-15 minutes,

The rideshare pick-up locations include the upper Departures level (best for travelers without checked luggage) and the lower Arrivals level (best for travelers with checked luggage).

Nonstop flights

Richmond offers ~150 daily domestic flights that go to six US regions. A few nonstop options include New York, Dallas, Boston, Chicago, Sarasota, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas.

In recent news, RIC added a new nonstop flight to Bermuda via BermudAir — RIC's first international flight service since 2013.

Additional air carriers serving RIC include Allegiant, American Airlines, Breeze Airways, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines, Sun Country Airlines, and United Airlines.

Bonus: Get lower fares by signing up for Going. You’ll get emailed when flights are 40-90% cheaper than usual. Get a two-week free trial of the Premium plan, which lets you set custom destination flight alerts (score).*

Note: Remember that flight times and schedules are subject to change — you should rely on your respective airline for exact timing and potential changes.