Tomorrow morning at 8:18 I fly from Denver to San Antonio to spend the week in Texas with my family. Yea! But since it is the day before a trip my flying nerves are starting to kick in. I really try not to worry very much but when I fly out of Denver, my natural tendencies start up and I cannot help it. The only thing I can do is keep busy and not think about it.
I used to be a calm, un-worried, excited air traveler, but that was before I moved to Denver. Since I have lived here I have had quite a few airport problems that have sometimes caused me to almost miss my flight by a small amount of time. Most of these times another flight was not an option. Luckily I have gotten smart and get there way way earlier than normally necessary, but in Denver it is necessary.
If it is not a snow blizzard it is a security line that is so long I cannot find the end of it (and the website said the wait was 15 min.) or the terminal trains are not working or my car get stuck in the snow. There are also the times when I forget my cell phone in the car or traffic was awful or the parking lot is full and they lead me on a wild goose chase to find another one or they change my gate about 3 times and I never heard an announcement or all the signs and computers are down and there is no way to even know where your gate is!
My mind is whirling trying to figure out what will go wrong this time. My guess is the bus breaks down, I wake up late, or there is an earthquake and I cannot get out of the city. Lets hope for none of those. I mean since it should not snow in July that lessens my chances of problems but you never know in the wild, crazy, poorly planned airport of Denver.
I seriously hate that airport. It is pretty and artsy and Colorado looking but I think they should have spent less time on the decor and more time on the planning of how the airport would actually run.
The airport was designed pre-9/11... It was a much easier airport to navigate before the security checkpoints were added. I always try to park out in Pikes Peak (exit at the car rental area) b/c it's cheaper and easier to find a parking place. If you park in Pikes Peak, you want to allow an extra 20 minutes, minimum, to get to the terminal, and parking on the south side of the parking lot will put you on the bus as it's leaving the parking lot rather than as it's entering the lot. Checking in online and printing your boarding pass at home will allow you skip the check-in line, and go directly to the bag check. Also, before going down to the lower level security check, see if the one on the upper level at the north end of the terminal is open. This security check is less well-known, and the line is often shorter. The only downside is you have to walk through the half-mile walkway to concourse A, and you might not save yourself any time. Oh, and in the event that the screens showing the gates aren't working, you can always check your boarding pass (which, of course, won't reflect any last minute changes). OR, if you have a laptop with wireless, you can log onto the airline website, which should have the most recent gate information and flight status. If all else fails, ask any gate agent representing your airline, they will be able to look up the information for you. And, the best advice of all, whenever possible, fly with only your carryon. This makes it a lot easier to change flights in the event that your flight is delayed or cancelled. One time, my flight from Chicago to Denver was delayed due to weather (as were all the other flights out of ORD), and when I talked to a gate agent, she was able to switch me to an earlier flight - buisness class, no less - only because I didn't have any checked baggage that would need to be tracked down.