United Airlines

[ktdaiwik]

Has anyone else flowin United with a stop over in Denver?
Have you ever had any issues with them changing flight times or cancelling?
I have my worries but hubby says it will all be fine??!!
We are leaving at lunchtime and arriving in Orlando at 9.05 in the evening..hopefully we will be able to get the preferred room we paid for at All Star Movies...

 

[ktdaiwik]

Oh I forgot to put we are going the first 2 weeks of December.

 

[drag n' fly]

Has anyone else flowin United with a stop over in Denver?
Have you ever had any issues with them changing flight times or cancelling?
I have my worries but hubby says it will all be fine??!!
We are leaving at lunchtime and arriving in Orlando at 9.05 in the evening..hopefully we will be able to get the preferred room we paid for at All Star Movies...

We are flying with United in December. Price was great 2360.00cad return including taxes for the five of us from Calgary to Tampa. Ok now the bad. United is notorious for changing flight times and cancelling flights. Just 48 hours ago our return flight from Tampa was cancelled and our TA had to scramble to find us another flight. The airline industry is so unstable right now honestly you cannot be guarannteed anything at this point no matter who you fly with. Just make sure you have a back up plan if booking yourself that's all

 

[SaskDisNut]

We flew back from MCO on United through Denver to Calgary and then Jazz back to Regina in May 2007. Our gates were quite a ways apart but we had more than enough time to make our Calgary flight. The terminal is quite large but very nice. No issues with delays or cancelled flights but that is pretty hard to predict.

We bought some great sandwiches from some little sandwich place near our gate and brought them onto the plane with us.

We are going in December as well but flying NorthWest this time.

 

[ktdaiwik]

Thankyou for your quick replys,so far we have had our return trip changed by 1/2 hour.We booked through a T/A but it seems I am the one calling her to check all the time!!??
I am glad we can get food as both flights have no food,travelling with a 4 yr old I know he is going to want to eat something between midday and 9 at night...

 

[ktdaiwik]

Just wondering if anyone else can share their experiences?Thanks in advance.

 

[bavaria]

I fly UA almost weekly. What would you like to know?

They generally change schedules once per season with the exception of the recent schedule cuts. So you have at least two more schedule changes which could happen.

The UA terminal in DEN is fine; it is easy to navigate and there is a wide choice of food/drink.

Winter in DEN can be difficult; last year there were two major blizzards which shut down DEN for days, and I was delayed both times. However I followed my own rules I post on the Transportation Board as to how to deal with major situations such as that, and I was just fine (I didn't sleep in the airport and had good back up plans) But I have also spent many hours at YEG in past due to bad weather, so not that different (except that DEN has more hotels in the area if need be, and is a larger airport)

Be aware of the checked luggage fees. There is an extra cost for Economy Plus seating.

 

[ktdaiwik]

Thankyou so much.the blizzards have me worried!Hubby just commented hopefully if there are any it is on the way home not on the way there...
I was wondering how often our schedule could change,I know our layover times in Denver are 30/45 mins so hoping that is long enough to grab some food and get our 4 yr old to the right place!
I am keeping fingers crossed if they change anything it is for our flight to arrive earlier than 9.05 in the evening on the 1st of December.But going later in the day we saved over 300 each ticket....so 1200 in total!I am also trying to get my head around packing light so we will have more room on the way back to bring stuff home!Hubby says 1 suitcase each should be plenty but being me I really want to take 2!lol
Any advice you can give I would totally appreciate.
Thanks so much
Kate

 

[bavaria]

Don't stress about the weather - you can't change that. Just make sure that you understand what to do in case of bad weather, and take control of the situation. Too often I see people just waiting around for someone to 'fix things' for them - those are the ones who usually end up sleeping at the airport.

30-45 min is quite short for a connection in DEN so don't count on stopping for food. There is a food court with a pizza place, etc as well as an upstairs area with mexican food, Wolfgang Puck Express, etc. Along the way to the various gates are quick serve places, shops, etc. But I don't plan to stop when I have such a short connection time.

UA has good buy on board boxes - check their website. I like the RiteBite, which was awarded 'most healthy airline meal' last year - it has hummus, pita chips, Toblerone bar etc and is a good value. Or bring food from your home airport to have on the plane.

 

[DearDaisyinDurham]

Don't stress about the weather - you can't change that. Just make sure that you understand what to do in case of bad weather, and take control of the situation. Too often I see people just waiting around for someone to 'fix things' for them - those are the ones who usually end up sleeping at the airport.

30-45 min is quite short for a connection in DEN so don't count on stopping for food. There is a food court with a pizza place, etc as well as an upstairs area with mexican food, Wolfgang Puck Express, etc. Along the way to the various gates are quick serve places, shops, etc. But I don't plan to stop when I have such a short connection time.

UA has good buy on board boxes - check their website. I like the RiteBite, which was awarded 'most healthy airline meal' last year - it has hummus, pita chips, Toblerone bar etc and is a good value. Or bring food from your home airport to have on the plane.

All of the advice you have received is right on! United flies out of Concourse B at Denver International, which has lots of shops, and the Rocky Mountain Chocolate place (tiny little place right by the B40+ gates) is yummy.

If you go upstairs on B concourse there is a huge Crocs store (Colorado, home of the Crocs) and also Mile Hi Harley Davidson for fun browsing or buying.

Sorry but the weather at your time of travel could be hot and sunny or snowy, there's no way to tell. If you get the Travel Detective book, Flight Crew Confidential, he goes through the major airports one by one. I loved that book. His other books are good too, and he has a website.

If you end up getting "held over" then you can take the downstairs train to Concourse A, which has the best smelling popcorn place in the world. I swear it's like Disney and they pipe that scent into the air! Can't give a review as I only smell it, haven't bought it.

Have a magical trip!

 

[ktdaiwik]

Thankyou so so much for all your advice.Fingers crossed if we get held up it is on the way back!I really appreciate all the help we are getting as a family from everyone on here.

 

[SaskDisNut]

Here is a link to bavaria's "What to do if your flight is cancelled - Weather, mechanical, etc" thread that was mentioned in an earlier post. IMHO it should be a sticky at the top of the Transportation page.

 

[ktdaiwik]

Thanks so much ,will definitly check that out too.Am thinking I should phone and get an update from our travel agent in the next week or two...

 

[drag n' fly]

Here is a link to bavaria's "What to do if your flight is cancelled - Weather, mechanical, etc" thread that was mentioned in an earlier post. IMHO it should be a sticky at the top of the Transportation page.

Wow that is great advice. Thanks for posting that!