Winter travel - Chicago or Denver??

[sdjen]

I am looking at booking flights in Feb for our upcoming DCL cruise. I have to either fly through Denver or Chicago to connect to Orlando.

Can anyeone give me any input on which one might be better for avoiding weather delays??

Thanks!

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

I hope you are not planning to fly to Orlando the day of your cruise. If so DONT.
Any weather or mechanical delay will put you at risk for missing the cruise. Don't forget that your flight can get delayed if the flight crew for your flight can't make it to the airport because they experienced a delay at the city they are leaving from. So you can't just factor in the weather in the city in which you are flying from because a storm in say New York could effect your flight.
Our May flight was delayed 3 hours because of the city that our aircraft was coming from was hit by severe stroms so that flight did not take off on time.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Go through Denver. It has been my personal experience that O'Hare has more winter weather delays, plus it handles a lot more traffic than Denver, so there are likely to be more general delays.

 

[Brian Noble]

1: Definitely fly in the day before. Definitely.
2: I would go through DEN rather than ORD, personally.

 

[3BoysRDisneyFreaks]

I pick Denver.

And I say 2 days early. Better safe than sorry in my book. Paying for those 2 extra hotel days is good insurance in my book.


Sarah

 

[dis_guy]

Just want to chime in for DEN. ORD is way more likely to have weather delays. DEN is not immune to such problems as the huge blizzard of a few years ago proves. The airport actually ran out of food!

 

[RabbitFood]

I fly out of ORD 99% of the time. I agree that DEN is a safer bet.

 

[Coloradomom]

Denver definitely. (I grew up in Chicago and avoid flying out of there anytime) If we do get storms in Denver they are typically more likely in March or April. Not to say it cannot happen other times but March is usually when the big ones hit. And because of the sun and the snow removal equipment it is rare to have significant delays. That said in 2006 we had a month (December ) with a blizzard every Friday but have not seen that ever before or since.
And for peace of mind allow 2 days.

 

[dis_guy]

Denver definitely. (I grew up in Chicago and avoid flying out of there anytime) If we do get storms in Denver they are typically more likely in March or April. Not to say it cannot happen other times but March is usually when the big ones hit. And because of the sun and the snow removal equipment it is rare to have significant delays. That said in 2006 we had a month (December ) with a blizzard every Friday but have not seen that ever before or since.
And for peace of mind allow 2 days.

I've connected in DEN many times and I must say that I've never seen as good a snow removal system or as many snowplows at any other airport, anywhere. And I'm Canadian.

 

[PoohsFan1]

I live in the Chicago area and I have to agree with the others and go through Denver rather than Chicago....especially if our February is anything like it was last February :scared1. We are taking a cruise in January (flying out the day before our ship casts off) and I am still a little nervous about being delayed myself, we never flew this time of year. Good luck to you.

 

[sdjen]

Thanks everyone for the advice. Looks like Denver is the consensus.

I usually fly through Minneapolis on Delta or Denver on United but have had good luck with winter weather so far.

I will try to avoid Chicago if I can. Right now I am planning on flying in at least the day before if not two days before. We are coming from South Dakota so our flight options are pretty limited to start with Plus right now the prices are really high - I am watching to see if they come down at all.

Last Feb. we flew on Thursday for a Saturday cruise and that worked out pretty well. I agree that the extra night of hotel is good insurance - especailly since I have enough hotel points that I dont have to pay for hotels anyways!

Thanks everyone!

 

[macraven]

avoid chicago...

i try to never do a flight out of the city in february.

weather is too iffy, winter is pretty rough in february here.

 

[cruisingkat]

Having flown to many cruises (non-Disney) over the years, I would definitely advise flying in at least a day early. When we first started cruising, we flew in the day of, and then spent that first day on the ship resting up from our trip down - and that was way before all the security procedures. Then we started flying down at least a day early - getting a good nights sleep and then boarding the ship rested and ready to enjoy our first night.