Colorado: Pre Christmas - Blizzard - Airport Flights Canceled

[Marti Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Marti]

Denver Colorado - December 20 & 21, 2006

Snow Shuts Down Denver International Airport

Blizzard Wallops Colorado - Strands Passengers
Some 4,700 people hunkered down overnight
at Denver International Airport,
where flights in and out were canceled

If you are traveling to Colorado in the next few days
Be sure to check out - The Weather Channel first

http://articles.news.aol.com/news/_a...00010000000001

[shopgirl Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close shopgirl]

It's pretty bad here, just a little north of Denver. We are 25 minutes from the airport terminal, so we know what the airport is facing as far as snowfall amounts, probably about 30 inches. Our back yard is a blanket of white, the front has huge drifts and the roof on the front of the house is looking a little deep with snow. The snow has slowed, but it is still coming down.

Nice to be indoors, but we are out of eggs and no way to get to the store. I would love to do some baking for the holidays. Rick came home from the firehouse this morning, but he could not get up our street, so his truck is two blocks away, stuck in a snowdrift.

[Luanne Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Luanne]

I am just soooooo thankful that I happened to schedule my mom's flight that went through Denver for Tuesday the 19th, instead of yesterday or today. It was just luck I guess. Dh kept telling her that Denver can handle snow and manages to get planes in and out just fine. Guess he was proved wrong! I feel for all of those who have been stranded over the past few days.

[LisaH Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close LisaH]

I'll be going home connecting via DEN this Sat. hope the airport will be in normal operation by then.

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

I am just soooooo thankful that I happened to schedule my mom's flight that went through Denver for Tuesday the 19th, instead of yesterday or today. It was just luck I guess. Dh kept telling her that Denver can handle snow and manages to get planes in and out just fine. Guess he was proved wrong! I feel for all of those who have been stranded over the past few days.

The Denver airport used to be located in a different spot and it was horrendous; I once got stuck there for 5 days in a SEPTEMBER storm. Since they moved it, it is supposed to be better, but I still try to avoid connections through there in winter...

[Luanne Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Luanne]

The Denver airport used to be located in a different spot and it was horrendous; I once got stuck there for 5 days in a SEPTEMBER storm. Since they moved it, it is supposed to be better, but I still try to avoid connections through there in winter...

Dh flies United alot for business and since one of their hubs is in Denver he either goes through there or Chicago. He thinks Chicago is worse and tries to avoid that one during the winter. Hmmm, he may have to rethink his strategy. Looks like all of the Chicago flights, at least right now, are getting in and out.

[shopgirl Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close shopgirl]

Don't rethink what has always worked!

These amounts of snow are very unusual for Denver. Believe me, we fly in and out of Denver at least six times per year, and that does not count family and friends, and we only had one issue when my sister was trying to get back home to Austin in March of 2003. We happened to get 31 inches back then and that is very close to this snowfall.

The worst snowstorms in Denver have huge gaps in years. 1982's blizzard occurred on Christmas eve, then in 1983 we had a bad storm with less than two feet, then in 1997 we had another blizzard not as bad as this. The 2003 storm was one of the worst since 1946! This one is practically a twin to that one. So we RARELY EVER have airport closures of days at a time. This was just a strange storm. Most of the snow falls in the mountains, for that great skiing.

[camachinist Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close camachinist]

I'm hearing from fellow DEN FT'ers that the sun is out and they are recovering. Some are even optimistic that the airport will be operational before noon tomorrow.

If correct, the ripple effect throughout the system, especially with UA, should be minimal. UA was smart to suspend ops and keep their aircraft in safe havens so they're easily accessible once ops resume.

Perhaps outlanders will read about this blizzard and perpetuate the myth that Colorado is under feet of snow all winter.

Pat

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

The Colorado State women's basketball team is playing UCONN right now in Storrs, CT. They got here with little time to spare and are having a stormy night against the women in white (55-27 at the half).

[shaggy Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close shaggy]

This reminds me of the scene of an old Full House episode where everyone got stuck in the airport on xmas and they ended up singing carols and such. Man what a bummer to be stuck but at least they are not alone. shaggy

[PigsDad Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close PigsDad]

One report I read said they estimated 4700 people spent the night at DIA Wednesday night.

We are about 45 miles north of Denver, and got hit pretty hard as well (but not as bad as Denver). We are scheduled to fly out tomorrow (Saturday). The biggest problem I think is going to be parking. All of the lots are full of snow, and it isn't very easy to remove snow with a bunch of cars there already. The number of available parking spots is going to be greatly reduced, just in time for the busiest weekend of the year.

Kurt

[DebbieM Member Find all posts View Profile Close DebbieM]

The planes started flying again at noon today. Ticketed passengers should be fine tomorrow. The main problem is those poor folks who have been camping out for days on the airport floors are mostly not reticketed (the planes are already full with ticketed pax) so they STILL aren't going anywhere soon. They are trying to get them on planes on Dec 25, 26, and 27. I'm thinking this can't be pretty.

I feel very lucky to be sitting in my comfortable, cozy home about 45 miles west of that mess. We're at 9000 feet, and right now it's clear and calm and winter wonderland beautiful. We got about 3 feet of snow from this storm, cleared all the decks, drives, and paths yesterday, and today I'm pretending to be retired!

Kurt, if you are worried about parking at the airport, consider parking at one of RTD's free Park-N-Rides (the ones at Stapleton and Westminster are covered) and taking the bus in. They deal with your bags and drop you off right at the airport door, so it really is a nice service.

[PigsDad Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close PigsDad]

Thanks for the tip, Debbie. It ended up that the off-site parking lot opened Sat. morning for those that had advanced reservations (I did have one), se we were covered there.

But, OMG, the crouds -- no, hoards -- at the airport! For the regular United check in lines, they were wrapped around the airport! We had doen the online check in the night before so we already had our boarding passes. All we had to do was drop off our bags. In the pas, that has taken no more than 5 minutes. On Saturday the lines to just check your bags (curbside or at the special location inside) were running 40-50 minutes.

An then the security lines: 2+ hours!! And get this -- on the busiday of the year, 1 of the 3 security checkpoints was CLOSED DOWN! This is incompetence at its best! Surprisingly, most people were still in good spirits. I talked with several people that had been there since Wednesday or Thursday. We were very happy and lucky to get out of there.

Even though our plane waited an additional 45 minutes to leave the gate in order to wait for more passengers, the flight was still not full. Several confirmed passengers missed the flight because of the insane lines at the airport!

Then of course, they lost one of our bags. A perfect ending, dont' you think? They did get it delivered the next day, but I ended up going to Christmas service in tennis shoes.

Kurt

[Marti Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Marti]

December 28

More Snow On The Way for Denver
Colorado and Surrounding "Areas"