In defense of DEN's distance from the city, I'd argue that although the distance is greater than most cities, the commute time isn't that out of line with other major cities. The speed limit on Pena Boulevard is 65 mph or higher, and traffic moves. And, as someone that flew out of the old Stapleton airport for years, I'll gladly accept an extra 15 hours of commuting to the airport to not have the hour or more flight delays that were common at the old "close in" airport.

DEN also gets it right in the way it handles vehicular traffic, with three levels of access all with a dozen or more lanes. All commercial traffic is segregated on its own level from non-commercial traffic so you don't have the problem of large buses, rental car vans, hotel vans, and taxis dodging in and out of the normal passenger traffic in cars.

DEN has three security lines. And, unlike many airports, they actually enforce the premium passenger line. (PIT drives me crazy with this.) There is plenty of room for security, like the rest of the airport you never have a feeling of being penned in by small spaces, narrow corridors, and the like.

DEN has excellent restaurant choices, especially in concourse B. It has free wifi. It has plenty of restrooms.

There are plans (although they'll likely take forever) to build a light rail line to DIA from downtown. That won't help all of us, though, since DIA services communities up to a couple hundred miles away so not everyone's trying to get to and from downtown.