Originally Posted by
FlyingBeanCounter
Honestly it is usually EWR. The delays are always related to slots or ramp traffic or something random. On occasion its equipment (who do I blame that on?). It happens A LOT though.
Leaving earlier sort of defeats the purpose of flying UA82. The idea is that it is only 19 hours or so from DEN to DEL. If I take an earlier flight it stretches to 22-24 hours of travel time. I could fly anyone then. DL connects through AMS/CDG/LHR and gets there in about 22 hours (and they rarely have issues with delays). I have status on DL as well (diamond) so it is an option.
The fastest flight i have found is LH. They can do it in 17 hours. But there is the issue of lifetime miles on UA (silly I know). I could take DEN-MUC on UA and then MUC-DEL on LH but I think the LH portion doesn't credit for lifetime miles? The upside there is the LH seats are MUCH better in premium economy. The UA seats are awful for that class of service.
In any event that is half the problem. The other part is the surly nature of some of the ground staff in EWR. I am all for cutting lots of slack to people. I am not sure if the surliness is endemic or if I just happen to catch them at the wrong time.
I have lots of EWR experience with United, and it pretty much stinks all around. Most staff are surly and unhelpful. And not in the "oh, they are just New Yorkers" nonsense way. They are not fun to deal with.
I would (and do) go out of my way to avoid EWR.
EWR logistically also has issues due to ATC congestion in the East Coast corridor. Any minor hiccup or weather turns into a full scale cluster, quickly.
If you have to connect anyway (DEN to EWR), I think you are over valuing the "non stop" to DEL from there. If you are missing the connection ~50% of the time, there really is no time savings when you average it out.
As you indicated, there are other one stop options. And if you have status on DL, that would certainly be an option to look at closely. Going 8 times a year is a lot and should get you upper status quickly.