Originally Posted by
PRW9497
Hello, new member with a question about a UA connection in Denver. My wife and I will be flying from Birmingham to Seattle early in 2025, with a connection in Denver. The inbound flight from Birmingham is a UA Express flight which will be coming in at the tail end of the B Concourse, it’s been arriving in the range of Gates B66 to B71.
When I made the reservation, we had an hour and 15 minute layover and it seemed that both the inbound flight and the outbound flight to Seattle would be at B gates.
However, UA notified us of a change, the layover has been cut to 56 minutes and it appears we will have to change concourses because it looks like the outbound flight to Seattle will be out of an A gate, it’s been running in the range of A15 to A20.
For the record, we have connected in Denver before and are familiar with the general layout and are aware of the moving sidewalks, etc. We just have never had to change concourses. And we’re aware that schedules could change again and gates certainly could change between now and our flight which is in early March.
But I am concerned about our ability to make this connection, basically walking from the end to the middle of Concourse B to catch the train, because my wife has bad knees and a bad foot and can’t walk very fast.
We do have the option of changing to a different flight to Seattle that leaves an hour and 50 minutes later, which would give us more of a cushion, but it would get us to Seattle at 10:45 instead of 9, which by the time we get our baggage and get to the rental car facility to pick up our wheels and drive 45 minutes to Everett, which is where we’re staying, it would put us way past midnight getting to the hotel, which is not optimal.
Basically, I’d like a real world estimation of how long it will take us to get, say, from Gate B71 to Gate A20 at Denver, and if (assuming that our inbound flight is on time; we are flying First Class so we’ll get off the plane early) a couple of senior citizens (one who doesn’t move too swiftly) can make it in 56 minutes.
The thought of getting a wheelchair for her has even crossed my mind …
Welcome to FlyerTalk!
As you point out, there is not necessarily any relationship between the gates you're seeing today and the ones you'll have in March.
The DEN airport is laid out very cumbersomely, with very long concourses and a train -- which can get crowded -- connecting them at the midpoint.
It's unfortunate that UA dropped PAE service... and Alaska doesn't serve BHM.
If you were flying in Economy, I'd probably advise you to keep your current flight, with the knowledge that you could be moved onto the later flight if necessary. In F, though... you're very unlikely to find two F seats available on the day of departure from DEN to SEA.
Wheelchair service sounds like it might be the way to go.