Warning - Lesson Learned in DEN
 

Hi all.
Well, just paid a bit of "stupid tax" this morning.
Sitting here in DEN (no WorldClub, no Crown Room) in concourse C with four hours to kill as I missed my first flight on a technicality.
It appears that there are four airports that will kill your flight reservation if you check in less than 45 minutes from flight time. (I checked in 44 minutes prior). To the best of my knowledge they are: DEN, LAX, JFK(?) and ATL.
I did not know that. Thought I had plenty of time this morning, left early, hit traffic, lines at toll road (REALLY? TOLL ROAD ON THE WAY TO THE AIRPORT?IS THIS THE ONLY TOLL ROAD IN DENVER???), line at Hertz took 20 minutes, shuttle to airport started late, and on, and on). I know it is my fault as I always (except last night) check in online early, but the only time I didn't....
Rushed to gate and was told that I lost my (FC Upgraded) seat, got put on standby for next flight four hours later back in coach.
My @$$ is sore from me kicking myself, but thought I'd pass this on to help prevent others from this self-inflicted experience.
Can anyone confirm that these are the airports requiring at least a 45 minute check-in?
Just hit my GOLD level with this trip.
What a way to celebrate!

From nwa.com (http://www.nwa.com/services/electrav/esc.html):

"When traveling from Atlanta, Denver, Los Angeles, Newark, Tampa or Washington, D.C.-Dulles, you must check in at least 45 minutes prior to scheduled departure. When traveling from Las Vegas, you must check in at least 60 minutes prior to scheduled departure."

This is where a phone with a data plan comes in super handy.

With the exceptions of EWR and LAX, looks like you have to hop on a tram or bus to NW's gates at each of these airports.

But no SEA or MCO?

Hertz GOLD...It's free! You can drop the car and print your reciept later.

Online checkin? :confused:

Hope you're checking....no crown room, no WorldClub is right, but there is a President's Club. It's at the end of the sky bridge, upstairs, close to the Midwest gates.

Good luck!

Ahh, yes. I believe that I was the first person ever to do OLCI with an old T-Mobile PowerPC back in 2002 or so.

Those were the days. :D

I was going to say, I distinctly remember eating breakfast in the CO PC last time I was in DEN.

My first thought was "you didn't OLCI?!", and was going to mention LAS is 60 minutes, yet see someone pointed that out.

I have no idea why these cities are more then 30 minutes, given you can OLCI 24 hours out. What's the point? History of no-shows, or expected security delays?

Steve B.

FYI: EWR is now a 60-minute check-in...looks like nwa.com needs updated.

For those who remember the old days (not sure when it switched), YX is now in A with Frontier and CO. I last remember them at the very end of C with DL and FL (now also in A)...was surprised the last time I flew in and ended up on A!

The toll road is an interesting one in Denver. It's a privately owned road intended to bypass the city, for those heading south to the Springs or north of the city (or anyone out there in the middle of nowhere on the eastern edge).

That's correct, and the CO Presidents Club is right above the A gates (basically at the end of the sky bridge going to the main part of DIA (with the big tent like structures).

I believe that the OP would be able to move between C and A without having to clear security (via the tram).

Yeah, it's very easy with the tram, maybe 5 min. tops.

A lot of people get burned by these requirements, but they're usually infrequent travelers. Recently in LAS, literally every flight was sold out and anyone who didn't check-in on time did not receive a boarding pass. People had been waiting on standby flight after flight but every seat was taken. One group of college-age students had spent the night in the airport the night before. It can get ugly.

IIRC, San Juan, PR has a similar advance check-in requirement >30 minutes too.

The reason is the horrid baggage system here in DEN. It takes forever for baggage to move around and I believe the TSA screening machines only make this issue worse. I'm suprised they couldn't bend the rules for you. I've had Delta bend the rules a couple of times for me. United told me to go suck rocks, so I haven't stepped on their planes in over 2 years.

If you're not checking bags and there are seats on the plane, yes.

It's pretty likely this day in age though that his seat was already given to another PAX and was gone gone.

LAX's 45-minute deadline is also due to the poor baggage scanning/handling/security setup.

Watch out for Oversold flights...

If check in agent refuse you to print BP,
Stop whining, just get the next flight's BP and head to original flight's gate,

Ask GA for Standby, and if there's seat, you are good to go.
================================================== ==

If the flight is not over sold, they will usually let you go with it,
but not when flight is packed.

As GA usually doesn't open up no-show seats until last minute window,
if you head to original gate as quick as you can, you may get a seat assignment back with your Elite priority benefit ;).

At TPA yes you have to take the tram to the concourse, but that's not what takes so long. Security on A can sometimes take 20 minutes...i've even waited 30 minutes two or three times.

Hey all.
Thanks for the comments.
I know, I know, OLCI is USUALLY the method I use...but just this once...

The seats for the first flight were already allocated in the "system" to other PAX and the stand-by list was long by the time I hit the gate. Did manage to get on the next flight and the GA did manage to get my upgrade back. He was very helpful. Decided to not make a huge issue of it because it was my own inaction that caused the entire mess.

Thanks for the news on the club in A. Just had a good b-fast at the Timberline and used the (free) wireless to work out of the terminal.

"So I had that going for me, which is nice."

I have to admit to getting burned by the Denver 45 minute rule about three times in the last six years - I always forget OLCI and always underestimate how long it takes to drive to DEN from Breckenridge (and of course the ever-predictable accident in I-70 is a constant danger). But I think I finally learned my lesson, because last month I got truly burned with a forced overnight when all the later flights turned up full. At least I was able to get my SO back to Chicago on the last DEN-DTW flight! My bad, nothing to complain about. But the angels in Chisolm took pity on me (I hope Scoop is reading this!!!) and booked me into F on the first flight back home the next morning. I will stick with the new merged airline if they commit to keeping Chisolm!!!

I've had a DL check-in agent at MCO tell me that she would be locked out at one second past T-45. Now that isn't to say that her supervisor couldn't do what she couldn't, but I have no reason to doubt her. I was at about T-46 at the time. Since then, I've done the OLCI if it is even going to be close and made sure I have this ability on my phone if needed.

It's all airlines at DEN, not just NW or UA or whatever airline. Just as a contrary datapoint to the 'never fly UA' person upthread, 3 years ago I had a UA supervisor check me in after the 45 cutoff (due to traffic delay) and personally escort my bag to TSA checked-bag screening and me to the front of the screening line. On any given day, a NW or DL or CO or UA agent might do that for you, or not. I learned not to push the deadline.

NW-specific: NW has seriously improved their baggage handling at DEN. I used to trash them regularly for how long it took to get the first bags to appear on the carousel. Used to be 45 minutes for delivery all the time. My last 3 NW flights with checked bags into DEN, bags were coming out by the time I got the tram from Concourse C after a quick bathroom stop. That's impressive given the large distance and manual baggage handling at an airport not designed for manual baggage handling.

To bstreeter, I've missed flights entirely from accidents on I-70. If you're flying out of DEN after most of a day in Breck or elsewhere around Summit County, it's a total crapshoot whether or not you'll get down the hill in time. I've taken to staying at an airport hotel that I negotiated a discount with free park-n-fly the night before on most trips.

Agree with GBadger and uavking about using the CO Pres Club - I use it all the time, and it's either a quick train ride 1 stop after main TSA or an easy walk from the "secret" airbridge TSA. Only a few minutes to the C gates (2 stops on train). Unfortunately they can't assist with NW issues because it's not a jointly operated club, but your WC membership (or STE+ status on an international trip) gets you in - for now.

Hope that DL/NW works something out on a bilateral deal with CO for this club even after CO leaves ST, because DL closed their small concourse C club early this year, and NW never had a club here.

Yep, it's been a few years (more than 3), but I did get burned once at LAS. Didn't do OLCI, and check-in was locked out at approx. 55 minutes to departure. Was booked, LAS-MSP-DAY (I think) --- since everything was way overbooked on that Monday morning..... I just walked over to DL and purchased a one-way FC seat from LAS-CVG... IIRC, the FC seat (only 1 left) was only a bit more than a full Y -- though, it might have just been the last seat available.

I got a bit of devilish joy thinking about the DL Platinum Medallion who was #1 on the list for the upgrade..... unfortunately, trumped by my purchase of a FC seat. :p:p Was wondering if there would be a post on FlyerTalk "I was #1 on the upgrade list with only 1 available FC seat, and it was less than an hour to departure --- I think DL upgraded someone else by accident and botched the upgrade list...."
Oh wait... I think I read that HERE IN THE NW forum. :D:D