hkcj

I noticed that there's now a 7:15pm->1:00am DEN-EWR flight that started March 31st. Is this a long-standing seasonal route, or something that United is trying out? The reason I ask is that I'm debating between ski passes next year (Ikon or MC) and a way to go to Denver for the weekend without a red-eye makes a big difference!

aindfan

When I lived in New York, the 8:00PM DEN-EWR flight was my favorite way to get home after skiing. Unfortunately, it seems to rarely be on the schedule, so if you don't see it for next winter on the dates that you want, don't depend on it. If it is on the schedule on the dates that you want, don't depend on it either, because a schedule change will probably come along and take it away from you.

Absent that flight, I like to fly DEN-LAX/SFO-EWR to get more sleep on the redeye. The 5:50PM flights to EWR/LGA are just too early for a full day of skiing, unfortunately.

mduell

It's not new, but it's not consistent.

UA DEN-EWR flights departing between 1800 and 2030 local:

hkcj

Interesting... I'd literally never seen it before, but I guess I haven't looked for the last few years because I've had Mountain Collective passes which don't include anything near Denver. My last few years have taken advantage of the SLC-JFK 5:20pm Delta, which does give enough for a weekend in Utah.

Thanks for the table! Did you use a public service to pull this?

I actually only really care about finding skiing for the holiday weekends because Utah has lots of coverage during the non-blackouts on the pass, so an early Monday finish in Denver or a red-eye from Seattle (for Crystal/Snoqualmie) might solve that problem. SLC is always so expensive for those dates anyway.

Interestingly, I did notice United providing late-day flights to/from SLC this March, so it will be interesting to see if they continue. Sadly they did not decide to compete on the non-red-eye for some reason.

EWR764

It's only in on a daily basis for the summer schedule this year, as many days (save for holiday weekends) the last DEN-EWR flight was between 5:30 and 6pm. The redeye also is back in the schedule on a daily basis after only appearing during the peak holiday weeks and from late February on this winter. A few years ago, 2015 or so, there was no redeye but a ~8pm DEN-EWR, arriving after 1am. That hasn't been back in the winter schedule since.

I'm a big fan of the 7:15pm eastbound as it allows a full work day in Denver, and I can still sleep that night in my own bed. I took it a few weeks ago on a daytrip and the timing worked out beautifully, but the (Thursday) flight was empty... like 28 pax on a 739. I'm back on it in 2 weeks and the load looks a little better, but still the emptiest flight of the day. Great for upgrades...

As far as the 7:15pm as a ski shuttle, I'd still want be on the road by 1:30pm, 2 at the latest, earlier on bad weather days. A buddy suffered through a 5.5 hour CME down I-70 on a storm weekend in January of this year, and just barely made his 8:45pm flight to SEA, and he was expecting to have loads of time to kill at DEN...!

Any way to roll that to 1900 local? I think the ~1745 flight (UA314) operated as an 1800h departure on some days in Q1. I don't remember seeing a >1900 departure very often this winter, before the redeye.

Interestingly enough, UA314 ran as a 777 in the W16/17. That hasn't made it back.

hkcj

Yikes! I might just have to do the red-eyes then (UA or otherwise). My plan though was to do Winter Park or Eldora on Monday morning so that I wouldn't have to worry about the tunnel on the way back. That should make it a little bit more consistent at least. We shall see!

EWR764

You're absolutely right, there is definitely less traffic coming from WP and Eldora, but even Denver is a mess these days. With Eldora, you have the distinct advantage of being able to route all the way around the Denver traffic on E-470 to DIA, which is pleasant.

IIRC in my friend's case it took nearly half the time on the approach up to the tunnel from Dillon/Silverthorne. Meanwhile, the rest of us worked our way through a few dozen beers in the hot tub before a great dinner in Breckenridge and a powder day to follow... sometimes it pays to take Monday off!

hkcj

Monday off is definitely the way forward... sadly my girlfriend can't take individual days off, so for getting her into skiing (at fun mountains) I have to do what I can. I'm not sure red-eyes will endear her to the sport, though

EWR764

I hear that... I have plenty of Sunday night DEN-EWR redeyes under my belt after a ski day, sometimes them's the breaks.

I will say after a leisurely (and generally traffic-free) Sunday evening drive down I-70, a dinner at Cherry Creek Grill, and an arrival at DEN about 10 minutes before the bag check cutoff, I sleep reasonably well on that flight, even in the back. The early arrival into EWR also gets me an hour or two of sleep at home before starting my day, which can make all the difference.

hkcj

Yeah, the home-nap makes it a bit easier for sure. Thanks for the dining recommendation