25 min connection next week in DENVER? Possible?
 

Hi all -- new to forum.
I am traveling with 2 30-somethings, a 20-month old toddler, and a 59-year old grandma.

We are flying from Louisville to Denver, then Denver to SFO.

Our connection is 25 minutes! Landing 11:20 and leaving 11:45.

I've NEVER been through Denver. Already decided not to bring a stroller so we don't have to wait for gate check.

Any advice? Do you think we will need to change terminals? Why would Southwest book these together if it wasn't possible, right? Help! I am nervous enough about traveling with a WILD toddler.

Thanks!
-Leah

Seems a little short. You sure it's a connection and not a direct/through flight?

25 min connection next week in DENVER? Possible?
 

Not good. Check last couple days flight logs, maybe these are by adjacent gates. Else find what your backup will be and if that's acceptable.

thanks - where to find?
 

Thanks! Do I check these logs on the Denver airport site?

maybe you're right, maybe it's just a touch down and a few folks will get on... i hope...

Have you ever seen SW book such tight connections???

Can't imagine it'd be an issue making the flight. Terminal C isn't huge, but I'd guess, if you were seated at the front, you'd have enough time to get to the next gate. I've certainly done less time in B (from ~30 to ~80), but I was alone.

Flight 398, changing to 310? 398 has a 60% on time performance: you're screwed.

But, happily, Southwest will put you on another flight & there's a good number of choices for that, so don't worry about it.

Southwest almost always uses the C terminal. It isn't particularly large as terminals go.

There is one gate marked Southwest in the A terminal, but your odds are really good of reasonably close arrival and departure gates.

Get yourself seated as far forward as possible. Study the terminal map (back of the SW mag). Have a plan for quickly getting any overhead luggage down, and scoot out of that plane as quickly as possible. Minutes may count here. (And as an aside, the passengers behind you will appreciate your speed too!)

Scan for an overhead monitor right when you get off the plane. They almost always have one there with all the connecting flight information.

Since you've already studied the terminal map while flying, you should be able to head in the right direction for your connection.

You've actually got a fighting chance of making it. A little advanced planning and haste will beat a 3 hour layover with your gang.

And there are enough of you that the departing plane might even at least not leave early. I usually fly by myself, and know perfectly well that they aren't going to hold anything for just one passenger. Maybe for your group a minute or two?

Good luck.

Romelle

Romelle, i like your attitude!
 

Thank you Romelle.

I'm boarding in the early board with my son, and am going to try and negotiate a front row seat. I will see how that goes. honestly, who wants a 20 month old wild man sitting behind them? I never do!

Do you think that if one of us really ran for it, and tried to "hold" up for the rest of our group that we'd have an even better shot?

I'll likely talk about this with our flight attendants as well so they are informed of our tight connections. I've seen them be helpful before, but I"ve never had one this tight, and people - being people, may still get out in front of you even at the request to stay seated for others.:confused:

I just looked it up and flight arrives DEN at Gate C 33 (has been a little early last few days)

Flight leaves DEN at Gate C 28 for SFO... it left late yesterday... so that's promising. Those gates look to be right around the corner from each other.

Tight, but I wouldn't panic about it.

4 out of 5 chance you make it. That's roughly the 3 in 5 chance that your flight operates normally plus a 1 in 5 chance that DEN-SFO is delayed by approximately the same amount that your inbound is delayed. (OK, I just made that 1 in 5 up, but it smells about right... :))

If you don't make it, waiting for the next flight in Denver isn't the end of the world. It's a nice airport with lots of places for the kiddo to run around. If the next SFO flight isn't for 2-3 hours, Terminal B has more food and an upstairs area with a little indoor play area as well.

If it does work out, as it probably will, you've picked a damned efficient way to get to SFO. That's the plus side of a really tight connection.

One question I would have: how fast can Grandma move? It might be worthwhile to purchase early-bird check-in for her. That probably puts her a few rows ahead of you on your flight, as you will board between A and B groups with the toddler. That way, she deplanes earlier and starts moving towards the gate. You deplane 2-3 minutes behind her and hopefully catch up. The Southwest area in Denver isn't huge (the way the United terminal can be if you're coming in on a regional jet), so it's probably not a long walk. I remember traveling with little ones that size...the kid would go on my shoulders as we hustled through an airport... @:-)

As a resident of Denver, I will offer a few tips/hints:

First, here is the link to the terminal maps at DIA:

http://flydenver.com/map_airport_layout

As you can see, SW has a good portion of the C terminal (with 2 gates at the A Terminal). The key would be is if your gates were in close proximity. Even if they are on one end of the terminal, you have a fighting chance. You said that you get early board. How mobile is grandma? That will all factory in how fast it will take to get off the plane and from gate to gate.

Second, check the SW for the history of the flights (both your inbound flight and your outbound flight). That will give you an idea how the on-time rates will be.

Thirdly, the weather will be another bigger factor. That includes your departing airport. Weather has a funny way of popping up at weird times though that early in the day, you shouldn't have an issue in Denver.

Fourthly, SW will sometimes delay a flight if inbound passengers are connecting but probably not more than 5-10 mins. That may help your situation. If you do miss your flight, there are 11 chances afterwards to make it to SFO. However, only 2 of those are non-stops.

Hope that helps. Good luck.

thanks! I actually got an early bird boarding, and am taking my son with me, hoping that NO ONE will want to sit next to us until my husband and mom board. My mom can walk fast, so I feel like she could keep up.

Hoping to be in A group since i paid extra, but just realized, i'll miss my priority boarding on the DEN-SFO flight... we'll all be separated with a toddler! yikes. i hate SOUTHWEST!!! i just want a reserved seat for god's sake. oh well. can't beat the free checked luggage when you need to bring stuff for a baby.

It will certainly depend on your gates. I had a 35 min connection with my family two weeks ago, and the flight was running a bit late. It worried us, but we made up some of our departure delay in the air (i.e., the schedule was padded). We parked with a little under 30 minutes to departure time. We quickly deplaned, starting looking for our gate - and it was across the hall. We arrived just as our zone (2) was being called.

On the other hand, our outbound at O'Hare required a terminal change, and we needed a good 20 minutes just to make the walk.

As long as you're on the same airline, and not doing regional/express to mainline or something similar, you will be at the borderline of OK if everything is exactly on time.

Good plan, but you may want to tweak this slightly.

(1) Check everybody in at T-24 hours. You'll have an EB number - a good one hopefully - and then the other three will be quite a bit higher. If you get lucky and all four are A's, then do what you plan: board with the toddler, knowing that the other two are only a row or two away at most.

(2) If, however, the rest of the family has B's, then you need to board alone and leave the toddler with your husband. He'll need the kid to board between the A and B groups. Southwest *shouldn't* have a problem with dad, grandma, and child boarding together. I think that's generally within accepted etiquette. If you hadn't bought any EBCI yet, I would have bought it for Grandma, knowing that WN would obviously not stop parents and child from boarding between A and B.

I think you should be okay either way. You shouldn't have to engage in any kind of militant seat-saving if you're boarding at A45-ish and the rest of the crew is boarding 15 people later.


And yes, the DEN-SFO segment could be a zoo: you'll have to go to the back of the plane and hope for at least you and the toddler sitting together. But at the end of the day, I look at this as no different than flying a legacy with no elite status. There, you go to the gate holding no seat assignments are get handed four middles 10 minutes before you board. That's no better.

The other thing we liked about WN when the kids were little is that if one got sick (as they often did at that age!), we could just bail on a trip at the last minute and reschedule it for later. On a legacy, you pretty much gotta fly...or go through a process of getting doctor's written statements and such.

25 min connection next week in DENVER? Possible?
 

Why do people book such short layovers?? I prefer to sit at the UA Club and drink a few beers and relax.