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New UA Bus Service from DEN to Fort Collins and Breckenridge

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Old Feb 26, 2021, 5:06 pm
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A new way to connect to Breckenridge and Fort Collins
From Airline to Landline: United Offers Seamless Travel from Denver International Airport to Breckenridge and Fort Collins
New luxury bus collaboration allows customers to fly into DEN, have their bags and ski equipment automatically transferred and be driven to Breckenridge and Fort Collins
DENVER, Feb. 26, 2021
-- United announced today that it is making it easier for customers to travel to Breckenridge and Fort Collins, Colorado with convenient year-round ground transportation service connecting through its Denver hub. This is the first time Breckenridge has ever been served by an airline and will be Fort Collins' first global network carrier service in 25 years.

Beginning March 11, United will start daily service to Breckenridge (QKB) and on April 1, will start four-times daily service to Fort Collins (FNL). The airline is teaming up with Landline – a premium ground transportation company – to offer connecting service to these popular destinations through Denver International Airport (DEN). Customers can book their travel on united.com starting today, selecting Breckenridge or Fort Collins as their destination.

"United's new service from Denver to Breckenridge and Fort Collins is just one example of how we are identifying opportunities to innovate our route network to get people where they want to go with ease and convenience," said Ankit Gupta, United's vice president of Domestic Network Planning and Scheduling. "Our customers tell us that national parks and ski destinations are important to them and we are proud to partner with Landline to offer a unique, seamless way to help them get there."

"With this new service, customers can start their day anywhere in United's global network and arrive slope side in Breckenridge minutes from the main gondola," said Landline's co-founder & CEO David Sunde. "At the same time, in Fort Collins we are creating global connectivity for the first time in 25 years. These new routes exemplify our mission to redefine the airport by making it mobile and multimodal. We could not be more thrilled to have United's commitment to innovation and passion for customer service backing this new endeavor."

Added Landline co-founder & President Ben Munson, "We have worked closely with the United team to create a stress-free connecting experience in Denver. Customers will love our spacious leather seating, onboard streaming entertainment and free Wi-Fi."

Customers connecting to Breckenridge or Fort Collins at Denver will transfer to the Landline service from an assigned gate in Concourse A, remaining within the secure airside area of the terminal. Checked-in baggage will be transferred directly from the plane to the bus. Customers originating in Breckenridge or Fort Collins will be required to pass through security on transit in DEN.

Click here for b-roll highlighting customer experience

Keeping customer wellbeing at the forefront, United and Landline will be implementing a wide variety of cleaning and safety measures as part of the new service, all of which have been reviewed by the Cleveland Clinic. These measures include:
• Back-to-front boarding;
• Reducing seat capacity on Landline's service to enable social distancing onboard;
• Requiring mandatory use of masks onboard for customers aged two and over;
• Electrostatically spraying ahead of each departure and sanitizing high touch areas;
• Implementing a UV disinfection air filtration system launched by OEM (Prevost) on all vehicles;
• Providing United CleanPlusSM sanitizing wipes to each customer; and
• Requiring customers to complete a 'Ready to Fly' checklist at check-in, acknowledging they don't have symptoms for COVID-19 and agreeing to follow our policies.

In addition, United MileagePlus ® members will be able to accrue Premier qualifying points (PQP) and redeemable miles on services to both destinations.

Denver remains one of United's fastest growing hubs with daily departures around 80% of 2019 levels – the highest among United hubs. United currently serves more than 160 destinations from Denver and operates more than 360 flights per day – the most comprehensive route network of any carrier in Denver – and offers more flights to more Colorado destinations than any other airline.

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New UA Bus Service from DEN to Fort Collins and Breckenridge

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Old Feb 26, 2021, 3:56 pm
  #16  
 
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Originally Posted by dcsnowwake
SO where in Breck does it drop you off? It says downtown, but well, where exactly lol.
Depends on how well you tip the driver :-P
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Old Feb 26, 2021, 6:02 pm
  #17  
 
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One bus per day? This must be a joke. On what planet is that considered a useful service? I don't think Avis is going to be affected by this
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Old Feb 26, 2021, 10:55 pm
  #18  
 
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What's the seat pitch on the "luxury" bus?
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Old Feb 27, 2021, 7:35 am
  #19  
 
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Originally Posted by SAPriorityTag
Not sure if regulations allow that. You do not get to pre-clear security at ABE.
For locations that aren't already airports, there's also the staffing issue - you'd need to convince TSA employ screeners for one "flight" a day.

Originally Posted by lincolnjkc
Nope. Outstation-to-DEN you'll be dropped curbside for normal (DEN) security clearance and baggage checking.
I thought one of the advertised features was you checked your bags before getting on the bus and didn't have to deal with them after?

Originally Posted by MSPeconomist
People might not like the advanced screening if PreCheck, CLEAR, and elite lines aren't offered.
What's the point of an elite line to get on a bus?

I frequently fly EAU-ORD, there's two flights a day, so they open security for your flight, all the passengers go through to a waiting area, all the passengers get on the same plane.

If you have TSA Pre, you can line up first and get most of the PRE benefits (might still have to empty pockets depending on equipment), or do as I do and wait until everyone else is through security and go last. Which is also it's own 'elite' line.

CLEAR isn't offered at a lot of airports anyway, and I don't think I'd trade an hour in the car plus parking to save 5 minutes at security...

Originally Posted by Ted
And then there is the question about if you can skip the first leg and just get on your flight in Denver?
I would expect that would auto-cancel your itinerary like normal, although maybe a call would net you a free change.
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Old Feb 27, 2021, 8:38 am
  #20  
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From a passenger standpoint, the point of PreCheck for screening is to get "airside" (or should I say bus-side?) faster/easier; and the point of elite screening line is to get "airside" (or should I say bus-side?) faster.

EAU's UA bus service will go to/from which town(s)? Minneapolis, or Mosinee/Wausau, or LaCrosse? LaCrosse no longer has UA service at all IIRC.

I used to repeatedly see a UA EAU flight on the flight boards for CWA a couple of years ago. But I'm not sure what was going on with the flight board appearance of that UA flight connecting EAU with CWA. I know some of them had such a late scheduled departure showing on the flight boards that there most commonly wouldn't be any TSA regularly screeners at that evening time in at least CWA.
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Old Feb 27, 2021, 9:30 am
  #21  
 
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Originally Posted by GUWonder
From a passenger standpoint, the point of PreCheck for screening is to get "airside" (or should I say bus-side?) faster/easier; and the point of elite screening line is to get "airside" (or should I say bus-side?) faster.

EAU's UA bus service will go to/from which town(s)? Minneapolis, or Mosinee/Wausau, or LaCrosse? LaCrosse no longer has UA service at all IIRC.

I used to repeatedly see a UA EAU flight on the flight boards for CWA a couple of years ago. But I'm not sure what was going on with the flight board appearance of that UA flight connecting EAU with CWA. I know some of them had such a late scheduled departure showing on the flight boards that there most commonly wouldn't be any TSA regularly screeners at that evening time in at least CWA.
There is no EAU-XXX bus service. There's an EAU-ORD flight, which I take on the regular.

It's a single-gate airport with two flights a day, and TSA is open just for those two flights.

So about an hour before departure, they open security, and 30-15 minutes before they close it.

They have TSA pre. It's the same scanners, but they take everyone from the TSA Pre line first, then everyone else. You can also do what I do and wait to be last through security and get processed as TSA Pre again. (Because why rush to get through security when the other side is a room with a vending machine?)

Edit: You can also hop in the TSA Pre lane at any time and they will take you next, but I find that both rude and pointless.

If you substitute a bus on the other side instead of a plane - it works the same.

Either way, even if there was NO TSA-Pre when clearing security before the bus segment, you are absolutely going to be on the secure side of DEN faster than Pre or CLEAR when you arrive at the airport since you won't have to be screened at all.

And because the distance from security to bus is <100', you can also do what I do in EAU and arrive at the 'airport' (busport) 5 minutes before security closes and walk straight onto the bus.

So really not seeing how lack of TSA Pre / CLEAR is an issue when you're putting max 50 people through security who are all getting on the same bus.
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Old Feb 27, 2021, 10:56 am
  #22  
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How many BIS do you earn?

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Old Feb 27, 2021, 11:23 am
  #23  
 
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Originally Posted by DELee
How many BIS do you earn?
I would assume the elite 500 mile minimum.
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Old Feb 27, 2021, 10:13 pm
  #24  
 
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Originally Posted by pfreet
One bus per day? This must be a joke. On what planet is that considered a useful service? I don't think Avis is going to be affected by this
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Old Feb 28, 2021, 5:02 am
  #25  
 
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Originally Posted by ctownflyer
CoUniHound!
I remember the days CO had a solid bus route network out of EWR in addition to their Amtrak partnership. Those were the days and the buses weren’t that fancy.
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Old Feb 28, 2021, 7:40 am
  #26  
 
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Originally Posted by Daze
What's the seat pitch on the "luxury" bus?
The Landline website (which is geared towards selling their product to airlines) shows the following image:


Source (image resized and white space removed): https://landline.com/platform

Standard coach buses seat 56 people. So, you're looking about significantly more space than that.

Speculation: Red Coach USA is a bus company that serves Florida. They offer three types of buses: Economy with 56 seats, Business Class is 38 seats, and First Class with 27 seats.

This is the graphic for their Business Class seat:


Source: https://www.redcoachusa.com/the-experience/

Again, I'm speculating, but I imagine the seats on this Landline bus will be significantly more spacious that what you'll find in the front of a domestic "first class" United seat.
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Old Feb 28, 2021, 6:29 pm
  #27  
 
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Originally Posted by GUWonder
I was pretty sure that I heard that Landline or some other bus company was serving "flyers" from EAU somehow or that there was going to be some bus serve for EAU "flyers" with EAU-XXX bus service. And IIRC the XXX was to be MSP. Perhaps that was to be Landline on behalf of Suncountry?
Correct, sort-of. Landline is going to connect to Sun Country in MSP, but their only service in Eau Claire is picking you up from your doorstep in a SUV. (They will offer bus service to Duluth and Mankato I believe.)

Originally Posted by writerguyfl
Again, I'm speculating, but I imagine the seats on this Landline bus will be significantly more spacious that what you'll find in the front of a domestic "first class" United seat.
A coach bus is 8'4" wide, so call it 8' or 96" on the interior.... 18" seat width would get you a 2-2 configuration, Landline is advertising a 2-1 configuration, so the seat width is probably much more generous than 18".

I wonder if they'd do some kind of seating magic like airlines are doing in business class now or just stick with a premium economy style layout. United Premium Economy is 38", that's basically 38 feet of seats to get 35 seats in without any angled layout magic happening.

Last edited by raehl311; Feb 28, 2021 at 6:44 pm
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Old Feb 28, 2021, 7:07 pm
  #28  
 
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Based on a handful of searches, the bus to QKB adds $120 per-person, each way.
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Old Feb 28, 2021, 7:09 pm
  #29  
 
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Originally Posted by will2288
Based on a handful of searches, the bus to QKB adds $120 per-person, each way.
$240 per person round trip?

No thanks!
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Old Mar 1, 2021, 1:27 am
  #30  
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Originally Posted by raehl311
$240 per person round trip?

No thanks!
Epic (former CME) shuttles can be as much as $95 each way to Breck, not including tip. For airside inbound connections and baggage service, plus a more comfortable ride (coach bus with 1-2 seating vs Sprinter-style vans) and no gratuity, I don’t think it’s completely unreasonable.
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