# Should I change my flight out of Denver?



## Flight (Jun 23, 2017)

Two of us will be arriving in Denver on July 10th on California Zephyr from EMY. Booked a flight out of Denver at 11:59 pm also on July 10th.

Now after reading that juckins website with on time record of Amtrak I realized that flight was a mistake. The question is, should I go ahead and eat the $200pp change fee now to a later flight or take our chances? I expect the last minute airfare will be more expensive than $200 each.


----------



## BCL (Jun 23, 2017)

That much time? I wouldn't worry about it. You have 16+ hours if on time. You did mean 11:59 PM, right - as in one minute before midnight? That would be really late so that you wouldn't be able to make it.

If you're really, really late, then you might try calling airline customer service to say that you're late and not simply declared a no show. In that case they might make a notation that you tried to get there, and you're more likely to be accommodated on a standby basis on the next available flight.

Now they seem to have a direct train from Union Station to the airport. Before I was trying to figure out how to do this if I needed to rent a car at the airport.


----------



## CCC1007 (Jun 23, 2017)

BCL said:


> That much time? I wouldn't worry about it. You have 16+ hours if on time. You did mean 11:59 PM, right - as in one minute before midnight? That would be really late so that you wouldn't be able to make it.
> 
> If you're really, really late, then you might try calling airline customer service to say that you're late and not simply declared a no show. In that case they might make a notation that you tried to get there, and you're more likely to be accommodated on a standby basis on the next available flight.
> 
> Now they seem to have a direct train from Union Station to the airport. Before I was trying to figure out how to do this if I needed to rent a car at the airport.


The RTD A line costs $9 for an all day pass, and operates every 15 minutes during most of the day, and every 30 minutes during the evening and up to the 2AM hour or so. It takes about 45 minutes to get to the airport on the train.


----------



## flight (Jun 23, 2017)

BCL said:


> That much time? I wouldn't worry about it. You have 16+ hours if on time. You did mean 11:59 PM, right - as in one minute before midnight? That would be really late so that you wouldn't be able to make it.
> 
> If you're really, really late, then you might try calling airline customer service to say that you're late and not simply declared a no show. In that case they might make a notation that you tried to get there, and you're more likely to be accommodated on a standby basis on the next available flight.
> 
> Now they seem to have a direct train from Union Station to the airport. Before I was trying to figure out how to do this if I needed to rent a car at the airport.



We will be arriving on the eastbound Zephyr, and I believe the scheduled arrival is 6:38 pm. Yes, I do mean the flight leaves at 11:59 pm. We have 5 hours 20 minutes roughly.

The plan was to take the light rail from the union station to the airport.


----------



## BCL (Jun 23, 2017)

flight said:


> BCL said:
> 
> 
> > That much time? I wouldn't worry about it. You have 16+ hours if on time. You did mean 11:59 PM, right - as in one minute before midnight? That would be really late so that you wouldn't be able to make it.
> ...


Sorry - read the schedule wrong (I checked train 5 instead of 6). I looked at the status for the last week, and it's been late once to the point where you wouldn't have made it. You would most likely be accommodated if you were late, unless it's an airline like Spirit. Most airlines don't publish it, but they have a "flat tire" policy that will allow you to fly on a standby basis as long as you made an attempt to get to the airport.


----------



## the_traveler (Jun 24, 2017)

I've never been more than 1 hour late on #6. More often, I've arrived into DEN early! Of course you can't tell what's going to happen day to day.

I myself would not worry about it. Just follow the advice above if necessary.


----------



## BCL (Jun 24, 2017)

the_traveler said:


> I've never been more than 1 hour late on #6. More often, I've arrived into DEN early! Of course you can't tell what's going to happen day to day.
> 
> I myself would not worry about it. Just follow the advice above if necessary.


I saw once in the past five days where it arrived after 11 PM. If that's the case, it might be worth calling. I've arrived at an airport and saw people trying to get on the last flight of the night and they couldn't find anyone. Most large airlines theoretically have a two hour rule where you need to show up, but that's kind of hard to do if all the employees have left.

http://clubtraveler.hgvclub.com/plan-your-trip/flat-tire-rule-varies-delta-american-other-airlines


----------



## Lonestar648 (Jun 24, 2017)

The other option is be ready to pay for a taxi if 2 hours before flight time.


----------

