Denver in winter
 

Next winter, we have to fly into and from Denver airport (20 December/5 January). I know that there is a good chance to get heavy snow at that time of year. But maybe Denver is prepared for snow. Thus, here are my questions:

- We are planning to drive from Denver to Santa Fe on 20 Dec. Is there a certain probability that roads will be blocked due to snow? Will it be better to fly from Denver to Albuquerque or to drive from Denver to Santa Fe?

- We are planning to fly from Dallas to Denver and then from Denver to Europe on 5 Jan. How is the probability that Denver airport will be closed due to snow? Can it happen that the incoming flight from Dallas will be canceled and that the outgoing transatlantic flight will start (then we would be in deep trouble)?

Thank you for your answer.

I can give you some insights to consider, but no hard fast answers.

Driving from Denver to Santa Fe is a straight shot south on I25. That makes it sound easy, but you must go over Raton Pass and that makes it potentially difficult and sometimes impossible as the pass does get closed down due to snow.

Drive time in good weather runs about 5 hours from Denver to Santa Fe.

Flying from Denver to Albuquerque will taked about 75 minutes. Then it will take some time to collect your bags, get a rental car and drive to Santa Fe. This time it is a straight shot north on I25 for about a 1 hour drive -- in good weather at non-rush hour.

Is there any way you can simply fly from Dallas into Albuquerque on the 20th and just drive to Santa Fe? It seems like that would be the safest and fastest way to do this.

That way you would only have to deal with driving to Denver to catch your outbound europe flight on Jan 5th?

Not sure what you mean by: "Can it happen that the incoming flight from Dallas will be canceled and that the outgoing transatlantic flight will start (then we would be in deep trouble)?"

Are you talking about the flight on Dec 20 or the flight on Jan 5? What does the incoming flight from Dallas [on the 20th] being cancelled and the outgoing flight be in jeopardy [on Jan 5]. Maybe I missed something?
Deb

Deb, thank you for your reply. I was not aware about Raton Pass, so flying to ABQ might be the better option.

The remaining question is for our way back.

We have booked a transatlantic flight that departs from Denver on 5 Jan at 5 p.m.

We are planning to fly from Dallas to Denver on 5 Jan in the morning, but with a separate ticket.

There might be a risk that our flight from Dallas will be canceled due to snow in Denver, so we stick in Dallas and our transatlantic flight from Denver will depart without us. So, we are thinking to fly from Dallas to Denver already on 4 Jan to be on the safe side. What do you think?

Did I miss something else? Are these 2 different trips??

Are you somehow needing to get from Denver to Santa Fe on Dec 20 as the first trip? IF so, are you wondering to drive from Denver to do that or to fly from Denver to ABQ and then drive to Santa fe.


Is this a second unrelated trip -- January 5th, you are flying from Dallas To Denver and then on to europe? If so, Can't you fly from Dallas to Europe on Jan 5th and eliminate Denver entirely?

Sorry, I am not getting this and am not being much help.

Deb

We will land in Denver on 20 Dec, then drive to Santa Fe to visit friends and then continue to Texas. Since we have no chance to fly from Texas back to Europe, we have to fly from Dallas to Denver to board our flight back to Europe on 5 Jan.

(We use FF miles, and the airline offers only a return flight to Denver, not an open-jaw flight. The airlines are sometimes crazy.)

GOT IT! Sorry for not connecting the dots.

I would for sure fly on Jan. 4th just to be sure.

Since your round trip is FF and europe - denver -europe, it would be risky if your flight got cancelled on Jan 5th, since it is sep. ticket and your round trip would not have to hold the plane or provide another seat for you should you miss your flight into Denver.

Make sure that what ever carrier you use to get you from Dallas to Denver has lots of flights to increase your chance of getting on another/later flight should your original one have problems. Once there are problems, finding a seat [s] on new flights is hard to find. Fewer planes, less seats, more people trying to get on planes makes cancelled flights really nerve wracking. Good luck.

Deb

Thank you, Deb.

I already feared it might be risky. We will fly from Denver to ABQ, and probably from Dallas to Denver one day early. United has five flights daily, so if one is canceled we still have options, even on the next day.

Fodor's is an amazing forum. We have just chatted across a distance of more than 5,000 miles.

Happy to have been of help. 5000 miles! That is the wonder of the internet and of course Fodors.

Might I offer a suggestion? Southwest offers quite a few more flights from Dallas to Denver and the prices are generally cheaper. It would also provide a reasonable fare from Denver to ABQ.

Only problem is that you cannot book tickets this early. Southwest usually opens blocks of seats a few months at a time and only a limited time into the future. Right now, they have seats bookable until August 3.

www.southwest.com

{Although my screen name says NM, I actually live in Colorado. I used to live in ABQ.}

Deb

Lets put this discussion into some perspective. First, DebitNM doesn't live in Denver and while she is very knowledgeable about SW Colorado her experience with central Colorado is more limited.

It is true that it does snow in Colorado but January is one of our low snow months and the plains (where Denver is located) is not the same as the mountains. IF it is snowing then I-25 south can be a problem BUT it is only a few days each winter. Raton Pass can be closed because of snow but it has been several years since it was closed. The probability of heavy snow in Dec/Jan is actually less than November or March. Our snowiest months are March, April, November in that order. But, as someone will remind me, that was not true this past year.

In summary, the vast majority of the time the roads are clear and open. The same for the airport. You can have bad weather anywhere and anytime.

The probability of the Denver airport being closed by snow is quite low -- I think twice in the last ten years. However, snow can slow it down. We have only three transatlantic flights out of Denver so I assume you must be connecting through another airport. All three are turn around flights so if your Dallas cannot make, I doubt if the transatlantic would make it either. But coming in a day earlier is not a bad idea either.

Lets put this discussion into some perspective. First, DebitNM doesn't live in Denver and while she is very knowledgeable about SW Colorado her experience with central Colorado is more limited.

It is true that it does snow in Colorado but January is one of our low snow months and the plains (where Denver is located) is not the same as the mountains. IF it is snowing then I-25 south can be a problem BUT it is only a few days each winter. Raton Pass can be closed because of snow but it has been several years since it was closed. The probability of heavy snow in Dec/Jan is actually less than November or March. Our snowiest months are March, April, November in that order. But, as someone will remind me, that was not true this past year.

The probability of the Denver airport being closed by snow is quite low -- I think twice in the last ten years. However, snow can slow it down. We have only three transatlantic flights out of Denver so I assume you must be connecting through another airport. All three are turn around flights so if your Dallas cannot make, I doubt if the transatlantic would make it either. But coming in a day earlier is not a bad idea either.

In summary, the vast majority of the time the roads are clear and open. The same for the airport. You can have bad weather anywhere and anytime.

And I would add that there are certainly transatlantic flights available from Texas--Houston direct, and I would assume Dallas.
We visit Denver often enough to know that even if there is snow, the roads are open in the worst part of a storm, and then cleared very quickly. The airport was actually designed to be able to stay open in heavyish snow. This past year they did get slammed but that was pretty unusual.
Driving to Santa Fe.
A 5 hour drive might get you to Santa Fe faster than waiting for flights, etc.
Bottom line, the airport is unlikely to be closed.

I tried to indicate when replying that I had no answers, just some insights. The highway in Trinidad and Raton Pass does close someitmes for hours or even a day; sometimes it has nothing to do with weather in Denver but rather weather some hundreds of miles to the south along the CO and NM stateline.'

I also wanted to point out drive time from Denver to Santa Fe which I stated was about 5 hours in good weather.

I also wanted to share that flying into ABQ from Denver is about 75 minutes and then there is an hour drive north to SF, in good weather and non commute time.

I am not an expert on wether or not Denver airport closes or has delays on any regular basis during the winter.

It was just meant to help the OP with some thoughts.

Deb