How to leave Denver when flights cancelled
 

My son's flight from Denver home has been cancelled due to the storm. Southwest Air website isn't allowing him to rebook for a later flight, and none seem to be available until Sunday. He's thinking of driving to Albuquerque and flying from there. Does this sound as unsafe to you with experience out West as it does to me? Any ideas on how he can get a flight out so he can get to work this weekend?

If there is a snowstorm, how does he think he can drive until roads are cleared? Has he looked at other airlines?

All flights were cancelled today, so other airlines aren't an option. I have no clue how he thinks roads to Albuquerque are open, maybe because they are to the south?

Southwest Air isn't allowing passengers to rebook online, so he's had to buy new tickets for Sat pm, that will get him into Chicago at midnight. Do you know if Southwest might answer the phones tomorrow or fix the website? Or is this a hope generated from desperation?

I-25 is closed from just south of Denver to Colorado Springs so driving to ABQ isn't an option until they clear all the stranded travelers and the snow which won't be until sometime tomorrow. I'm confused about Southwest needing to fix the website and answering their phones. This link should have info he needs for re-booking due to the storm.

https://www.southwest.com/html/advis...399066267.html

Since he already bought a ticket, wait.

What would a phone call accomplish?

The phone lines at Southwest are totally jammed up, at least an hour and a half wait, the website in fine.

At the moment Denver is pretty isolated -- all roads out of Denver are closed and basically the airport is closed. We are experiencing winds up to 80 mph with snow. It is a damn mess.

Have no idea if Amtrak is running or not. If he is headed to Chicago, give Amtrak a call. He isn't going anywhere. The grounding of the 737s - but part of SW flight - is adding to his problem.

Moved to the United States forum

No, he's not rebooked. He paid for a ticket to get to Chicago, which is a 6 hour drive from home. He doesn't know the roads in Colorado, or how quickly they get cleared. In Ohio we get snow, but the highways get cleared quickly. I'll forward wtm's link. The problem is that he's supposed to work on Friday, Sat, and Sunday nights. The Chicago ticket he has will get him into Chicago on Sat at midnight, which will let him work Sunday night, but without much sleep.

fmpden, do you think the airport will be accessible on Sat? How quickly does snow get cleared in Denver?

Thank you!

Weather-wise the airport will likely be fine by late tomorrow. The problem is over 1000 flights were cancelled today so all those passengers are also scrambling to re-book flights. We have friends who were supposed to return to Denver today but the earliest available flight is Friday.

This storm was described as a weather "bomb"--a snow hurricane!! When schools in Colorado are closed in ANTICIPATION of a storm, you know it is an "event". FMPDEN and others there will have the best observation but driving is NOT an option. For once, AMTRAK might be a reall idea!

The storm is huge and moving east - so keep that in mind regarding alternate travel options; he doesn't want to be chasing cancellations across the continent. In addition, if flight involves American, they have additional problems with 737Max8 equipment being taken out of service - they have cancelled a bunch of flights for today anyway that use that equipment. Hopefully they can dig up other equipment for those routes in upcoming days.

Thanks for the updates. He's lucky he has a place to stay. The weather should be great this weekend!

Yes, Southwest and American have the additional problem of scrambling to find planes since all their Max 8's were grounded for safety reasons. Delta doesn't use those. You might check Frontier.

I-25 south is closed and will be for quite a while. Tonight's eastbound California Zephyr is sold out. Tomorrow's Zephyr has exactly one coach seat available for purchase ($237 to Chicago). There are 2 family bedrooms available on tomorrows train if he wants to pair up with someone else. I hope the light rail is running into the city from the airport. There is a nice new hotel at the rail station which serves as the Amtrak Station.
The train is scheduled to leave Denver at 7:10PM but will probably be quite late.

This storm and snow is nothing whatsoever like Ohio. I know, I'm from Ohio.

I hope your son reaches his destination safely. Sounds like he did not try to get on the roads. I think from the airport, he would have discovered that the roads are closed in and out of Denver.

Today (Thursday) the sun is coming out, and this will all be a bad dream soon!

The skiers are thrilled, though!