Denver Travel Forum

We are flying to Costa Rica in a couple of weeks. We originally booked flights on Frontier that gave us plenty of time to make our connection in Denver. They've canceled our original flight and now have us on a flight that allows 43 minutes to make our flight to Costa Rica. We are nervous about missing that connection, but the airline says the minimum connection time is 25 minutes and we should be "just fine". What do you think? THanks.

If the airline says that you have enough time to make your connection, make them say it in writing and let them pay the price if anything does wrong. If you are put in the back of the plane, it could take 15 minutes to get off the plane. How often do planes leave and arrive on time? If there is any chance of anything going wrong....it will go wrong.

Are both flights on the same airline? If not I would be concerned about checked bags making the connection, Denver is an airport that generally requires 60 minutes for checked bags to make a flight. 43 minutes generally works for a connection if everything is on time, but I would loose sleep on that tight of a connection to an international flight. A 20 minute delay and you are likely to either miss the connecton or arrive at your desintation without your luggage. You would be better off spending an extra couple of hours in Denver if they can move you to an earlier flight. The idea of a 25 minute connection in a major airport being enough time is silly, you are expected on board 15-25 minutes before departure time or most airlines will give away our seat to a standby passenger.

David

I agree on getting more time, not for you, but for the bags. With only 43 minutes in Denver, their history of bag handling is not the best, I would be real concerned that my bags wouldn't make it to the connection. If you are going to be at a location in Costa Rica for a few days and don't mind waiting, your bags will probably catch up with you the next day.

I think that amount of time is fine for you to make the flight, if all goes on time. But just being 15-20 minutes late on your departure will not be good.

If you are booked Froniter or a code share all the way through that is a little better as they might hold the Costa Rica flight a few minutes for you.

There is plenty of stuff to do in Denver airport so a couple of hours isn't that bad.