Does Denver Aiport close down a lot? (college, closing)

[Heathater]

I am currently living in Chandler, AZ and can't stand the heat. My family and I are strongly considering moving to the Denver area but I am being warned against others about the airport constantly closing down due to bad weather. Is this true? My parents and in-laws are both in CA and we fly a lot to visit them. Would we have to start avoiding flying if we moved to Denver? Any help is appreciated!!

[DenverAztec]

I fly all the time out of DIA (once to twice a month) and it has delays due to weather but rarely entirely shut down. 2003 and 2006 saw it shut down for almost 1 full week. I am usually delayed in other airports like Ohare due to weather but hardly ever with DIA. It is the fourth largest airport in the country and there is signifcant domino effects when it is shut down. You have little to be concerned with in DIA closures.

[NickMan7]

I agree with Aztec. Although I don't fly out much, I know many people who do and they rarely have any problems. Media outlets tend to hype airport closing situations. The only times (with maybe an exception or two) the airport has closed is during severe weather. I think it's safe to say any airport would close with howling winds and 20" of snow. The domino effect has much more to do with delays than closures and the majority of delays encountered at DIA are because of situations at other airports.

[denverian]

I fly about 6 times per year or so and have never experienced any weather delays/shut downs at DIA. Now I've been delayed in the past year at O'Hare, Houston, and Philadelphia due to weather, but never DIA.

People hear about one blizzard in many years that shut down DIA (last year it was closed for 2 days during the holiday blizzard) and assume it's just one big blizzard here for 6 months out of the year. Not true at all. If the weather was so bad here that the airport had to constantly shut down, it wouldn't be the 4th busiest in the country and two airlines wouldn't have hubs here.

[tfox]

DIA did have weather issues over the holidays of 2006, which included a closure, but these holidays things ran fairly smoothly despite holiday snow. United was the only airline who cancelled any flights, and they did so pre-emptively, mainly to conserve staffing resources.

If history is any guide, expect maybe 2-3 airport closures due to weather per decade.

[Ludachris]

From what I've learned it has only happened with unusually big storms, which are pretty rare out here. The last time it closed it was due to 3 major storms in the span of 7 days which crippled the whole metro area. I wouldn't allow this issue to be the deciding factor.

We flew out of DIA on the 25th (last month) while it was snowing and were delayed about 45 mins in order to de-ice the plane. Wasn't that bad.

[Katarina Witt]

Does Denver Aiport close down a lot?

Here are some stories from last year's (DEC 2006) blizzard:

Managers at the nation's fifth-busiest airport drew up snowplowing plans, and airlines urged ticket-holders to flee Denver early or delay departures until after the storm. United and Frontier Airlines, the largest carriers at Denver International Airport, both canceled 322 flights through Friday morning.

12/30/06

Last week, a two-day blizzard stranded thousands of people at the airport as they were trying to travel for the Christmas holiday, one of the busiest travel times of the year.

More than 3,000 incoming flights were canceled or diverted during the 45-hour shutdown in Denver, The Associated Press reported. At the peak of its closure, 4,700 travelers were marooned at the airport, according to AP, and the delays rippled across the country.

Denver International Airport fully reopened on Saturday.

CNN's Sean Morris and Miles O'Brien contributed to this report

12/28/06

It also closed down for several days in March of 2003. I think there have been other, shorter closures. A huge blizzard will shut things down. It is not a common occurrence, but if you're on a cancelled flight, it's mighty inconvenient.

[livecontent]

The true nature of airline travel in this country is that all areas and all airports are dependent on each other for timely travel. So we constantly use the term--"The Domino Effect" which of course means that what happens somewhere else will effect the other areas. So even if you are living in Sunny LA, a storm in Chicago that causes slowdowns will cause your flights to be delays or canceled.

You cannot fly to an area, if the area you are flying to, cannot allow a landing---so many times you will be delayed. You cannot fly in a plane, if there is no plane, if the plane is coming from somewhere else, and it has not arrived because of bad weather from whence it left.

I have been many times delayed in Sunny Denver because the plane could not land in the Blizzard in Chicago (my destination or a stop on it) or was late to arrive in Denver because because of bad weather in Dallas. Since I traveled many times to California for business, I was waiting in Denver for a plane that never left the east coast because of weather.

So the weather in Denver alone may not be the cause for all situations---so why worry about it. There is nowhere you can live that is not dependent on the weather patterns of the whole system-----so relax and enjoy. What will happen will happen---just lay the blame on the act of the "gods".

Livecontent

[Katarina Witt]

^^^ So true! My DD went to college near Chicago for two years. Always some sort of delay out of that city! Even in good weather! We learned to call and check the arrival time; even then we had to wait a lot.

[denverian]

One thing I do now is always get a direct flight. You can fly anywhere in the country direct from DIA. I used to take cheaper flights with a layover somewhere when flying for business to save the company money, but after sleeping on a couple airport floors overnight last year due to bad weather in the layover city, I no longer take that risk. At least with direct flights, you cut your risk of delay in half.