I’ve passed by this sculpture a few times by daylight, but at 30 feet tall with beady shiny red eyes this certainly makes an impression at night.  Yikes.

Photo from this March Rocky Mountain News blog entry.

In less seizure inducing (old) news, this snazzy new tourist office opened this spring, and greets arrivals opposite the big fountain in the main terminal.  Clean lines, good lighting, and more helpful and welcoming than a brochure rack.   I was there at 11:30pm and they were still open!  Even better it doesn’t frighten children.

More current: The Fastracks “A” line (downtown/airport) alignment and stations have been revised. Check out the updated map at this RMN article, and see info on how to make your opinion heard. The title of my blog suggests I won’t be riding it regularly when it opens in 2014. But that’s a long way off…

Were you wondering what’s new at Watercourse Foods?  I’ll be visiting this week with my gluton-free, non wheat or dairy eating mom. She’s never been to Watercourse or City O’ City and I’m looking forward to surprising her!

Likewise if you’re traveling with a large group or family, have some special items for screening, or just need some breathing room admist the crush it can be overwhelming to have pushy business travelers and light packers getting antsy behind you.

Denver and Salt Lake City are two airports taking part in a two week trial in which the traveler can select the appropriate lane for their abilities and needs.

People lining up there will see a round green sign for families and travelers requiring special assistance, a square blue sign for the casual traveler who typically carries more and heavier luggage and a black diamond for the briefcase-toting expert traveler.

“The idea is to let passengers determine – based on their experience and needs – which lane is more appropriate,” Harmon said Sunday.

In keeping with the ski analogy, which I’m assuming is an intentional reason behind choosing Denver and Salt Lake City,  line choices will be:

The green circle line: For families, groups, first-time fliers and travelers requiring special assistance
The blue square line: For the frequent traveler with a few carry-on bags
The black diamond line: For the briefcase-toting expert traveler or anyone who packs light

This will be at the north main terminal checkpoint only.   If you’ve made this “run” let me know, I’d love a review.

Full Rocky Mountain News article.   and info on SLC from the TSA Blog.

Opinion time…  You won’t find me signing up for the registered traveler program.  I can certainly understand the lure of business travelers wanting to shave 30 or 40 minutes off a Monday morning airport queue.   Tempting as it would be, I’ll clumsily shuffle through the maze of flimsy ropes with my nose in a book before I’ll trade my time in exchange for my biometric data. 

I don’t consider myself a privacy nut.  I don’t live on a compound and squirrel away my money in a tin box.  I use credit cards, have multiple bank accounts, and a blog with my name publicy displayed.  The government can easily find me and collect whatever info they want – but I just don’t care to volunteer more.

Until the government catches on to my secret life as an international diamond thief, I just don’t feel they merit reason to keep my fingerprints and iris scan on file.  Nor should a private company.  Should domestic U.S. flights ever require this type of scrutiny you can meet me for lunch at my new loft in Vancouver.  No wait make that Mérida – I’ll be staying at the beautiful Luz.

I like this description by a commenter on this blog:

“A program to create a database of biometric and background info, funded by the people themselves”

Has anyone become a registered traveler and use CLEAR frequently?  Even though I’m completely against it for myself I’d love to hear stories of passengers who find it justifiable.  I bite my toungue every time when I witness the TSA inconsistencies from airport to airport, so paying $128 for such nonsense to be “out of sight out of mind” would certainly be tempting…

If you are interested in giving your biometric information to a private company sanctioned by the TSA -  the Registered Traveler Program has offices at the Denver Tech Center Hyatt and downtown at the Grand Hyatt.  They’re open from 7am to 7pm.

An aside annoyance: WHY do writers and companies insist on calling Denver International Airport “DIA” when listing airport codes?  The International Civil Aviation Organization’s code for Denver is DEN.  The ONLY other name its ever had was “DVX,” which was it’s temporary assignment during construction, before Stapleton relinquished the DEN code.  However the CLEAR website, just like this Time Magazine Article I rebutted, list Denver as “DIA.”  DIA is nothing more than a local moniker used to abbreviate Denver International Airport.  I am sending CLEAR an e-mail in hopes they’ll correct their website.  (The website that I’ll probably never look at again.) 

Rant time over.  In other news Dex left ANOTHER two phone books at my doorstep last Saturday.  This time the “compact size”  Hey 33% less wasteful!  Thanks Ken Clark.

And tomorrow I’ll have a review of the Asus EEE PC.  This full functioning micro size computer is the ultimate travel tool.  And it’s not much bigger than the Radio Shack “Mr. Professor” I had as a kid.

Southwest Expanding at DIA - Denver Post
Delivering on a Promise – Rocky Mountain News

and I realized how much has changed in 12 years. This is why people in Denver travel are able to travel more, and their friends have more opportunities to visit them here.

If you stepped into your time machine and dialed up 1995, the year Denver International Airport opened, you would find very few flight operations except for United Airlines. Using most of the “B” gates they saw moderate origin and destination traffic, and heavy connecting traffic to cities large and small around the west. Back then DEN, (or DIA as the locals call it,) was the definition of a fortress hub. United Airlines owned it, and with exception to other airlines’ hub service, (i.e. Delta to SLC and Atlanta, Continental to Houston,) there were very few other destinations not served by United. The airport itself had a feeling of emptiness, with many seldom used gates among it’s sleek, modern yet cavernous empty spaces.

Back in 1996 I was in the process of moving to Los Angeles, and I flew out there about three times before making the move. However I like many others elected to drive down to Colorado Springs, located 70 miles from downtown Denver on the south side of the city. It’s not exactly convenient with a small mountain pass, a sluggish drive through a congested urban area, then four miles on arterials. But at that time Western Pacific Airlines, (remember the “Simpson’s” plane,) was in high gear and offering bargain prices. It was a well needed alternative to Denver’s sky high prices. Western Pacific gave Colorado Springs a tremendous spike in traffic; however they ceased operations in 1998, just after announcing plans to merge with Frontier Airlines.

Meanwhile back at the gigantic Denver airport competition was still lacking. Little development was in or around the massive swath of land, making DIA seem ever further away. (In Kansas as many still say.) Frontier Airlines, which started in 1994, was still adding routes and becoming a player in the Denver market. They managed to keep United competitive on the routes they flew – which was mostly two to three flights daily to select major cities. Over the years Frontier converted their fleet of old 737s to Airbus aircraft. Their customer service reputation remains high overall, and similar to jetBlue they offer live TV on board. Frontier also developed a large Mexico presence, (much welcome during our winter months,) and now even flies to Costa Rica. They haven’t had much success with point to point service outside of Denver, so the bulk of their flights still connect in Denver. However for us living here we’ve supported them and consider them a big player in our market, just like United.

Fast forward to the last few years. Southwest finally starts service to Denver in January of 2006. Few predicted they would consider Denver due to the high prices associated with a base there. Colorado Springs would have seemed a more logical choice, or even the northern Colorado Fort Collins/Loveland airport and it’s tiny terminal. (Which only Allegiant airlines charters serve.)

According to this archived press release Southwest’s initial cities were Chicago, Las Vegas, and Baltimore. Over the past two years the number of cities has grown and grown, enough to where airfare shoppers regularly add Southwest into their searches.

That low cost carrier traffic helped bring prices down overall, and things have grown rapidly at Denver by the regulars and more: jetBlue’s flights serve New York, Lufthansa serves cities in Germany non-stop, and United just announcing non-stop London service, adding a choice to British Airway’s already existing non-stop.

The underground trams serving all gates have been upgraded and synced for more frequent service. United is expanding it’s “B” gates to accommodate more, (and probably more,) commuter flights. When completed the Fastrack’s “East Corridor” will terminate at south end of the Jeppesen terminal, providing rail service between the airport and downtown.

I now find DIA constantly crowded, and need to use my not so secret alternative security checkpoint more and more. While annoying, it’s a sign of success – which is a good thing.

People will still have the regular complaints about Denver’s airport:  it’s far from the city, long security lines, and it’s susceptible to blizzards – but we can’t complain about lack of competition and airfare prices. So thank you Southwest Airlines. Oh and please don’t put Frontier out of business. We like all of you – yes even United at times.