Visiting Denver — A RANT and a RAVE

This is fresh on my mind because I returned from Denver just a week ago.  The Travel Writers Conference that I attended was incredible.  I’m SO GLAD I went.  But in the interest of informing and helping those of you who might plan to travel to Denver in the future, I’d like to share a couple of thoughts.

First, let’s talk about FRONTIER AIRLINES.  To be perfectly fair, the flights from Nashville to Denver and back were smooth, they left on time, and both of them even landed EARLY.  Big pluses. However, from a booking and price perspective, I felt like I’d been “baited and switched.”  The night before my flight out of Nashville, I received a confirmation e-mail from Frontier asking that I choose my seat.  That was okay until I realized that the available seats had various price tags attached to them.  What??? The fare that I had already paid didn’t include a SEAT???  First Class doesn’t appear to be a part of the Frontier experience (not that I’d ever be able to fly First Class anyway), but the seats offered ranged from $13 to $35 based on their degree of deluxeness, i.e. legroom.  That was bad enough, but then it got worse.  I was asked whether I’d be checking a bag or bringing a carry-on.  As I’ve stated in a previous post here, I’m a big fan of traveling with only a carry-on.  Frontier charges $25 for a checked bag and $30 for a carry-on.  You have GOT to be kidding me!!!  So, here I was adding an additional $43 to what I had already paid before I ever reached the airport.  And, on my flight back from Denver, the seat was $20, and the carry-on was FORTY BUCKS.  I kid you not.  So, instead of getting a really good price for my ticket, I paid an additional $103 for my seats and my carry-on bag.  Sheesh!  And during the flight, the only thing free is WATER.  No pretzels.  Nothing.  Anything else comes with a hefty fee.

I checked when I got home, and the available fares for identical flights were listed as Frontier $258, U.S. Airways $269.10, and American $270.60.  That, of course, makes it APPEAR that Frontier is the best deal.  Now you know the truth.  I do not plan to travel on Frontier Airlines again.

On the other hand, I had a very positive experience getting from the airport to my hotel and back with a service called SuperShuttle.  What a well-organized, cost-effective, and efficient organization!!  As I was powering up my phone once we landed, a message was in my inbox telling me to “click here” when I had my luggage and was ready to leave.  At that time, a van number and a passenger number came up, along with precise instructions on how to find my ride.  The driver knew who his passengers were, where they were to be delivered, and the most efficient route at his fingertips.  And everything, including the tip, could be reserved and paid for in advance.  The drivers opened and closed the doors and quickly handled all the luggage.  Very courteous and helpful.

My return trip required a 4:30 a.m. wake-up call.  !!!! When I reached the hotel lobby at 5:30 a.m., I got a cellphone message saying that my shuttle would arrive within 5 minutes.  And it did.  Again, the driver knew who to pick up and where, and she knew exactly the order for delivering us to our various departure gates.  Impressive.  Extremely impressive.  Being a 65-year-old woman traveling alone, I especially appreciated the SuperShuttle service.  It was a much cheaper and, in my mind, a safer choice.  Thank you, SuperShuttle!!

There are MANY great reasons to go to Denver.  Here are just two bits of information that might help you in planning your trip.