Primer to Denver International Airport

Denver International Airport opened on May 15, 1994. If you don't know your way around by now, you either don't live on the Front Range and/or haven't flown a lot in more than 13 years, or you don't live in Colorado and perhaps have only changed planes at DIA. In any event, if you're new to DIA or still confused, pick up today's Denver Post and hang onto the travel section. Travel editor Kyle Wagner devoted most of the section to reaching, parking at or near and getting around the airport -- and where to eat, shop and kill time once you are there. If you read this post after the paper is off the newsstands, find that info online (also be sure to scroll down to "More Travel Headlines," which is where you'll find most of the nitty-gritty), print it out and save it.

I have flown in and out of DIA a lot over the years, beginning a mere three days after the airport opened. Here are six specifics that I would add:

• If you are parking in the short-term garage and don't insist on parking under cover, head directly for the top level of either the east or west garages. You can always get a space in the open-air parking penthouse, and that is actually the same level as Level 5 of the terminal, which is the baggage claim level and also has express check-in and curbside check-in stands. (The main departure area is on Level 6, an escalator or elevator ride up.) FWIW, this is the level I use when I am picking someone up at DIA; I'm too thrifty to spend $18 a day for park there when I am heading off somewhere.
• When I was at DIA last week, workers were busily building an expansion to the garage on the west side of the terminal. It should be open byearly winter. It is shown on the excellent schematic accompanying the articles, but it bears noting.
• RTD's skyRide has regular routes (from Boulder, it's down the US 36, southeastward on I-270, east of I-70 and to the terminal on Peña Boulevard), but in the rush hour, drivers sometimes take alternate routes -- so don't be surprised if you doze off and wake up to an unfamiliar landscape. When I am traveling by myself, my preference is to use RTD's skyRide or SuperShuttle rather than driving to the airport.
• When my husband and I travel together, we generally drive and use one of the private lots. I totally agree that USAirport Parking is the most user-friendly. Still, we also frequently park at FastTrack (formerly PCA) because it was there first and we got into the habit -- and because we generally come up Peña from I-70, and it's the first we reach. At both of these off-airport facilities, you can get a punch card and receive a certain number of free days after a certain number of paid days. I once sent to sent in two completed PCA punch cards and never received by free parking coupons. I was negligent about phoning to follow up, so I've essentially given up two weeks of free parking. Several weeks ago, I sent a completed card to FastTrack and have yet to receive my coupons. I wonder whether someone in Los Angeles is siphoning off coupons and selling them on some kind of black market.
• If you are going to be using one of the private lots, check the newspaper, coupon mailers or the operators' websites for discounts. The most recent I saw from FastTrack was $31.50 for a week -- a nice price break from $8 per day without a coupon.
• Another RTD skyRide option is to park free, as long as you like, at the old Stapleton garage. The bus ride is $6 each way -- which makes this a real bargain for people living right in Denver, compared with $10 for Boulder and other farther-out communities.