Travelers used to navigating Denver International Airport’s ongoing terminal renovations could get thrown for a new loop in coming weeks: Their airlines’ check-in counters won’t be where they remember.
The moves will clear the way for the nearly $2.1 billion project’s remaining phases, including building new, higher-capacity security screening checkpoints upstairs in the northeast and northwest sections of the building. That is where more than a dozen airlines’ ticket counters and kiosks are located currently, nearest to the bridge to Concourse A.
Nearly all of them, including all of DIA’s international carriers, will move to old empty counters on the south ends of the terminal, on both the east and west sides. Those check-in positions were vacated by United and Southwest airlines late last year when the airport’s largest carriers moved into brand-new, wrap-around ticketing areas built in the terminal’s midsection, on both sides of Level 6.
Happening this week: Delta Air Lines and Spirit Airlines were set to kick off the moves this week, with each shifting from the east side of the terminal to the west side.
After an overnight relocation, a DIA news release said Delta was set to open its new counters in the early morning Wednesday in Pod 6, near Door 612 in the southwest part of the terminal (nearer to the airport’s Westin hotel). Spirit will open its new counter early Friday in Pod 5, also in the southwest section, near Door 616.
Coming soon: The rest of the airline moves will happen through October, DIA says — affecting carriers including American Airlines, Allegiant Air, JetBlue Airways, Sun Country Airlines, Icelandair, British Airways, Air France, Air Canada, Lufthansa, Volaris and Aeroméxico. DIA did not specify each’s new location.
In one of the later moves, Frontier Airlines will join Southwest in one of its flashy new modules near the middle of the terminal’s east side, nearby Door 611, not far from where Frontier’s current counters are. (Update: Frontier’s move was set to happen in the early morning hours of Sept. 14, with the airline opening in the new area at 3:30 a.m.)
DIA said travelers should keep an eye on signage along Peña Boulevard and above curbside drop-off lanes for the most current check-in locations. Its interactive map, at maps.flydenver.com, also will be updated.
These won’t be the last airline moves. The final phase of the terminal project, expected to wrap up in six years, includes building new, modern check-in areas in the south spaces, requiring most carriers to move again — likely to temporary check-in counters that will be built on Level 5.
