I'm planning a trip from Denver to Portugal for next June. Price being relatively equal, I'm comparing the following:
I haven't been in any of these airports for a long time. Do you have any suggestions on how I should choose my flight? Thanks in advance!
I'd strike out AC/YUL just to avoid passing through a third country. Yea, they have sterile transit and pre-clearance, but all things being equal, I'd rather avoid it.
United is in Star Alliance with TAP Portugal, and between them, they have 3-5 flights a day between Newark and Portugal. Beneficial for at least a couple of reasons: backup options if travel goes haywire. And if there are schedule changes between now and then (almost guaranteed), you could have options to choose from if the rebooking is bad.
opção número um para mim.
I found both Newark and Boston to have surprisingly poor amenities, but I was using both for domestic flights. Boston experience was in the thick of the covid situation, so many of the food options were closed. Maybe it’s better now.
You'd be okay with #1 or #3. But I'd probably pick #3 because Delta's international flights are better run than United's.
Unless you have a preference for one airline over another, I'd base it on whatever combination takes the shortest time. All the layovers seem long enough to be safe. I think Newark is a horrible airport but better for layover than to start or end a trip.
Another consideration, important to me, would be the departure and arrival times. Ideally, I'd want to leave my home airport (SEA) at midday and arrive at Lisbon in early afternoon. That way I don't have to get up before dawn or stay at the airport the night before departing, and I can get into the destination hotel and explore a little before collapsing the next evening.
I recently (3 weeks ago) flew United from Denver to Lisbon and Porto back to Denver, with a 2.5 hour layover in Newark on my return. I was glad I had that much time.
The customs and immigration processes were fast and easy with Global Entry and I collected my checked bag in reasonable time.
Once I was landside to go back through security, it was crowded and chaotic. I was glad to have TSA Pre, where the snaking lines were somewhat less than the regular security.
It all took less than an hour, but with the chaos of their line management, I swore in that moment that I would never connect through Newark again.
If my choices were #1 and #2 though, I'd go with United and Newark, rather than going through Canada. See, I've already broken my promise!
Thanks everyone for your comments. I appreciate everyone taking the time to respond.
As my title suggested, I am most interested in help with choosing the layover airport. Especially for ease of transit for international flight connections. That's why I chose the flights with the listed layover times. I've heard horror stories about some airports, and don't know anything about the three listed. The last couple of times I've flown to Europe, I had a direct flight from Denver to Reykjavik, then connecting on from there.
Do you have any lounge privileges? ... while I haven't been to any in these airports, that may be the deciding factor ... this is not an endorsement for any specific lounge or credit card, but I have the Capital One Venture X card which gives me Priority Pass Select membership and free meals (up to $56 for 2) at select airport restaurants ... all 3 of these possible layover airports have a lounge and Boston and Montreal also have at least 2 restaurants that participate in the free meal benefit.
Skip the Canada option.
I have been through both Newark and Boston and flown United and Delta.
I prefer Boston and Delta. We love the restaurant in Terminal 1 of Logan called Legal Seafood.
I will echo Dick’s comment about the importance of departure and arrival times. We like a mid-afternoon departure time and mid-day arrival at our destination. That way we are not spending most of all of our daylight hours on the departure day sitting in airports or on airplanes. And we don’t arrive at our destination at 8 am, which would be near midnight on our own body clocks. And way too early to check in to our hotel. We find it helps a lot with jet lag to get this right.
So of the airlines you mention, I would favor the timing of the United flight that departs Denver at 3:55 pm and arrives at Lisbon at 11:40 the next day. But that flight has a layover at IAD which is not on your list of preferred airports.
Thanks, Lola.
I only mentioned those three flights because they were the ones that I found with decent layover times and prices. I appreciate your input and I'll check out the flight that you mentioned.
