[nagdu] Relief areas at Denver International and and Slat Lake City Airports

[Daryl Marie]

Tom,

On  my recent trip to NYC, we had a 1.5-hour layover in Denver.  Denver is a very big airport, and depending on what gate you land at, you may or may not have enough time to go through security.  I just read your email that you have a 3-hour layover, so you would have time; I didn't, because i had 1.5-hours to deplane, hopefully find a relief area on the FAR side of the airport, and board my next flight... on Christmas Eve.

The counter staff were singularly unhelpful; all they told me was to improvise a pee pad and use a bathroom to relieve my dog; thankfully she didn't take me up on the opportunity... we also found it was hit-or-miss getting directions to the relief area, as it was a busy time of year and airport staff didn't seem to want to escort us to the relief area... so we were out of luck.

Here's an excerpt from my blog post about that trip:

Once getting to Denver, we had a bit of a problem.  Jenny was giving me all the signals that she needed to go outside, but the animal relief area was both
outside security and at the far end of another terminal, and we only had less than 1.5 hours to get to our next flight (cane users thankfully don’t ever
have to deal with this…).  I tried to improvise a “pee-pad” in a bathroom, and she wouldn’t go… she turned around in circles and just sat down; I could
see the wheels turning in her head, thinking “Well, this is a very very bad idea…”  This ultimately resulted in a dog that desperately had to relieve,
no where to do it, and a hope and a prayer – or several – that the 3.5-hour flight ahead would be as uneventful at the end as it was at the beginning. 

But I didn’t need to worry; the plane departed and landed on time… and without incident.  There were several extra seats, so we did a little bit of musical
seats amongst our row, which enabled Jenny to have the space in front of two seats – mine and the one in the middle!  I know some people who wouldn’t accept
this, but why cut off my nose to spite my face?  And anyone who is not sure their dog will benefit from MuttMuffs – they have earned their keep FOR SURE! 
Jenny used to always sit up and squirm during takeoff and landing… today, NOTHING! 

We landed at Newark, and Jenny was pulling SO hard on the harness – a typical “take me out now!” sign.  Thankfully, there was an exit door right by the
baggage carousel where we found a great patch of grass for her to happily answer nature’s call.  As soon as that was done, she was a very very very calm
dog, taking me back to my husband, who unfortunately ripped an unimportant zipper on our duffel bag when carrying it off the carousel. 


----- Original Message -----
From: Tom Bellone via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
To: the National Association of Guide Dog Users NAGDU Mailing List <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sat, 14 Feb 2015 08:44:17 -0700 (MST)
Subject: [nagdu] Relief areas at Denver International and and Slat Lake City Airports

 We will  be travelling through DIA and SLC for the first time.  As I understand it, neither of these airports have post security (airside) relief areas.  Here's what I've found for each airport---Denver has one outside relief area at level 2 west Jeppeson Terminal near door 200.  They suggest thirty minutes to get there and back through security (sounds ambitious to me).  Salt Lake City has relief areas across from each terminal and one between Terminal 2 and the international terminal.  They suggest contacting SLC airport operations (801-575-2401) to arrange for an escort.Our layover in Denver on United is three plus hours so I don't anticipate that will be a problem.  Our return flight originates in Salt Lake City on Delta.  We will be shuttling there from our hotel prior to departure.I would appreciate any suggestions anyone might have as to how to best navigate these airports.Thanks,Tom BelloneDaytona Beach, FlFLAGDU Treasurer
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