And I live much closer to John Wayne (Orange Co.) The reason is they really have their act together when it comes to moving people in and out of one of the largest airports in the country. Moreover, because of its size you really don't have to worry about missing a flight. There will always be another shortly. Just a week ago we were supposed to fly to Cody Wyoming to spread some ashes of a friends mother. We booked out of Orange County. The first leg was to Salt Lake City. Delta's crew was late and the flight had to be postponed to the evening. But by then we would miss the 2d leg out of Salt Lake City and the next day was fully booked from Orange County to Salt Lake City blah blah blah. We stayed home. That NEVER would have happened if we had booked out of LAX.
One disturbing feature at Denver. The first time there I was walking to the luggage carousel I saw this enormous digital board that said "When you hear the horn please go immediately to the tornado evacuation center downstairs". Or something like that. Never experienced that around here.