DENVER AIRPORT . . . IT WORKS! IT WORKS!

"I think we can now put the jokes behind us," said Denver Mayor Wellington Webb, as Denver International Airport prepared to open Tuesday -- 16 months late, $3.2 billion over budget and with underground carts tugging baggage every which way as most of a computerized system continues to malfunction. At 12:41 a.m. Monday, the first commercial flight (a Federal Express plane) touched down. The jokes started again, though, when a snowstorm developed later in the day, threatening to force the airport to close before the first passenger jet arrives Tuesday at 6 a.m. As for the baggage system, designed to allow easy check-ins as late as 20 minutes before departure, TIME Denver correspondent Richard Woodbury says the small portion that now works is "Disneyesque, sexy and fast." Unfortunately, he says, "it's only serving one part of one airline -- United -- and only departing passengers." The upshot: travelers may land promptly, but then wait hours for their bags.