Midwest - OT: North Terminal [DTW]

This is off topic to Northwest, so please move if needed.

Did anyone check out the open house for the North Terminal today? I was there. It was pretty nice. I still think the McNamara terminal is nicer, but the North terminal is still beautiful. I didn't bring my camera... Just my iPhone... and will post pictures later.

It will be nice to get Luthansa, Royal Jordanian, Air Canada, and assuming Continental when they leave Sky Team, out of the Northwest terminal. The iternational flights are not scheduled to move to the North terminal for another few months. (Did I bring it enough topic to NWA? :) )

Well thanks for the quick input, looking forward to some pics from your phone. The Mcnamara is a wonderful home for NW and I'm looking forward to seeing the new North for the other airlines. The Smith Terminal is such a dump, they've let it fall apart so badly the last few years. Glad I don't have to fly into that terminal often or not anymore now that I think of it with the opening coming so soon.

Let's see if this works...

North Terminal Pictures (http://www.flickr.com/photos/30347448@N08)

Well thanks for the quick input, looking forward to some pics from your phone. The Mcnamara is a wonderful home for NW and I'm looking forward to seeing the new North for the other airlines. The Smith Terminal is such a dump, they've let it fall apart so badly the last few years. Glad I don't have to fly into that terminal often or not anymore now that I think of it with the opening coming so soon.

I -refuse- to fly out of the Smith terminal. That only leaves me with NWA, CO, and DL. This terminal is leaps and bounds above the Smith.

Pro: Southwest has some cool power stations with dedicated USB charging plugs for devices and accessories. Plug your iPod in there instead of a wall charger! Gotta love that new airport smell. The signage is pretty good.

Con: Too much white paint everywhere. It will get dirty, fast. Where McNamara has gates on both sides, the North terminal only has them on one, making it feel a little closed in. Didn't see a space designated for a club, but I am assuming Lufthansa will have one. (They do in McNamara...)

Didn't see a space designated for a club, but I am assuming Lufthansa will have one. (They do in McNamara...)

LH won't be sharing lounge space with AA (not that it's a natural partnership, anyway). AA confirmed a few months ago they're not building an Admiral's Club in the North Terminal. AA did have a club at Smith until 9/11. I don't fly UA often enough to care.

Thanks for the photos.

Southwest has some cool power stations with dedicated USB charging plugs for devices and accessories. Plug your iPod in there instead of a wall charger! Gotta love that new airport smell. The signage is pretty good.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think I saw a little counter for charging stuff in an airport somewhere recently... now where could it have been? Last one I was in was HNL... maybe somewhere around gate 24, on the side of the concourse toward the ramp? But I can't remember whether that's where it was, or even what airport, for sure. :(

sorry, but from those pictures I must confess I'm unimpressed.... it's certainly new and nice and clean - but to me it looks absolutely average and uninspired. Long white hallways, rectangular waiting rooms, some average views of the apron.... looks like almost any other terminal in the US.

For me, the McNamara Terminal or the new boarding areas (S3 and 2E) at Paris-CDG are much more interesting... even concourse B at CVG is more "special". Why did they have to go with metal jetbridges instead of glass ones? Why cant the boarding area be a little more transparent? These boarding doors look so much like from the 70s or 80s....

I missed it, didn't even know the scheduling. Wish I had made it, I also missed the main terminal open-house. Being 30min away, I have no excuse.

Steve B.

Northwest actually had some kind of veto power (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/airline2/message/13340) over the amenities in the new North Terminal (link goes to an old Detroit Free Press story no longer publicly available on the Freep's website).

Unlike what the old article states, the new terminal does have an International arrivals facility, though, so I'm not sure what the current status of NW's dominance over the airport authority is.

Didn't see a space designated for a club, but I am assuming Lufthansa will have one. (They do in McNamara...)

LH is building a SEN and Business lounge. Only lounge/club in the terminal. Capacity 45+55 seats.

Northwest actually had some kind of veto power (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/airline2/message/13340) over the amenities in the new North Terminal (link goes to an old Detroit Free Press story no longer publicly available on the Freep's website).

Unlike what the old article states, the new terminal does have an International arrivals facility, though, so I'm not sure what the current status of NW's dominance over the airport authority is.

The north terminal will have two 747 capable gates on the side that currently has the old C gates of the LS Terminal. That section already has CBP facilities and will go live in January. Berry is going down and the charters are moving into the north terminal too.

Launch is Sept 17 or 18?

Interesting to see AA and WN ave fitted their logos and furniture to 'their' gates. The plan for the north terminal was that all gates would be generic and interchangable within airlines.

Unlike what the old article states, the new terminal does have an International arrivals facility, though, so I'm not sure what the current status of NW's dominance over the airport authority is.

All the non Skyteam international flights will be moving to the North terminal later in the year.

I missed it, didn't even know the scheduling. Wish I had made it, I also missed the main terminal open-house. Being 30min away, I have no excuse.

Steve B.

I almost missed it. And then it took 2.5 hours for me to make the trek from the east side to DTW once I found out about it. (MDOT needs to get a strongly worded letter...)

This is so the kind of thing we should have arranged a DO for.

I almost missed it. And then it took 2.5 hours for me to make the trek from the east side to DTW once I found out about it. (MDOT needs to get a strongly worded letter...)

This is so the kind of thing we should have arranged a DO for.

Seems like it wasn't promoted very well. I only heard about it a week ago. I had to work yesterday, so could not get there. The late news on WDIV showed some quick pics, but it did not look like anything special. The video is not on their website though.

FYI - From what I have heard, CO is supposed to move from B/C to the north terminal early next year.

I was there on Friday for the charity ball, (which was mucked up because the STRAIGHT TALK EXPRESS took off from the hangar near the parking lot), and have to agree, not a mind-blowing terminal. Very linear, simple, boxy design, no moving walkways, similar stores to the Mac, except for Brookstone.

That said, a huge improvement from Smith and the walking dinner was nice. Opening day is the 17th.

sorry, but from those pictures I must confess I'm unimpressed.... it's certainly new and nice and clean - but to me it looks absolutely average and uninspired. Long white hallways, rectangular waiting rooms, some average views of the apron.... looks like almost any other terminal in the US.


It's a modest 26-gate terminal for a dog's breakfast of airlines, not a showplace funded by a national goverment where taxes consume 50% of GDP. Cost and amenities negotiations are always strained, with airlines wanting lower costs and airport authorities pilloried as spendthrifts.

The North Terminal replaces elements 30+ years old (age of the B-gates of Smith), it will be welcomed. People staying on NW/DL/AF/KL will have no reason to use it.;)

Let's see if this works...

North Terminal Pictures (http://www.flickr.com/photos/30347448@N08) Well thanks for sending the pictures, overall it looks like a great improvement from the dump, ;) I mean smith. Sure it might be boxy and uninspired as some have described it, it may not be as nice as mcnamara or a lot of other new terminals, but it will be a very welcome addition to DTW.

I am a frequent flyer of NW, however my company doesn't always book me on NW and I frequent DTW a lot so I have ended up at the old smith plenty of times. In fact the last time being a couple weeks ago. I'm not kidding, we got off the plane and everybody started complaining about the foul odor all the way down the concourse. Smelled suspiciously like someone dropped their pants and went right in the middle of the walkway. What a way to welcome people.

Originally I am from the metro Detroit area and I have plenty of family still there, and I know they are looking forward to having a new non-skyteam terminal. North may not be the best, but just about anything would be a 1000% improvement over the old smith.

These are great pictures, even from a phone. I like the USB powered stations, too. A lot of devices these days use them. I think MSP has a power station or two somewhere but I don't think they have USB plugs.

Terminal looks nice, but I agree with some others that it lacks in style and will probably show wear and tear quite quickly. But was we are all mostly NW (soon to be DL :() flyers, we probably won't see the inside of it too much.

A little OT for NW since NW doesn't use the North Terminal at DTW. Let's move to the Midwest forum where DTW-related threads, very much unrelated to NW, should go. A redirect will be left on the NW forum, as always.

Thanks,

slippahs
nwa forum co-moderator

A little OT for NW since NW doesn't use the North Terminal at DTW. Let's move to the Midwest forum where DTW-related threads, very much unrelated to NW, should go. A redirect will be left on the NW forum, as always.

Thanks,

slippahs
nwa forum co-moderator

Interesting that since the thread moved, not a single person has commented over the past two days. Perhaps FlyerTalk should set up a Forum category for "Airports," rather than burying airport-related threads within the "Destination."

If I can find the right forum, I think I'll make that suggestion! ;)

Interesting that since the thread moved, not a single person has commented over the past two days. Perhaps FlyerTalk should set up a Forum category for "Airports," rather than burying airport-related threads within the "Destination."

If I can find the right forum, I think I'll make that suggestion! ;)

Agreed. :)

Interesting that since the thread moved, not a single person has commented over the past two days. Perhaps FlyerTalk should set up a Forum category for "Airports," rather than burying airport-related threads within the "Destination."

If I can find the right forum, I think I'll make that suggestion! ;)

According to the Detroit Free Press, only 5,000 people attended the open house last Sat -- by comparison when the new South Terminal had its open house, 50,000 or so attended.

The difference may have been due to the fact that the open house was held at the same time as a certain outdoor event in Ann Arbor attended by over 100,000 people, but lack of interest may have been a factor.

Bob H

Much improved from Smith. What an embarassment to the city that people have seen that dump as the first impression of SouthEastern Michigan.

They need to have a charity auction to be the person to hit the button that sets off the implosion of Smith.

Here are some more pics from the Free Press today. The article talks about the architecture and design of the new terminal.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080916/BUSINESS04/809160305

I don't care what the new terminal looks like as long as it is not the Smith Bus Terminal.