I went to the Open House as well. Good synopsis... I am going to add a few comments.
Originally Posted by dayone
1. Only the AA "half" (Gates 23-40) of the terminal was open for strolling.
As far as I could tell, only AA's gates have branding. It appears that the rest of the gates will be neutral. As best I could tell reading the directory, it doesn't appear that airlines will share gate space in D. It appeared that Lufthansa, BA, Korean, etc., all have their own gates. Oddly enough, even though AA has two-thirds of the gates, they only have half of the check-in stands. The south side is 1-99 and, again, unbranded and for the other airlines. The north side is 100-199, American-branded, just for American. Of course I think that's more than enough space for AA, but I get the feeling that the South side of the terminal is going to be dead much of the day similar to Terminal B's north side now. Seeing a Korean 744 at Terminal B (even with DL's departure) and a Mexicana jet touching down, however, did give me an inkling of hope that D
might see some added business from foreign carriers in the future. I know they could sure use it.
3. The terminal itself seems well designed...very spacious and airy. Lots of windows and views are quite stunning. Lots of plasma monitors and Samsung-signed TVs.
I thought that the plasma TVs were a good idea by DFW. Let Samsung throw their name up and (I assume) provide the TVs at no cost while Terminal D gets much better displays. They are much more useful than the ones in the other terminals as they aren't hanging from the ceiling, but rather, mounted on glass stands on the floor with Samsung and DFW logos etched on the glass with blue lighting piped through.
4. The much-touted art really blends in. I had to look for it.
I thought that the art was good. Not too showy/flashy, not too dull. Especially the medallions on the floor between gates (a nice touch). And the giant wishbone at American's ticket counters is interesting and as DFW mentioned, provides a great meeting point.
5. The Admirals Club is on the mezzanine with elevator access. It was not open but there were drawings to show what it will look like. Very nice.
I missed those drawings... where were they? I did see the entrance which looked very classy and similar to Terminal's A/C Clubs, but perhaps a bit more upscale and private. I couldn't tell, but it appeared that the Admirals Club overlooked ticketing and the terminal.
Some other observations:
Deplaning passengers are completely segregated from the terminal's main level. They go up a level from the jet bridge and through glass-enclosed corridors to immigration which overlook the airfield and interior public areas. Similar to the current set-up, but the walks will surely be shorter and the views much nicer. There are moving walkways up there, too.
Despite not being the classic DFW horseshoe design, Terminal D still features relatively short walks from the parking garage to gate. It's not 100 or so feet like at the other terminals, but it's still pretty good for a modern airport. At the same time, the squared-off horseshoe shape allows for more gates to be seen at once, instead of the never-ending loop feel one can get at the other terminals. And concessions are all conveniently grouped at two 'villages', with what appears to be nicer, more 'sit-down'-type restaurants on the top level overlooking the terminal areas and out of the foot/cart traffic below.
There were representatives from many airlines, including AA, BA, Mexicana, and others, showcasing their product.
In sum, a great facility and one which I hope will be open soon without much further delay.