Well, here’s the story on Sunday and Monday’s flights.

Sunday, call NW when I get in the car. 6:00pm flight to DTW is on time. No first class available yet, though. Arrive at 5:15, flight is still on time…no first yet, but “looks good”. In the WorldClub at 5:30, flight is delayed because of “ground and ramp congestion”, whatever that meant. Should be leaving at 6:30. “How’s first look?” I ask. “Don’t even see your name on the list…oh, they’ve already got you a seat in First.” Cool. “How’s my connect look, I’ve only got 50 minutes?” “That one’s a half hour late too, so no problem.”

Left at 6:30pm, arrived about 8:30. Quick taxi, straight to gate, two minute wait for ground crew, another 2 minutes for Jetway driver. Arrive at Gate A18, go to center WorldClub, (very nice from the 30 second tour I had), check on my 9:05 connect, “It’s showing on time, better get down there.” It’s now 8:45 and I chase to A57. They are boarding, so I get in line and board. Wish I had more time to look around, and check everything out. Then we sat for over a half an hour waiting for more “ramp congestion”. I guess the girls in the first WorldClub were right after all.

Didn’t have much time to check things out, but it looked very nice. Hopefully the attitude of the employees will change with the new surroundings. I’d love to start flying NW on a regular basis again!

Monday, I’m flying CO through Cleveland to go to DTW. Land on time, pilots takes a very long and very strange taxi route. Comes on to announce he is taking a “new” route, and we should be arriving at C8 very shortly. Took about 20 minutes, including 3 different short stops in route, and finally stop at C8, start to pull in, and then stop again. Then we pull out of there and go down to C10. Wait about 10 minutes for the ground crew to wand us in, and then wait about 15 minutes for a Jetway driver. At least we don’t have to go down the stairs and outside like we used to half the time. The Jetway looks like it hasn’t been vacuumed in a few days. Get out in the jungle and try to find my way out. No one there to help with directions. The escalator going down to the tunnel is broke, so two options: 1) go up one level, and then down another, or 2) take the elevator. I take the elevator because it’s closer. Take the tunnel to the main (Concourse A) terminal. Very nice, but it hasn’t been cleaned. Two moving walkways going to the terminal, and one moving walkway going the other direction. Why isn’t there two? Very unique artwork, with motion backlights. Nice, I guess, but didn’t do anything for me. Had some very strange “music” in the background, sounded like maybe whale song or something. Very strange whatever it was. Up another escalator to the terminal, puts you right about the middle, so easy exit. Again, nobody around for directions, so I just follow the poorly marked signage to get to the shuttles to take me to the car I keep here.

Next time, hopefully I can get there a little early, so I can have time to check things out a little more, and give you a more detailed analysis. From what I did see, it looks like a nice facility, we’ll have to see how it works, though.

[Edited to correct spelling error]

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Blue Skies to you all!

[This message has been edited by 2 Million Miler (edited 03-01-2002).]