Gates D1-D4 at DFW
 

I had the experience of finding my way to gate D1 at DFW on 5/30/21. I had no idea that there was a new wing attached to terminal D, and that the distance from the Skylink was excessive (for me). Does anyone know if there is a plan to improve access to these gates?

No. I have no idea how they could "improve access" to those gates. Skylink wasn't built to accommodate additional stations in existing terminals (though it does have provisions for stations in terminal F)

Its the same as B1-B3. A little bit of a hike

If you land at B1 and have a connecting flight at D1, you know you are having a bad day.

From a practical standpoint, I don't find the low B gates super terrible, my DFW//SWO flights used them quite a bit before the E nest took the E140/145 flights. I usually would just walk there from wherever because after considering the walk to the Skylink and then from the B skylink, you might as well just hike direct from most gates, using the southend A to B and/or north end C to D people-movers across the highway which are decently fast**. But the south-end the D terminal doesn't have any connections so you really do have to take the Skylink from wherever and then still do a hike.

(**They should put some people movers along that B to D stretch though)

Getting from the Skylink to the low D-gates is no worse than the Skytrain to the E-gates in Miami or having to switch concourses in Chicago. Americans need to walk more.

or gates 30-40 at T3 LHR.

if i leave the lounge now, i should make boarding in time should AA resume flights from T3

No kidding. I had to do that from the BA F lounge several years ago with what turned out to be a broken ankle. I was too proud to accept the lounge agent's offer to arrange assistance but was certainly regretting that decision in the middle of the hike.

I also noticed for those gates the status switches to "Flight closing" like 40 minutes before departure. I always suspected that was just to instill panic and get folks moving faster, as most wouldn't realize how long the walk really was.

Agreed. Has no one been to JFK T4? Now that's a hike

LOL--i laugh not at you but with you because i have been in many different impaired states making that trek and it is almost always warm to hot to me as well. and while i am a bit less stressed by the "flight closing" it still gets me when they switch from boarding to flight closing in about 3 mins. no matter how many hundreds of flights ive taken from T3, i still get stressed by it!

Oh, now I feel better about myself :).

I did the same thing after getting a stress fracture of my left foot stepping off the curb in Berlin at a meeting.

Then made the long walk to my connection in LHR, limping badly, telling the AA service people " no thanks I don't need a buggy ride, I'll be okay".

My foot was so swollen when we got to Chicago, I had to unlace my tennis shoe to get my foot into it and then limped again from Terminal 5 to Terminal 3 (love standing on it in the train) to finally get back to Rochester MN.

What a fool I was (And I am a Dr too) :).

Oh, I agree. If given the time, I much prefer walking between flights to stretch the legs and get the heart rate up a little. I feel fortunate everyday that I am mobile.

The main problem is at DFW, it seems like I am nearly always running between flights and fighting my way into skylink trains to make tight connections. Most GAs there seem to get pleasure shutting the door as soon as T-15 or T-10 hits and deny boarding to people running at them.

Nothing is as bad as PHL in that regards.