According to a poster on another message board, the new terminal is delayed now from January to April of next year. Evidently, there is a problem with a tunnel. Has anyone heard this or can confirm it?

NWA web site still lists January 20 -- for whatever that's worth!

Tunnel trouble?
Lets not hope it's the same problem CO had here in CLE. I still think it smells even today.

Living in SE Michigan I have not heard anything at all about the new terminal being delayed again...until I do, I am counting down the days until the suffering of using our dismal airport are over

I hope it's just a rumour but here is the thread I saw about it.

http://www.usaviation.com/forums/ubb...&f=10&t=000012

http://www.detroitfreepress.com/mone...6_20011116.htm

Rats! I had specifically routed myself through DTW on 1/21/02 in the hopes of getting an early look at the NEW DTW....I wonder if it's too late to change the flight to MSP.

[This message has been edited by GRR_Flyer (edited 11-19-2001).]

In the ongoing DTW terminal saga, it now looks like the date is Feb 24th, 2002:

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/011121/mnw009_1.html

Well, I don't feel too bad. I have a flight arriving from NRT in early January with a stopover in DTW, leaving on January 19th. So, I have no regrets about leaving DTW on January 19th.

Now, question is: I'm going Europe in March, I can either connect in DTW via NW or EWR via CO. I wonder which airline will be getting my business? [I miss the old smilie graphics]

aw c'mon everyone.... i know what the real problem is... they are having computer troubles! it seems the software upgrade on the connection computer isn't working right. you know which computer i mean. the one that makes sure that if you come in at the end of C, you depart from the end of F, and vice versa! or that if you come in on commuter at G, your connection is actually a CO flight departing from B! i think it's stored in an outbuilding disguised as a fire station in a remote corner of the airport...

the software must be making the connections in the new terminal far too simple!

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All Hail Mighty Oregon!

GO DUCKS GO!

Northwest now says Feb 24, 2002

according to the article in the Detroit Free press click on the link below to see the article

http://www.freep.com/news/latestnews...9_20011121.htm

Hey! I help program those gate-plotting computers! The logic is based on Murphy's Law: Ensure the highest number of connecting passengers must walk the greatest distance in the least amount of time from a delayed inbound flight to an on-time outbound flight!

All joking aside, it's mainly because 40-50 new bomb-sniffing and X-ray machines must be ordered and installed in order to comply with the recent FAA law that goes into effect in late January: ALL checked bags must be X-rayed.

The interim plan, however, is being tested in MSP and MEM and working quite well. Every piece of checked luggage has a bar code that is used at the initial check-in point to make sure the bags go to the correct plane. Now those bar codes will be scanned each time a piece of luggage is loaded onto a plane. It's instantly transmitted to the computer system indicating the bag is on the flight. If the passenger fails to board but we know the bag is on and in which compartment it was loaded on the aircraft, the bag can (relatively) easily be removed.

The new system will be much better, though, and of course requires new electrical wiring, new X-ray machines, etc. So I guess it's good in a way to delay the terminal so that it opens with the most effective security initiatives as possible.

thanks for the update, PARSpro!

i for one am really looking forward to the new DTW terminal. i might even make int'l inbound connections there now.

i'll be sure try out the new bag matching later this week when i fly out to PDX (via MSP both ways). Now if only my CO priority bag tags meant something to a NW ramper...

------------------
All Hail Mighty Oregon!

GO DUCKS GO!

Based on my experience yesterday the current software also makes sure that bags with the yellow "Priority" stickers come out for luggage pickup LAST! (There were a bunch of us from first class waiting for our luggage. It all came out together after all the non-priority luggage).

the contractor for the baggage handling
system is bea systems. sound familiar?
[they did the infamous "denver" system]

imo, additional delays beyond feb 2002 are
likely. one of the larger electrical
contractors pulled 500 people off the
job due to a [non-]payment dispute.

-doug