I'm flying home to visit my family on Thanksgiving day and have a layover at DTW. I've never been there and don't know how it compares in size with other airports. The layover is only 36 minutes so I just wanted to make sure that is going to be enough time to make it. Thank you in advance!

Welcome to FT, cjparker0110. DTW is a very easy airport to navigate - it's fairly large, but has plenty of moving walkways and a tram in the A Concourse to make it very manageable.

Are you on mainline flights? All of those leave from the A Concourse; regional jets primarily leave out of Concourses B and C (a 5 minute walk away). 36 minutes is tight, but quite doable - I'd recommend getting a seat as close to the front as possible on your inbound flight to expedite getting off and to your next flight.

Thank you mersk862. I'm flying in on Northwest and flying out on Delta. I don't like such a short layover, but I wasn't planning this trip but for my fiancee and I, this is the best pricing we can get at such a late time. The next best flight would be $400 more for both of us so I decided to chance it. I'm kind of an infrequent traveler so how do I go about getting a seat close to the front?

You can go to either the NW or Delta website, pull up your reservation using your confirmation number, and there you should be able to select your seat on the plane. There may not be a whole lot of options since Thanksgiving is such a popular travel time, but it is worth a try.

https://www.delta.com/myitinerary/itinLanding.action
http://www.nwa.com/ - click on "my reservations" on the right

What is your exact routing?

36 minutes is pretty tight. It is doable if your incoming flight is on time (really on time, not up to 14 minutes late the way "on time" statistics are collected).

Be prepared to run the length of the terminal to reach your outbound flight. And look up later flights from DTW to your destination so that you know your rebooking options if you get misconnected.

Unless your gates are close, this is really risky, particularly for holiday travel. As an infrequent traveler I'm assuming you are not elite on DL, so getting a seat close to the front isn't guaranteed. As others have mentioned, knowing the routing would be helpful.

First of all, you should check the airlines' websites as frequently as practical to try to move to a better (more forward) seat; elites are likely to begin upgrading 6 days before the flight and this tends to open up some good seats. You can change your seats on the computer as often as you want for free. You should try to do on line check in at exactly 24 hours before the departure time so as to maximize the chances of being able to purchase a "choice" (preferred because of aisle, bulkhead, exit row, or toward the front of the aircraft) seat near the front on the first flight. If this doesn't work and you have a seat assignment that isn't good--i.e., in the back in this case--you can stop the check in and continue to monitor the website and try later, in hopes that you might get lucky with a better seat, perhaps as others are upgraded or switch to other flights. However, especially for the holiday travel period, you should certainly arrive at the airport with a printed boarding pass and some seat assignment if at all possible.

During the on line check in process and before leaving for the airport, notice your arrival and departure gates, although be warned that gate assignments do change and you will need to verify the departure gate when you arrive in DTW. When your flight arrives at DTW, try to look out a window to see the sign for the arrival gate and listen for the crew announcement of the gate before landing but verify that your plane really did arrive at the planned gate in DTW. Look at the online airport terminal maps and familiarize yourself with the airport's layout and gate locations before your travel day.

Also, think/plan to run through the airport if necessary. Do you want to check luggage (and risk its failure to arrive on your flight) in order to be able to deplane more easily and run faster through the airport? You should ask if this is still true, but at one time gate checked bags--what will happen to any carry-on that won't fit into the bins on the plane--were checked only to the connecting airport, where the passengers needed to wait to retrieve them outside of security before boarding the next flight. You will not make the connection if you must go to baggage claim in DTW, so you might not want to risk the possibility of being forced to gate check a bag. This means that you either pay to check it at the first airport, really minimize what you take so that it all fits under the seat in front of you, or try hard to board your first flight as early as possible (but after first class and elites have boarded), so that you must be at the gate before boarding begins for your first flight.

Within DTW, and especially within the A concourse areas, wheeled luggage works well on the moving walkways which are extremely wide and also on the escalators to and from the little airport train that runs the length of the A concourse with three stops every few minutes. Don't take anything that will slow you down!

A potential disadvantage of my suggested strategy is that, as a nonelite, you are likely to pay a baggage check fee (no refunds if the bag doesn't arrive on your flight and no compensation for the inconvenience) and an additional fee for choice seating on the first flight. Consider whether it is worth paying this to (hopefully) lower the chances of missing your connection balanced against what will happen if you miss the second flight. Maybe the cheap ticket isn't really so inexpensive in the end.

I don't know if the mention of the fiance in post #3 means that there are two people traveling together on this itinerary. If so, you may be able to get a single seat close to the plane door. If that is all that is available, take it (sitting apart will not be the end of the world) - that way, the faster of the two of you can make the mad dash to the connecting gate.

Remember that if you have a long walk in the main (A) concourse - be sure and check to see if the overhead Express Tram is faster. It depends on which two gates are involved.

Don't just make a mad dash without checking this.

Sometimes you even walk a few steps "backward" (away from your connecting gate) to go up the escalator to the Express Tram.

Take a look at this diagram:

http://www.metroairport.com/pdf/maps/McNamGatesMap.pdf

...it will help a bunch in getting the hang of it. For example, if you were going from A20 to A72 - you would not walk toward A72 - you would actually walk back and catch the Express Tram (see the red dot near A11) - and ride the tram to the stop near A70 - and your new gate is right there.

But wouldn't that risk having the slower one be locked out and misconnected as they close the door just after the faster one boards?

Thank you for all the replies! I guess I should throw out there that when I say I'm an infrequent traveler, it is mostly by finances and not by lack of desire. I flew a lot with my family as a kid, so I know my way around an airport and such and can usually navigate easily with a rolling case (I've worked in a few warehouses and actually am more likely to pick them up if the concourse is crowded). Just thought I'd throw that out...not sure why. As for my routing, I made a mistake...I'm with Delta on the way home. Im' northwest for both flights out...so that may help a bit. My routing is as follows:
MSP to DTW (6:35 to 9:29)
DTW to ORF (10:05 to 11:55)

We will probably check one bag (between my hair gel, contact solution, cologne, her hair spray, special shampoo, etc, it's just easier) and then will each have a carry on (clothing just to be safe). My family isn't too far from the airport so if our checked bag doesn't make it that first day, we won't suffer too greatly. I'm more just worried about making the flight. As for the carry-on suitcase, it is definitely small enough. I have carried it on before and I know how to pack properly (thanks to my parents always traveling). I guess I'll just have to hope for the best.

What you want to do is check what flights from DTW to ORF there are after your scheduled flight, so that you know your options if you misconnect. Since your flights are in the morning, there should be a number of options, though some flights may be full.

If you do misconnect, Northwest will likely prefer to put you on its own flights (which are probably the only nonstop ones available) or Delta flights (which would involve a connection, probably through ATL). But be aware of what other airlines offer, in case all of the Northwest and Delta options that day are full.

Couple of things to add to what everyone else has said (which has generally been good advice):

Looking up your itinerary, it seems your first flight is on mainline NWA, and the second one is a regional NWA (Pinnacle). This means you are probably coming in at A terminal and leaving from B or C terminal. All other things being equal, this is bad b/c it adds a few more minutes to your transfer.

As noted, since you're flying in the morning, there are two later flights (1:50 PM and 5:25 PM) that could accommodate you. This is good.

I noticed that you said you are actually traveling on Thanksgiving. Other people have warned you about heavy holiday crowds, etc. In my prior experience, while the days leading up the Thanksgiving are extremely busy, the holiday itself is often actually a very light travel day. This also is good as it makes it more likely you'll be able to sit near the front of the plane. Even if you can't pre-reserve seats near the front, if you get on your 1st flight and discover it's not heavily loaded, you can always explain to the FA that you have a very tight connection and would like to move forward if possible. Often, if there are open seats closer to the front of coach, the FAs will be nice and let you move.

Thank you crhptic. I appreciate that insight. One other question real quick: are restaurants and shops usually open in airports on holidays? Or do they close? If I end up missing my flight I would like to know if I should have food with me or if I can count on finding something to eat there.