Definitely one of the better travel experiences in the U.S.

Not surprised. Its a great airport.

Always nice to see the positive mention of DTW in the national press. Granted any of these surveys are highly subjective based on the categories and ranking criteria, this one being by JD Power is one of the more legitimate and recognized surveys in the industry. This isn't some random travel blogger and/or click-bait website releasing this survey.

That said, the criteria used here align heavily with the positive aspects of the airport:
Terminal facilities, baggage claim, security check, check-in/baggage check and food, beverage and retail

The glaring areas of improvement for DTW (and Southeast Michigan as a whole) are in the areas of ground transportation and rental car facilities. Neither of which were factors in this survey.

I would also suggest the high on-time arrival stats for DTW and DL's overall operational reliability help bias some of the survey results to give DTW a nudge in the rankings.

What a pivot from two decades ago, when DTW was generally regarded as one of the worst airports in the country.

I miss the Smith and Davey terminals from a nostalgic point of view, but they were really run-down and overcrowded by the end of their lives.

Wow. And the Points Guy named the airport #47 out of 50 for the 50 busiest airports in the U.S.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/07/best-an ... s-guy.html

To elaborate a bit more on a few points:

There are couple of factors help elevate DTW in the rankings:
- Consistence experience; regardless of airline and even terminal, both offer a very consistent, modern facility and passenger experience. Unlike other major airports where there are concourses or terminals that vary in age, capacity, and amenities, DTW is very similar across the board. DTW also has a consistent experience whether you arrive on a mainline or regional jet; its not the second-rate bus-station like atmosphere that some airports have for regional jet operations.

- Ample air-side and airfield capacity; as we are seeing record passenger numbers at many airports across the country, many are at the limits of their capacity during peak operating times or embarking on massive multi-year renovation and reconstruction efforts. Very few of these are green-field facilities either or are still years away from opening. This goes a long way as DTW generally does not have crowded concourses and gate areas; worst case one can go find an adjacent gate to get away from crowds. Rarely does an aircraft have to wait for an available gate except during IROPS.

The areas for improvement that some have mentioned above, that were not factors in this survey:

- Ground transportation centers (both terminals)
The McNamera Terminal ground transportation center has poor passenger and vehicle flow, is too small, and gets overcrowded during peak peak-up / arrivals period. Its full of smokers and vehicle exhaust and a poor front-door for the airport. It needs better flow from the escalators/stairs, and more capacity.
The North Terminal is poor in the sense as its pretty exposed to the elements. Yes its covered from the rain but its highly exposed to wind and cold which is basically 6 months of the year. Also has awkward passenger flow from the terminal to navigate a bunch of escalators/elevators up and down

- Rental Car Facility
Long bus rides from either terminal with each company running their own buses and centers. The car pick-up /drop-off locations are highly exposed to the weather and not ideal for our winters and climate. Way-finding to/from I-94 and I-275 isn't ideal, particularly from I-275 and the south entrance. A consolidated rental car facility has pro's and cons if they eventually do go down that route, but if they do decide to go down that route, its likely to be north of I-94.

- Public Transportation
This is more of a regional issue that anything directly attributable to DTW specifically. Ride-sharing has helped immensely in getting better options of out-of-town travelers who don't want to rent a car. Better scheduled and publicized bus service to Detroit and Ann Arbor for example. Also better options for connections to bus service would help employees more so than passengers.

BenflysDTW wrote:

Wow. And the Points Guy named the airport #47 out of 50 for the 50 busiest airports in the U.S.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/07/best-an ... s-guy.html

I've scoured the Points Guy article and can't find any explanation of why DTW ranked so low in their ratings. They make reference to lounges being an important element of their survey, and while the North Terminal may be lacking for airlines other than Lufthansa, the numerous Delta lounges should balance that out. I'm sure some of it can be attributed to the ground transportation issues, but the terminals alone should put DTW in the top half of the survey.

BenflysDTW wrote:

Wow. And the Points Guy named the airport #47 out of 50 for the 50 busiest airports in the U.S.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/07/best-an ... s-guy.html

Prolly cause there was no Double Platinum Champagne Lounge with 1,000 servants bowing down to him. For the rest of us plebs, DTW is great.

timf wrote:

BenflysDTW wrote:

Wow. And the Points Guy named the airport #47 out of 50 for the 50 busiest airports in the U.S.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/07/best-an ... s-guy.html

I've scoured the Points Guy article and can't find any explanation of why DTW ranked so low in their ratings.

The TPG article referenced in the CNBC link doesn't list its rating criteria (let alone describe them in some detail) nor its weightings. It's all a mystery. JD Power gives a customer satisfaction score metric, gathered, you know, by asking passengers how satisfied they are in specific categories.

Glad to see public transportation was empathized here. Public transportation is generally utilized by low wage airport employees and tourists, not business travelers. And airports around the country continue to see a decline in use, as well as rental cars, as more people take ride shares. I pretty much take Uber exclusively; from my residence in Northern Oakland County, it cost ~$50 each way. At $2.50/gallon, it cost me $5 to drive + $10/day parking near the airport. (And I've had plenty of $300+ bills from QwikPark, given that I split my time between my residences, typically traveling on OW tickets with no idea when I'll return.)

timf wrote:

BenflysDTW wrote:

Wow. And the Points Guy named the airport #47 out of 50 for the 50 busiest airports in the U.S.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/07/best-an ... s-guy.html

I've scoured the Points Guy article and can't find any explanation of why DTW ranked so low in their ratings. They make reference to lounges being an important element of their survey, and while the North Terminal may be lacking for airlines other than Lufthansa, the numerous Delta lounges should balance that out. I'm sure some of it can be attributed to the ground transportation issues, but the terminals alone should put DTW in the top half of the survey.

TPG ranked MCO below DTW; apparently its score was hurt because of the long commute into Downtown Orlando -- you know, the destination where the lion's share of its guests are headed to (or from). Meanwhile, if you arrive into T1 at LAX, it can take three hours to get from the gate to the rental car facility to Downtown, but its score was salvaged because it has a yoga room or something. But anybody who's followed Brian Kelly (TPG) shouldn't be surprised. To be fair, I wish I could roll the clock back to the early 2000s and start a blog with everything I ripped off from FT... I would've made a killing...

Of note, the Lufthansa lounge is open all day; it joined Priority Pass not that long ago, and is pretty liberal in admitting United Club members. Officially, neither PP nor UC are permitted access during the time period surrounding LH's departure, but I've never been kicked out. That may change next year when MUC is introduced.

The only thing I would add would be a people mover connecting the two terminals and a consolidated people mover. The airport authority has done a good job of keeping the terminals in good condition.

It's a great airport, my favorite large airport to connect through in the entire country. Someone who is too young to remember the old Davey and Smith terminals would not believe how bad they were. It's like night and day.

Kudos to them for keeping the airport up so well and their foresight in the terminal design and capacity.

The car rental and long term parking areas were designed before the McNamara Terminal was around. There is a lot of vacant land south of Eureka Rd that should be utilized to have closer facilities.

#1 for facilities most definitely but probably dead last in customer service. I think Delta/DGS sends agents there as a punishment for wrongdoing at other stations.

Cubsrule wrote:

The car rental situation isn’t good. Long bus rides from both terminals, and getting to 94 from the lots can be a pain too. But with two fairly busy terminals, solutions won’t be easy. (There are some multi-terminal car rental situations like at YYZ but that tends to lead to other problems.)

It's not rocket science -- build a multi-story garage somewhere in between the terminals, and bus people to it.

It seems like you could build a multi-level facility where the Green Lot is today, and move the economy parking to where the rental lots are now. (Or, alternately, where the WN cargo and airport police facilities are now.)

Either of those locations would also make for an easy future people mover running along Dingell Drive from McNamara, to the RCC, and then looping back to the North Terminal.

Even without the people mover, it would be more convenient than the consolidated facilities in BOS, DFW, or SEA, just to name a few. All of those are longer bus rides from the terminals.

Prost wrote:

The only thing I would add would be a people mover connecting the two terminals and a consolidated people mover. The airport authority has done a good job of keeping the terminals in good condition.

Given how the airlines are split between terminals by alliances (SkyTeam vs everyone else), the number of people using such a people mover wouldn't be high enough to justify the investment.

My only complaint about DTW is the dots they have on all the McNamara Terminal windows that make it hard to see out.

Been through many times. Would not really say it is something special. It all depends on how fast I get in and out.

Given the criteria, it makes sense that DTW would rank highly. However, there is no denying that the landside layout is a struggle for both terminals (more so McNamara) and needs improvement. There are a lot of airports that have better landside layouts than DTW.

Has Delta opened the concourse with the shuttered RJ gates?

BenflysDTW wrote:

Wow. And the Points Guy named the airport #47 out of 50 for the 50 busiest airports in the U.S.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/07/best-an ... s-guy.html

That rating is ridiculous. San Diego number one?!?! T2's fine, but T1 is literal balls. T1E when WN is operating a bank rivals LaGuardia.

FSDan wrote:

Prost wrote:

My only complaint about DTW is the dots they have on all the McNamara Terminal windows that make it hard to see out.

Would you rather have the sun beating through those large windows all day?

Super80Fan wrote:

#1 for facilities most definitely but probably dead last in customer service. I think Delta/DGS sends agents there as a punishment for wrongdoing at other stations.

My wife is Diamond and I'm Silver so we fly quite a bit and have never had a problem. I find that the way I approach someone and act towards them is usually reciprocated.

william wrote:

Has Delta opened the concourse with the shuttered RJ gates?

The B/C concourse as a whole has remained open, but those gates at the end of C are still sealed off and closed due to lack of demand. The master plan has several pages discussing how to rebuild the C-concourse to handle more people and larger aircraft, but as of now that’s only an idea.

BenflysDTW wrote:

Wow. And the Points Guy named the airport #47 out of 50 for the 50 busiest airports in the U.S.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/07/best-an ... s-guy.html

I love my hometown airport of SAN, but as anyone from here will point out, it is convenient but many parts are terribly overcrowded, outdated, and the replacements won't be here for a while. Terminal 2 West is fantastic, but it makes the other facilities suffer tremendously by comparison. Terminal 2 East is my least favorite, with the bizarre-shaped waiting areas with far too little seating capacity. At least Terminal 1's banjos have windows!!

As for DTW, I had the pleasure of changing planes there once. I knew what to expect, but I was still surprised at how well marked everything is and how relaxing the Delta terminal felt despite its size.

And if I need to change planes in the middle of winter, my preferred choices are MSP or DTW. Snow happens! Michiganers and Minnesotans know how to deal with the cold!

johns624 wrote:

FSDan wrote:

Prost wrote:

My only complaint about DTW is the dots they have on all the McNamara Terminal windows that make it hard to see out.

Would you rather have the sun beating through those large windows all day?

I would for a better view, but that's just my personal opinion

BenflysDTW wrote:

Wow. And the Points Guy named the airport #47 out of 50 for the 50 busiest airports in the U.S.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/07/best-an ... s-guy.html

It is an article about the best and worst US airports and the picture or photo at the beginning is from CDG!!!

maps4ltd wrote:

BenflysDTW wrote:

Wow. And the Points Guy named the airport #47 out of 50 for the 50 busiest airports in the U.S.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/07/best-an ... s-guy.html

That rating is ridiculous. San Diego number one?!?! T2's fine, but T1 is literal balls. T1E when WN is operating a bank rivals LaGuardia.

TPG's quantitative scoring on all topics is laughable. Worse than airport rankings are the bizarre, non-sequitur scores on flight reviews.

DTW is excellent overall. I always schedule folks to connect through there for job interviews because of reliability. The only downside for me as a DL FF are the outdated Skyclubs in McNamara. The center Skyclub in A is particularly bad in that it has no views. The strength of the passenger experience at ATL, DTW, and MSP makes DL by far the easiest carrier to work with when I am trying to get people to one place on time.

It's really lovely to see this. Before 2003, my hometown's airport was a travesty, especially that dreaded C concourse in the old Davey terminal. It seemed as if all of my flights left or arrived at the end of C and it would take a full 20 minutes to walk it.

The new Midfield Terminal is a stunning example of beautiful design paired with excellent function. The simple, but effective tram system and the well-placed moving walkways make it easy to transfer between gates. The services offered in the terminal are top-notch and DTW excels at handling inclement weather. I haven't experienced the North Terminal yet, but I hear good things about it, too. The people who designed DTW really hit it out of the park.

Super80Fan wrote:

johns624 wrote:

Super80Fan wrote:

#1 for facilities most definitely but probably dead last in customer service. I think Delta/DGS sends agents there as a punishment for wrongdoing at other stations.

My wife is Diamond and I'm Silver so we fly quite a bit and have never had a problem. I find that the way I approach someone and act towards them is usually reciprocated.

Don’t give me that crap. I work for the dang airline and even though I have always treated airport workers with respect & kindness I am obligated to be nice/not bother gate agents. Have had nothing but great experiences with DL gate agents/customer service at JFK, LGA, ATL, MSP, SEA, SLC, and many outstations. DTW is the only Delta hub/station where I regularly run into gate agents and customer service agents who don’t do their job or are downright rude/dismissive to paying customers.

You’ve had nothing but excellent experiences in every airport, except DTW where you’ve had nothing but negative experiences. Do you realize how ridiculous this sounds? DTW has its problems in the 1990s, when NW was growing like a weed, there were local labor shortages and NW seemingly turned to the welfare-to-work office for its needs. But that was over 20 years ago - get over it; there’s a whole generation of a.net users who weren’t even born then yet can legally drink today. Heck, some probably even have children themselves.

My interactions and observations of employees at DTW is indifferent than elsewhere in the system. Heck, I routinely see them trying to help passengers in situations such as seat assignments on full flights - something you’ll rarely encounter at ATL. Nor have I seen them clear non-revenue passengers into Delta Comfort, aisle or widow seats before clearing paying passengers — something that’s an epidemic at LAX.

FSDan wrote:

Prost wrote:

The only thing I would add would be a people mover connecting the two terminals and a consolidated people mover. The airport authority has done a good job of keeping the terminals in good condition.

Given how the airlines are split between terminals by alliances (SkyTeam vs everyone else), the number of people using such a people mover wouldn't be high enough to justify the investment.

My only complaint about DTW is the dots they have on all the McNamara Terminal windows that make it hard to see out.

What exactly is the purpose of those dots?

The dots help defuse the solar energy and reduce the greenhouse heating effect inside from the sun. Also reduce glare.

The dots also can help birds realize that it’s not something they can fly through.

I’ve only been through DTW a few times, but note something positive in addition to what’s been discussed: TSA is polite. Every time I have been through, they have been pleasant and professional.

No “I didn’t say Simon says...!” games like at LAX, and no making up their own rules as they go along like in the ATL TSA part where international flight passengers going onward to another plane must be screened.

WidebodyPTV wrote:

Super80Fan wrote:

Spotted the DTW agent.

I've had a hit or miss with the DL GA's over in the B Concourse but the DGS "agents" over in the C Concourse make me wonder if I'm still flying Delta or if I stumbled into the Con Air terminal.

Back in March, you declared DTW one of the best airports in the country:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1416417&p=21142617#p21142617

Six months later, it's one of the worst. You're clearly embellishing your story -- less than four months ago, you wrote that you 'mostly fly AA, but have been increasingly flying DL.' You're not, as you claimed earlier, a DL employee.

I'm sorry you had what was very likely a single negative experience at DTW. But recognize that if you were truly a frequent flyer, negative experiences are unavoidable and can & will happen at any airport -- flying's a stressful, time-sensitive event for most people, which creates a lot of negative energy that can get the best of even the best agents. If the situation truly amounted to abuse or incompetence, hopefully you let DL know about it.

I love DTW, as in the setup, number of flights, lack of winter delays, concessions, concession employees, and other airline employees over in the North Terminal. With all that being said, I can still criticize the Delta employees.

My only complaint about DTW is the lack of food options. They need a better food court in the A concourse. Otherwise it's a very easy airport for connections!

The "food court" options are centralized around the north and south ends of Concourse A. The middle of A is indeed lacking.
They will never develop a centralized food court simply because of how dispersed the gate locations are throughout the concourse.

I also think they could use more more "grab-and-go" options opposed to sit-down or made-to-order options.

The lack of a central food court is also what makes the place so fluid and easy to navigate. As wide as the concourse is, it flows well no matter how busy it is.

All I want is that Taco Bell back...

WesternDC6B wrote:

no making up their own rules as they go along like in the ATL TSA part where international flight passengers going onward to another plane must be screened.

Did not get what you are trying to say there.
What do you mean by international passengers going onward must be screened?

johns624 wrote:

The lack of a central food court is also what makes the place so fluid and easy to navigate. As wide as the concourse is, it flows well no matter how busy it is.

We can try to parse the ratings across any number of factors, but the truth is that DTW didn't place number 1 among all airports - it placed #1 in the category of largest airports. PDX (large) and IND (medium) beat DTW by many, many points. People prefer smaller, uncrowded airports (not necessarily think that may mean a connection vs. a non-stop, or fewer frequencies). DL departures at DTW are banked, and it can be moderately busy at those times, but it's not the crap-show of EWR with a seething mass of humanity. Lack of crowding is one of DTW's strengths, both in McNamara and North terminal complexes.

DocLightning wrote:

The new Midfield Terminal is a stunning example of beautiful design paired with excellent function. The simple, but effective tram system and the well-placed moving walkways make it easy to transfer between gates. The services offered in the terminal are top-notch and DTW excels at handling inclement weather....The people who designed DTW really hit it out of the park.

I vote for this guy. What could be simpler than a long tube with with easy to read gate numbers? You couldn't possibly get lost, plus as you enter the terminal, you're near your gate or within 1 train stop of an easy walk.

I don't use food courts and have had no problems with rental cars.

[quote="MIflyer12”]We can try to parse the ratings across any number of factors, but the truth is that DTW didn't place number 1 among all airports - it placed #1 in the category of largest airports. PDX (large) and IND (medium) beat DTW by many, many points. People prefer smaller, uncrowded airports...[/quote]

Which is the flaw in one-size-fits all surveys. The North Terminal offers a whole different experience — shorter walks, more abundant eateries, etc — and features more traffic by itself than many midsIe airports including IND.

Folks, stay civil and on topic. You will be banned for:
1. Discussing other users.
2. Off topic discussion, in particular if you need to insult a city, airline, or region.

Do discuss new service, airport amenities (or the need, politely), expansion (and expansion constraints, again politely), and aviation topics.

What is it about Detroit threads that creates such conflict? This thread has all moderators on deck. This is your warning.

Lightsaber

DTWLAX wrote:

WesternDC6B wrote:

no making up their own rules as they go along like in the ATL TSA part where international flight passengers going onward to another plane must be screened.

Did not get what you are trying to say there.
What do you mean by international passengers going onward must be screened?

Example: one lands at ATL from FCO, but one is continuing from ATL to Birmingham Alabama. You don’t just change planes. You get screened by TSA first.