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Tags: Airport-WiFi-Map / Airport WiFi / DTW / Detroit Travel / Delta / Boingo / → All Tags

Detroit Airport Might Be Spacious And Pretty, But The WiFi Sucks

Update: Ok fine, so as the DTW rep points out in the comments, Boingo is available in both terminals. But our own experience convinced us otherwise, and we recommend checking out the Airport WiFi map (click the icon to the right) to note that most airports tagged have free Wifi; something DTW should think about if they can afford the snazziness evident elsewhere.

We may have told you time and time again about the wonders of Detroit's Wayne Country Airport, but despite the very cool in-terminal monorail and relaxing LED light tunnel, Detroit is not as down with technology as you think.

In particular we refer to their Airport WiFi situation, which is sad to say the least. They've had internet in their Smith terminal since 2004, but with that terminal currently sitting empty Detroit has had to equip the rest of the airport. These days, you can log into the 'net from Delta/Northwest's McNamara Terminal only, and it's a Boingo frontier there.

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Tags: Travel Snapshot / Northwest Airlines / Delta / DTW / Airlines / → All Tags

Northwest Planes And Delta Red Dresses Spotted At Detroit-Metro

Yesterday morning, during our hop on a 6am flight from New York-LaGuardia to Detroit-Metro, we were once again confronted by the schizophrenia of the whole Delta/Northwest merger. Although the fancy McNamara terminal at DTW has been decked out in Delta regalia since before April, a few traces of the old red-and-grey still exist.

For instance, our DC-9 plane was still sporting the Northwest livery, as was this 747 jumbo jet pictured above, patiently sitting at a gate until a 12:35pm departure to Tokyo (it's no coincidence that the terminal's sushi bar is across from this gate). Aside from that, everything from the in-flight magazine to the Biscoff cookies were stamped with the Delta logo.

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Tags: Travel Snapshot / DTW / Detroit / Northwest Airlines / Travel Videos / → All Tags

Detroit Metro Airport Might Be the Best Thing About Detroit

Is it spring yet? With snow beating down on the tarmac yesterday at Detroit Metro Airport, we're extremely sad to say that Punxsutawney Phil was right again. Nothing is more depressing than agreeing with a groundhog on the weather.

So instead we turned our focus onto the awesome interior of one of our favorite terminals, the inside of Northwest's sprawling Concourse A, which has a wingspan of some 78 gates.

Keep reading for our video of the concourse.

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Tags: Airports / Movie Set Travel / Detroit Travel / DTW / George Clooney / → All Tags

Detroit's DTW Airport Now Open for Filmmakers

If you’re passing through DTW today, keep an eye out for George Clooney. The A-lister will be filming a scene for his latest movie, “Up in Air” in one of four terminals the airport has made available for filmmakers.

Michigan is currently offering a 42 percent tax credit to filmmakers who choose their state as a filming location, making Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport very attractive to cost conscience movie producers. To accommodate potential movie projects, the airport has two completely new terminals, McNamara and North, that are open to filmmakers and two others that are no longer in use but can still be used for filming, Smith and Berry.

These two terminals are ideal for set designers because all of the ticket counters, phone booths, luggage carousels, restaurants and coffee shops remain but because they are no longer in use so they can be customized to fit whatever is called for in the script.

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Tags: Airports / DTW / North Terminal at DTW / → All Tags

Adventures of Link: New Detroit Terminal React-O-Matic

DTW managed to open its new terminal today without any sort of the shambolism we saw during what's bound to be 2008's most notorious airport meltdown.

So what's the early word on the new facility? Overall, people posting stuff on the web are pretty impressed--though it's not hard to top the old Smith Terminal.

Related Stories:
· "I'm glad they had their game on for Day One" [Detroit F-P]
· "I am thrilled the new DTW terminal is here...the old part of the airport has been around forever and is such a dump." [Twitter]
· "I didn't even know about the dumpy part of DTW until we took American last year. What a sad terminal." [Twitter]
· "Smith Terminal finally replaced at DTW - GO, DETROIT, GO!" [Twitter]
· "Power outlets don't seem especially plentiful" [USA Today]

[Photo: Wikimedia]

Tags: Airports / DTW / North Terminal at DTW / → All Tags

Detroit's New Terminal Opens Today

Spirit Air Flight 788 pulled up to Detroit Metro at 5:15 am this morning, making it the first flight to use the brand new North Terminal at DTW. And it's getting rave reviews already! Says one local:

It looks like Detroit is finally coming into the 21st century. I was tired of my friends flying in here and talking about how bad we are. I was kind of ashamed of our airport.

We were too! The new $431-million building has replaced the Berry and Smith Terminals nearby, so the change affects passengers not flying on Northwest or other SkyTeam carriers.

There have been rumors of fun activities today, but we're a little suspicious of how "fun" a new terminal can really be. At the very least, Southwest is handing out energy drinks, so, uh, there's that.

Related Stories:
· First Flight Greeted at Terminal [Detroit F-P]
· Ben Mutzabaugh Is Live Blogging from DTW [USA Today]
· Happy Hour in DTW [Jaunted]

[Photo: Southwest Airlines]

Tags: Airports / Airport Bars / Tourists / Travel Snapshots / DTW / → All Tags

Travel Snapshot: Happy Hour in DTW

You know how you can always tell the tourists headed to warmer climes when you walk through the airport? They're always the ones wearing goofy print shirts and short shorts even though it's bound to be frigid on the plane.

Jaunted member JetSetCD sent us this funny snapshot, along with a bit of an explanation:

I mean, it may be the Motor City and all, but really? Gotta love the guy in the tropical shirt at the bar; the flights around it were headed to various parts of Mexico.

Have your own travel snapshots? Drop 'em in our Flickr pool.

Related Stories:
· Travel Snapshots coverage [Jaunted]
· Tourists coverage [Jaunted]