OT: Metro Airport Question
I know this really OT for this board, but also that there are a lot of SE Michiganders here. I'm flying out of Metro soon, and have read a few articles about the surge of travelling creating longer than normal delays at airports. I generally allocate a 2-hour cushion, but was wondering if anyone here has flown out of Metro in recent weeks (specifically McNamara), and could offer some sense of what that experience was like? Thanks in advance
I flew out of McNamara, and boy are my arms tired.
I didn't know you had an account here, dad.
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Flew out of Metro about a month ago. Took me about 80 minutes to get from the entrance to the terminal to my gate. Longest it's taken at Metro by far. Was an early morning flight, might be even busier later in the day.
Most Delta flights out of DTW are part of big flight banks that all generally leave at the same time (the nature of how Delta uses it as a connecting hub). McNamara TSA wait times typically ebb and flow with those flight banks -- it's been that way for years.
You should be absolutely fine arriving 2 hours early --- it'll be a bit of a slow time at TSA, you'll be ahead of the rush.
I flew into, then out of DTW about a month ago. Security was super light. Just my experience though.
There is a MyTSA app that can give you some decent information on lines. It’s pretty accurate but not real time.
Save time if you can by taking only carry on bags, check in online to get seat and/or use kiosk to check in. This avoids the ticket counter line, then just go through security. If you go thru both ticket counter and security lines then you’ll need more time. I noticed even in the past not many agents at ticket counter, so it’s probably worse now.
Often if flight is full they will announce at the gate asking for volunteers to check carry on bags for free to save space in overhead bins. I usually don’t check anything in order to avoid waiting to claim it after arrival.
Day of week and time of day will have a big impact. 2 hour cushion should be plenty of time though.
I flew out of Macnamera this past Sunday night and returned Wednesday night. Long lines for checking bags and normal TSA (I have pre-check) on Sunday night. The terminal itself was busier than I expected too. Lines for seating in restaurants and lots of gates with people waiting.
Coming back Wednesday afternoon was the opposite. Terminal looked pretty normal and walking past the main security line on my way out things looked to be moving pretty smooth.
Yes recently flew Delta and had to check bags. Give yourself two hours and make sure you get in the correct line: you have to self serve kiosk your bag tags and boarding passes, then get in line to drop them off. That line is longer than the customer service line but it moves much quicker. If you are not checking bags pat yourself on the back and relax and only give yourself an hour. Rock on.
Flew from there last weekend on the way back to Philly. In and out of check-in/TSA mail cops in 15ish minutes.
Philly was 90+ minutes from check-in until getting to the other side of TSA.
Id live in Detroit just for the airport.
My personal experience with the long lines at PHL have been more with baggage check-in and less with security. The last few times I've flown out, I've had at least a 20-minute wait to check bags with Delta (although this last time they were good about moving people to the front who were cutting it close and stuck in line) but security took no more than 5 minutes. I really do think security line lengths depend on the time of day, how many passengers there are, and the bandwidth of TSA agents available. But if you have TSA Precheck, you should be able to bypass long lines most of the time so long as that lane is open.
" I really do think security line lengths depend on the time of day, how many passengers there are, and the bandwidth of TSA agents available."
And how close you are cutting your time. I missed a flight to Miami a few years ago because the TSA was backed up as far as I have ever seen.
I remember some ranking of the 30 busiest airports in the U.S. from around 2005 or so, based on a variety of factors. DTW finished dead last. They have really turned things around since then. It’s now a pretty nice airport.
It compares well to most U.S. airports.
Left Metro at 8:00pm on 7-2-21 the place was empty. Went again at 9:30am on 7-14-21. Just over an hour to get to the gate from check in. I guess it depends on the day and time. Still have to wear a mask in the airport.
We flew out of there weekend of Memorial Day, Sat morning flight. It was easy in and out for us w/ TSA Pre-Check, think we were 3rd in line to check our bags and only 3/4 families ahead of us for security.
Keep in mind that there is construction on 275 right now. They’re encouraging airport traffic to use 94/Middlebelt rather than 275/Eureka, so you may have to alter your usual route if you go that way.
This. We just drove through that area near the Eureka Rd. exit on I-275 and it's a big construction mess. Probably a 15 minute delay around 4:00 p.m. I would definitely recommend using the north entrance off I-94.
Bag drop line was really long. I would definitely give yourself the full 2 hours for sure. I ended up doing curbside drop though because that line was really short.
Flew out on a Sunday at 7AM. Over an hour to navigate the two lines to just check a bag (one to get the self service sticker and the other to drop it off). Felt like holiday weekend travel and it was just another Sunday in the summer. Security was also about a 30 min adventure for non-TSA pre-check.
haven’t had to fly in a couple years. but if I don’t have a lot of time at McNamara i go through the security checkpoint at the Westin. A lot of travelers don’t even know it’s there. Sometimes TSA staff redirect passengers to the Westin when the main checkpoints back up. beware there are different hours at the Westin so it may not be available for early or late flights.
Definitely DTW's "hidden" TSA checkpoint (analogous to the North Bridge at DEN and the one by the C-G connector bridge at MSP), and a good tip. It's open 8-7 daily.
I flew out of McNamara last week Wednesday and while busy I didn't notice a huge difference from pre-covid days. I got there about 2 hours early and that was more than enough time.
Ugh, I have a bunch of flights scheduled in August and hate lines. I'm the type of person that (during normal times) NEVER gets to the airport more than ~20 mins before boarding. If I hadn't read about some of these line issues, I'd probably miss my flight.
Well 20 min before boarding is about 40-50 min before departure, and that is still cutting it real close. Maybe at off peak times you could get away with that. That’s like how it was back in the 90’s. These days I’d consider you a wild man.
CLEAR or at least PreCheck.
If it's 6am on Monday, I always give myself more time. Otherwise, I'm usually there no more than a half hour before boarding, but that's just me.
Flew out July 4 weekend, midmorning flight. No problems, was parking car 75 minutes before takeoff.
Flown out of DTW twice in the last month, both on Sunday around noon. 15 Mins each time in TSA and fairly empty airport. Thursday and Friday in the AM are typically the longest waits, but 2 hour cushion is more than enough time even on busy days
I flew out of Metro over a week ago and came back last night. Seemed to be a fair amount of people there. I think you are safe with the two hour gap. The plane rides to and from on my trip were both full though. Getting through security was pretty timely, not much of a wait at all.
I'd say 2 hours from your boarding time not the departure time - if you do it from your departure time you're really only leaving yourself 90 minutes.
Depends on the day and time. If you're flying out on a Monday morning at 6am, expect long lines with all the business travelers off to start their weeks. Similarly, Wed and Thu afternoon/evening tends to be busy with business travelers heading back home.
If it's around a holiday, again expect longer lines.
Given that boarding typically takes place anywhere from 30-40 minutes before the scheduled departure time, you should be fine getting into the security line 90 minutes before your flight. Even better if you have PreCheck and/or CLEAR.
I hope DTW is sending Cade some NIL money.
Flew from ATL to DTW and back for work. Flight from ATL to DTW took forever to get to my gate. Even for Atlanta standards. Security was extremely strict. DTW back flight took about 45 minutes to get through from entrance to gate. Security was near non-existent. 2 hours should be fine.
It shouldn't take longer than pre-pandemic.
I just flew out of McNamarra about 4 hours ago. I got there 2 hours early and it was plenty. Only took me 10 mins thru security