SI's MMQB Peter King Raves About Detroit's Airport

MR. STARWOOD PREFERRED MEMBER TRAVEL NOTE OF THE WEEK

My January travel trail so far:

Fri., Jan. 2: New York to Pittsburgh, fly.
Sun, Jan 4: Pittsburgh to New York, fly.Tue, Jan 6: New York to Las Vegas, fly.Wed, Jan 7: Las Vegas to New York, fly (redeye).Thu, Jan 8: New York to Providence, train. Car to Foxboro.Sat, Jan 10: Car from Foxboro to Providence. Providence to New York, train.Tue, Jan 13: New York to New Orleans, fly.Wed, Jan 14: New Orleans to New York, fly.Fri, Jan 16: New York to Detroit; Detroit to Seattle, fly.Today: Scheduled for Seattle to Detroit; Detroit to New York, fly (redeye).

Whee!

In order, I covered Ravens-Steelers, appeared at Time Inc. event at the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas, covered Ravens-Patriots, traveled to Louisiana for an NBC Super Bowl pregame show story, and covered the NFC title game in Seattle.

A note about the Detroit airport: It might have become my favorite one. It sounds strange, the airport in Detroit being the best in the country, but it just might be. Good places to eat, very good coffee spots (illy, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf), good and fast tram system, clean and bright, big TVs with CNN, and the best airport hotel in the country. By far. The Westin Detroit Airport, inside the terminal, is magnificently soundproof. And the best quality of a hotel that’s right off the runways must be that you can’t hear takeoffs and landings.

TEN THINGS I THINK I THINK

h. Coffeenerdness: Thanks to the ladies at the illy coffee shop inside Detroit’s airport for being prompt, cheerful and making one heck of a triple latte, the barista asking me after my first sip: “Is it okay?” No it’s not okay. It’s fantastic. And that’s rare in the hurry-up-and-take-what-we-give-you service industry in American airports.

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Detroit: Transportation Gem

www.planetalking.com

Some view Detroit as a symbol of a vast industrial failure. Delta Air Lines sees it as a jewel. "We're most excited about the future of Detroit, its role as the primary Asian gateway from the East Coast," says Glen Hauenstein, executive vice president of Delta, which acquired Northwest and its hub here in October. The deal makes Detroit the second-biggest hub, after Atlanta, for the world's largest airline.

"Not only is the airport beautiful, but to fly from the East Coast, it is the most direct route to Asia." Transportation infrastructure has always been the key to economic growth, says professor John Kasarda of the University of North Carolina. "Detroit Metro Airport is the region's primary infrastructure asset (and) the speedy connectivity it provides to area businesses can help Detroit's economy transform to new sunrise industries."

"Detroit is a very large city, in the top metropolitan areas, and an optimal hub," Hauenstein said, in an interview. "Not only is the airport beautiful, but to fly from the East Coast, it is the most direct route to Asia." Detroit-Wayne County Airport is the country's 12th busiest, with about 36 million passengers annually.

Already, Delta and its partners fly non-stop to Tokyo, Nagoya, Amsterdam, Paris and London, with flights to Shanghai and Rome scheduled to begin June 1. One-stop service to cities throughout Asia is available through Northwest's Tokyo hub. And "We think Detroit to Asia can be larger," Hauenstein says.

Amazingly, the Detroit that Hauenstein sees goes largely unnoticed by many, particularly in a city so busy feeling sorry for itself that it can barely conceive of such vast potential in its midst.

Throughout history, the most important cities have been transportation hubs, says John Kasarda, a professor at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina. "In the 18th century, the great cities were ports," Kasarda says. "In the 19th, they were railroad cities. In the 20th, they were highway cities. In the 21st century, they will be cities with international airline connections."

Clearly, a continued role as a primary gateway to Asia and Europe can help to assure Detroit's future, he says, noting: "Detroit Metro Airport is the region's primary infrastructure asset (and) the speedy connectivity it provides to area businesses can help Detroit's economy transform to new sunrise industries."

John Carroll, executive director of the Detroit Regional Economic Partnership, says companies from around the world see value in locating in Detroit, still an automotive center with an expanding global airport.

"Quite frankly, the merger is going to strengthen the airport and Detroit's position," Carroll says. Like many major hub cities, Detroit is keen on presenting its best face at the airport, where each year millions of connecting passengers gather impressions of the area.

“Wow, that was cool!”: A trip through Detroit’s cosmic airport tunnel

Jason Barger

http://www.tripso.com/

The two-minute stroll between Detroit’s Concourse A and C is a cosmic departure from the airport norm.

The tunnel between terminals has motorized walking paths on both sides and a wide-opened space right down the middle, for those with the energy to walk the stretch at a normal pace. The curved-in walls are decorated with slightly raised images of different countries around the world and flashing rainbow colored lights synchronized with the pumped in sounds of nature.
As I came to the end of the tunnel after a recent flight, I couldn’t help but wonder how passengers were reacting to the walkway.

Would the tunnel be embraced? Would they be annoyed by it? Would the flashing lights be enough to break their autopilot trance?

I stopped right at the base of the escalator leading up to Concourse A and witnessed the spattering of smiles as person after person emerged out of the fairytale tunnel.

One woman that looked to be in her late-sixties turned to her partner and said simply, “Wow, that was cool!”

With the recent rise of massage kiosks, oxygen bars, and even karaoke bars — all aimed to reduce traveler stress — the cosmic tunnel is perhaps an image of another creative approach for airports looking for a cultural makeover.

It’s a fact: The way we “feel” in an environment affects the way we “live” in that space.

And in Detroit, the feeling is evidently cosmic.