Before my Delta Air Lines flight to Amsterdam, I had time to visit all five Sky Club locations in Detroit’s beautiful McNamara Terminal. This review highlights the A18 Club.
Delta Sky Club Detroit (DTW) A18 Review
Closed throughout the pandemic, this lounge has recently reopened.
Location + Access + Hours
This Sky Club is located in Concourse A on the second level (Tram South Station) above gate A18. If you’re on the departure level, you’ll need to take an elevator escalator upstairs. It is open daily from 6:00AM to 9:00PM.
This lounge is available to:
- Delta Sky Club members (along with same-day boarding pass for Delta or a partner)
- Lifetime members can access the club regardless of the airline they are traveling on
- Two guests or immediate family (including all children under age 21) are permitted
- Delta One or SkyTeam premium cabin passengers
- Access only when traveling on a branded “Delta One’ (versus first class) domestically
- Access when connecting to/from a same day international Delta One flight
- No guests permitted
- SkyTeam Elite Plus members traveling on an international ticket in any cabin of service
- Includes Canada, Mexico
- Excludes Caribbean, Guam, Palau, Saipan
- One guest permitted
- Select credit card holders
- Delta SkyMiles Reserve from American Express
- guests are $39 each
- American Express Platinum / Centurion
- guests are $39 each
- Delta SkyMiles Diners Club card
- two guests permitted
- Delta SkyMiles TRUST CLUB Platinum/Gold Visa card
- two guests permitted
- Delta SkyMiles Reserve from American Express
- Virgin Australia Club or Velocity Gold members (through June 12, 2022)
- One guest permitted
- WestJet Business Class passengers
- No guests permitted
- WestJet Rewards Gold and Platinum members
- Access only when traveling on a transborder flight
- One guest permitted
Seating
This is a minor image of the A68 Sky Club and a much smaller lounge than the A43 lounges. It is rectangular in shape with couches, chairs, great tarmac views and the food and beverage area in the back of the lounge.
Hand sanitizer was available at stations throughout the lounge.
Food + Drink
Beverage stations with coffee and water are located around the lounge, but the main eating area is in the rear of the lounge, with a number of hot and cold items.
The midday lunch selection was similar to the A38 Sky Club and included:
- salads
- Waldorf chicken
- apple, cranberry, walnut, kale
- potato
- buffalo bleu cheese pasta
- sandwiches
- turkey swiss
- ham cheddar
- hummus with veggies
- charcuterie board
- chicken Parmesan
- cheese tortellini
- soup
- chicken and dumpling
- Miss Vickies potato chips
- Rice Krispie Treats
- apple cobbler
- cookies
- bannans
In the same area, a full-service bar offered a selection of alcoholic beverages:
Complimentary drinks included a number of wines, bottom-end spirits, and Veuve duVernay sparkling wine (about $12/bottle retail). Soft drinks are self-serve.
In the center of the lounge there was a coffee station with decaf and regular filter coffee from Starbucks as well as water (still and sparkling) an an espresso machine.
Restrooms + Showers
Restrooms are located inside the lounge. No showers in this lounge.
Printing
This lounge had an all-in-one printer, scanner, and copy machine, which I didn’t see in the mirror-image A68 lounge.
CONCLUSION
I don’t get a chance to visit Delta Sky Clubs very often and was impressed at the generous selection of food. I also appreciated how quiet this lounge was, with very people utilizing it on a quiet winter afternoon. I’m not sure it makes sense to travel all the way down to the end of the terminal unless your flight is departing from there, but it certainly beat the hectic A43 or A38 lounges in terms of crowding.
Same food as the other lounges. Tiny space that tends to get hot. Only worth checking out if your flight is at that end of the concourse.
Delta sucks
Lol. Peter should know
I grew up in the Detroit area and remember the “old” Metro airport. The modern re-build of the beautiful McNamara and other terminal plus all of those runways makes it the ideal hub airport. Would certainly choose it over ORD or ATL for an international departure or arrival.
As I’ve said in your other reviews, Detroit’s main terminal, used by Delta, is arguably the most underrated airport in the United States. It’s also 20 years old this year, which is amazing because it doesn’t show its age.
This Sky Club, like all but one other in Detroit, are legacy Northwest lounges. As a result, the bar was self-serve until the pandemic. All the alcohol in this lounge is free – there’s no premium option.
The food can be very iffy, which means the main DTW lounge is overcrowded because people who are hungry skip the satellite lounges for the more extensive food offerings in the main one.
Well Delta does it again with disappointed Reserve Card holders who can’t access their privileges when traveling.
At Salt Lake City a lineup of over 75 travelers are waiting for access to the Skyclub.
While it may sound like a petty complaint, Delt continues to oversell and under deliver.