The recently-refurbished Lufthansa Lounge in Detroit (DTW) serves as both a Star Alliance Gold and Priority Pass lounge in the North Terminal and is worth a visit before your flight.
Lufthansa Lounge Detroit (DTW) Review
It isn’t clear to me why Lufthansa operates a lounge at Detroit Wayne Airport, though I suspect it is because there are no other lounge options in the North Terminal and not offering a lounge to its premium passengers is unacceptable to the German airline. I also suspect there’s a business case from offering a Star Alliance lounge right in the heart of United Airlines’ gate area. United and Air Canada must pay Lufthansa an unpublished amount, thought to be about $25 per visit, when its premium cabin and Star Gold passengers visit. As a Priority Pass lounge, it also attracts other passengers in the terminal flying on Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Frontier, JetBlue, Royal Jordanian, Southwest, and Spirit.
Hours + Access + Location
This lounge is located next to Gate D8 in the North Terminal, past security. It is open Mondays as well as Wednesdays – Saturdays from 6:00am to 7:00pm. On Tuesdays, it opens from 9:00am to 7:00pm. On Sundays it is closed.
There are several ways to access this lounge, including:
- Priority Pass (number of guests depends upon specific program)
- Star Alliance Gold passengers (one guest)
- Star Alliance Business (no guests) or First Class passengers (one guest)
Children under two are admitted for free.
A sign on the door makes clear that United’s premium cabin passengers and Star Gold elites are welcome.
Credentials are checked just inside the door.
Seating
This lounge has recently been refurbished and no longer offers a separate Senator Lounge and Business Lounge within the lounge. Instead, it is now just a Lufthansa Lounge with both sides of the lounge open to all passengers. As you enter, turn left for a seating area that looks like any modern Lufthansa Lounge you would find in Germany:
During my visit, the food area and restrooms on this side of the lounge were closed.
The other side of the lounge is primarily the dining area, with tables and chairs as well as booths and a counter running the length of the window.
Power plugs (120 volt) are located throughout the lounge, as well as USB-A ports.
Food + Drink
Self-service food was available, including:
- sandwiches
- roast beef & cheddar
- turkey & Swiss
- veggies & mozzarella
- fresh mozzarella and tomato with balsamic glzes
- cheese plate with grapes
- hummus with fresh veaies
- salads
- pasta with fresh veggies
- fresh fruit
- chips
- pretzels
Beer, juice, soda, and water was also self-serve in the refrigerator.
Sparkling wine, red wine, and white wine were also available.
Perhaps to prevent people from walking off with several bags of tea, tea bags from Fraser Tea were available upon request only.
The coffee in the lounge was horrible (weak yet bitter).
If you appreciate good coffee, try Detroit Street Café directly around the corner from the lounge:
Restrooms
Private, single-person restrooms on the right side of the lounge were open. Showers are not available.
CONCLUSION
This was a surprisingly nice lounge and looks very fresh with its recent remodel. I would not hesitate to stop by here again and even arrive a bit early for some food and drink prior to my flight.
While the lounge looks nice and fresh, the food selection is just like a United Club, maybe worse.
Agreed,the food is very sparse and not good at all. I was there last summer and they didn’t even have enough sandwiches for the maybe 15 people in the lounge at the time. Multiple people waiting by that refrigerator for new food to be brought out.
Good to see this place get a thorough review, thank you. I was in Detroit for the first time last august and really wanted to check this place out, but alas I my flight was on Sunday. The Freedom Center lounge, while great service, didn’t have quite the same amenities.
The Detroit Street Cafe is licensed from Zingerman’s – what I consider the best deli and gourmet food shop in the country – they roast their own coffee, make their own bread, have a creamery, etc just 30 minutes west in Ann Arbor. Their sandwiches, coffee, and baked goods are excellent and far better than most food in airports imho. As for the LH lounge it’s definitely nice to have when flying out of DTW.
Where is everyone? The lounge is completely undisturbed & void of people. How did you manage that?
Detroit used to be one of Lufthansa’s most profitable destinations in the 90s and early 2000s, shuttling German automotive executives back and forth. At times they had double daily flights including 747s. IIRC they even had a pop-up lounge in the McNamara terminal (which is where Delta’s newest Sky Club is located now). So when the North Terminal was built in the mid-2000s (pre-recession), the lounge made perfect sense. Nowadays not so much anymore… but I guess UA helps LH pay the bills 😉
While I like some of the chairs, I don’t understand why so many lounges have tables that too low to eat or too low to work from. Those coffee tables may aesthetically look nice, but they’re not practical at all. I mean, I suppose, the lounge designers do this on purpose as they really don’t want you in there for more than a short visit. But still … and for a semi-premium lounge, I expected something more than Canyon Road wine — that’s like, what, $5-6 retail? Barefoot may be better.
Delta rightfully gets blamed for a lot of bad Sky Clubs, especially in Detroit with its lousy Sodexo cater that serves barely edible food, but that lounge’s food and booze offerings are really, really pathetic for an international lounge with international business-class passengers (assuming there’s no first-class on Lufthansa from Detroit). I wonder if they put out better food and wine at night when Lufthansa flies out?
Detroit really has a great airport
Especially the main terminal used by Delta and Air France. Arguably, it’s the most underrated domestic airport. It is light years ahead of Atlanta. Amazingly, the airport turned 20 years old in 2022. Yet, it still looks and feels relatively new.
Lufthansa like other airlines are slowly coming out of recovery mode. I was in this lounge on Friday 11 March when I flew out on LH from DTW and they did have a selection of hot foods as well as liquor. I was told by the staff that this was only the second day they were offering these items and they will be a lounge staple from now on. Lufthansa lounges are always better than UA’s and in my experience the UA passengers are happy with the Lufthansa offerings in DTW
Is this a common thing for Lufthansa to brand a lounge “Lufthansa Lounge” and not either a “Business” or “Senator” Lounge? Is this the standard for unique locations where they can’t justify the Business/Senator split?
I personally question why they continue to split the two outside of German airports. They are virtually the same lounge and in many outstations Lufthansa would probably be better off operating one large lounge.
Note the beer offered is from Canada!