The 5 best lounges at DTW

Every lounge in Detroit's top five is a Delta Sky Club. That is what happens at a single-airline hub, and it makes this list less about which brand to pick and more about which door on Concourse A to walk through.

The flagship and the gap behind it#

Delta Sky Club (A, central) rates 4.6 at Detroit Metropolitan. It is a 350-seat full-bar club on the gate level across from gate A38, by the link to the Express Tram, and it is the only lounge at the airport with showers, four of them. Coffee, crowding, food, quiet, seating, views, wifi and workspace all score 5. It opens at 04:15.

The next-best room is four tenths behind. Delta Sky Club (C) rates 4.2 on thirteen metrics, at the entrance to Concourses B and C between gates B2 and C9. It takes 5s for cleanliness, drinks, food, power, seating and workspace, but crowding, restrooms, views and wifi are all 3s. You reach it from A through the tunnel under the taxiway.

Delta Sky Club (A43) is third at 4.1, a 150-seat full-bar club across from gate A43, open from 07:00. Coffee, drinks, wifi and workspace are 5s; crowding, quiet and restrooms are 3s.

Delta Sky Club (A, south) is fourth at 4.0, on level 2 at the Express Tram south station across from gate A18. Delta Sky Club (A, north) is fifth at 3.8, at the tram's north station across from gate A68. Both close at 12:30 on Saturdays.

What that gap means in practice#

If you have time, go to A38. The central club is better than the others on almost every metric and it is the only one with a shower. If your gate is at the far end of A, the tram runs the length of the concourse, so the walk is short either way. The C club is really only for passengers already in B or C.

The only non-Delta lounge we score here, the Lufthansa Business Lounge in the Evans Terminal, rates 3.0 and does not make the five.

How this is ranked#

Lounges are ordered by overall rating, a 1 to 5 average of every metric we track, with closed rooms and anything under three metrics excluded. Our methodology explains the rest.

Getting into the A38 club#

Delta Sky Club members and eligible cardholders get in with a same-day Delta ticket, with up to two guests at $50 each. SkyTeam Elite Plus status also works. Delta One passengers cannot bring guests.

I'd compare Detroit with the best airport lounges everywhere.

Putting this into practice#

The names I'd check against the actual boarding pass include Delta Sky Club (A, central), Delta Sky Club (C). I would start with the terminal and the time available after security. That turns a directory into a realistic shortlist. A lounge can be excellent and still be a poor choice for this departure if reaching it uses most of the waiting time. The location notes above should do as much work as the overall score.

Related reading#

• The Platinum Card lounge access at DTW: the full list
• SkyTeam Elite Plus at DTW: where to go
• DTW Delta Sky Club lounges: a terminal-first guide