Detroit Metro Airport (DTW) from London, Ontario: Delta's hub, two terminals and a border, in one chauffeured run

Why a Londoner flies from Detroit

Two reasons, and they are both about money and routes. Delta's hub at DTW flies non-stop to Amsterdam, Paris, London Heathrow, Frankfurt, Rome, Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai, and to every large American city several times a day, and the other US carriers fill in the rest; a Londoner who needs Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Denver, Nashville or Austin without a connection often finds it only at DTW. And US domestic fares, priced for the American market, can be a third to a half of the Canadian equivalent from Pearson; a family of four to Orlando or Phoenix saves more than the chauffeured fare each way. The cost is the border - the documents, the bridge queue, and a chauffeur licensed to cross - which is exactly what this service provides, in one vehicle from your London door to the terminal curb.

The two terminals are on opposite sides of the airport with no walkway between them; a shuttle bus links them. The chauffeur confirms the terminal against the airline when you book.

The drive, and the two bridges

Two hours to the Windsor end of the 401, then the choice: the Ambassador Bridge from Huron Church Road to I-75 south, the traditional route; or the Gordie Howe bridge from the 401's end to I-75, the newer six-lane crossing built to relieve it. From either, I-75 south to I-94 west and the airport exits at Merriman Road for the McNamara Terminal or the Evans Terminal's own approach; forty to fifty minutes from the bridge in normal traffic. The chauffeur checks the posted bridge waits before Windsor and picks the one that is moving; Sunday evenings and US holiday weekends are the queues to plan for.

Documents and the booth

A valid passport or NEXUS card for every passenger, PR cards for permanent residents, children's own passports and a consent letter where one parent travels; non-Canadian citizens carry whatever visa or ESTA-equivalent status the United States requires. At the booth US CBP asks where you are going and for how long, and admits or refers each passenger individually; a passenger refused ends the vehicle's trip, which is why the chauffeur asks about documents the evening before. The cross-border page has the full detail, including how the border wait sits in the rate.

The border wait in the price

The fixed rate includes tolls both ways and a normal crossing of up to an hour; beyond that, waiting is charged in fifteen-minute blocks and the chauffeur tells you when the hour is passing. It is rare on a weekday morning and possible on a holiday Sunday, and it is the only honest way to price a crossing. Secondary inspection, if it happens, is waited for at the same rate.

Departures: timing the pickup

DTW asks for two hours before a domestic departure and three before an international one; add the two-and-a-half-hour drive, the border, and the buffer the day of the week needs. A 9 a.m. Delta departure to Amsterdam means a 3:30 a.m. pickup from London; a noon Southwest flight to Orlando, a 7 a.m. pickup. The chauffeur confirms the time the evening before and leaves earlier if Ontario 511 or the bridge cameras say so.

Arrivals: where the chauffeur meets you

International arrivals at the McNamara Terminal exit into the lower level after US customs - which is where you clear, since there is no preclearance on the way into the United States - and the chauffeur waits at the exit with a name board; domestic arrivals meet at the baggage claim carousels on the lower level of either terminal. Curbside pickup is at the lower-level commercial lanes when you text. Sixty minutes of wait is included on an international arrival and thirty on a domestic one, from the actual landing, which is tracked from origin. The return crossing into Canada is at Windsor's CBSA booths, where each passenger declares what they bought.

Delta, SkyTeam and the connections

Delta's McNamara hub connects Canadian travellers to its whole network with one check-in; for a Londoner headed to a smaller US city or to Delta's transatlantic and transpacific routes it is frequently the shortest way there. The Evans Terminal's carriers - American's Dallas and Charlotte hubs, United's Chicago and Denver, Southwest's point-to-point network - cover the rest of the United States. Air Canada also flies DTW to Toronto, which is occasionally useful the other way round.

Corporate accounts and the Michigan connection

London companies with Michigan suppliers, customers and parents - automotive, aerospace, pharmaceuticals - use DTW as their US gateway on a corporate account with the crossing built into the standing rate, and the same chauffeur takes the executive on to Dearborn, Ann Arbor or Auburn Hills for the meeting after the flight. Duty-of-care records include the crossing.

Groups, families and the Florida week

A family of six in an SUV or fourteen in a Sprinter to a DTW Florida flight is the booking where the US fares and the chauffeured run make each other worthwhile; the Sprinter crosses at the bridges (not the tunnel) and a group of fourteen at a planning figure of $720-860 one way is about $55 a head. The group transportation page covers larger groups.

Hotels at the airport and the night before

For a 6 a.m. DTW departure, a night at one of the airport hotels in Romulus with the chauffeur at 4:30 turns a 1 a.m. London pickup into an evening; the travel desk books the room and the Detroit page covers the city if the night is downtown instead.

Three DTW bookings, as they actually run

A family to Orlando, March break. An executive SUV from Westmount at 4:30 a.m. for a 9:10 Delta departure; the Gordie Howe bridge in twenty minutes; the McNamara curb by 7:15. The return met at international arrivals ten days later; the fares saved paid for both runs.

An executive to Amsterdam, Tuesday. A luxury sedan from Dufferin Avenue at 3:20 a.m. for a 9:00 Delta departure; the Ambassador in fifteen minutes at that hour; at the counter by 6:10. On the corporate account.

A couple home from Phoenix, Sunday. Met at Evans baggage claim at 6:40 p.m.; a ninety-minute queue at the Canadian booths on a holiday Sunday that the plan had allowed for; home in Old South at 11:15.

The airport's geography, for the passenger

DTW is large: the McNamara Terminal's Concourse A alone is a mile long with a tram down its spine, and the Evans Terminal's three concourses are on the far side of the runways. Both terminals have the departures curb on the upper level and baggage claim and the commercial pickup lanes on the lower level; the parking garages face each terminal. The chauffeur's text on landing tells you which door; the airport's site has the terminal maps and the airline list.

Preclearance, and why you clear customs in Detroit

Unlike Pearson, where US-bound passengers clear US customs before departure, at DTW you clear on arrival in the United States - at the bridge on the way in by car, and at the airport if you connect. On the way home there is no US exit control; you clear CBSA at Windsor. The practical point for the London traveller is that the Canadian booth on the return is where the declarations happen, and the chauffeur waits with you through it.

Winter, the bridges and the American side

Michigan's roads are cleared to a different standard and I-94 in a squall is slow; the chauffeur allows for it and reads the Michigan DOT reports along with Ontario 511. The bridges rarely close; the 401 between London and Chatham does, and a morning DTW departure in January may mean a Windsor hotel the night before through the travel desk. Winter tires from November to April and all-wheel-drive SUVs on the bad days, on both sides of the river.

Michigan after the airport

Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan thirty minutes west, Dearborn and Ford's campus fifteen minutes east, downtown Detroit twenty-five minutes, Auburn Hills and Troy forty-five to the north: a DTW run that continues to a Michigan meeting, a medical appointment or a game is the Detroit destination page's business, and an hourly booking with the chauffeur waiting on the American side is quoted with the crossing both ways.

Booking it

The cross-border service is booked by the desk or WhatsApp with the flight, the terminal, the London address and the passengers' citizenship, so the chauffeur can confirm documents the evening before; simple DTW runs with a known time can be entered on the reservation engine with "Detroit Metro Airport" as the destination and the desk confirms the crossing. The rates page has the figures for DTW and Buffalo side by side.

Three questions the desk is asked about DTW

Can the car cross if one passenger has only a birth certificate? No - a passport or NEXUS card is required for every passenger, without exception. Does the return run wait through US customs? You clear customs in Canada on the way home, at Windsor, and the chauffeur waits with you through it; on the American side there is nothing to clear on arrival from a domestic flight and the international arrivals exit is where the chauffeur stands. Is there a duty-free stop? On request, at the Ambassador Bridge on the way home.

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