how far in advance to be at the airport? (Detroit)

[MomtoEmIs&Ow]

From what I am reading most people arrive about 2hrs before the flight departure time..... What airlines if any is this an absolute must? Is 1 1/2 hrs suffcient? We are having trouble finding a flight late enough for us to take out of detroit on Sept 30. Anyone come across any flight after 9:00p.m ? The latest is Northwest, at least that I can find If anyone can tell me is the Detroit Metro really big? Is it easy to get around? I have never flown out of Detroit before. Thanks for any help.

Lee

 

[jengelbrecht]

I've flown Delta, Northwest, Air Tran, Spirit and Southwest out of Detroit. Checking in is relatively quick but I would give myself 2 hours, getting through security can be slow at times.
DTW is not huge, but VERY old--and the Smith and Berry terminals are laid out fairly well. There's not much chance of getting lost. Northwest Airlines now flies out of the new McNamara terminal, which I hear is very easy to get around.
Good luck on your quest for later flights, I know there aren't many to choose from. Have you tried looking for flight info from Flint? I remember flying out of there quite late.

 

[Brian Noble]

When I'm without the kids, and I'm not checking bags, I'm willing to show up as late as one hour before my flight---45 minutes only if it's a low-traffic time. With the kids/checking bags, I try to keep it closer to 2hrs.

NW will have the latest flight.

 

[Sharon Esch]

I'm not sure where you leave, but Flint is a very good alternative. We are flying out of Flint in June on NW. They had the better times than Detroit and our flight is non-stop. The prices were about the same. Flint (Bishop International Airport) is small and we are going to pay $40 to park for a week. Detroit is larger and the parking isn't the greatest. Good Luck!