ok so that's weird....virgin isn't listed on the airport website, so i have no way of knowing if they use mcnamara or north terminal.
there are international airlines using both terminals.
Looking at the list, aeromexico, air france, and delta use the mcnamara terminal (mostly delta which has a major monopoly in detroit, with 75% of the traffic there)
and the following airlines use the north terminal: everyone else: air canada, alaska, american, frontier, jet blue, lufthansa, royal jordanian, southwest (i didn't know southwest flew to DTW, news to me), spirit, united and wow...
virgin isn't mentioned..
so the reason i say this, i have never ever been in the north terminal..
i assume it's much like the mcnamara terminal (what i always refer to as the delta terminal, since it's mostly delta in there)..
mcnamara is very nice, so i'm sure the north terminal is also nice as i think it was built later..
of course, as with any US airport, if it's your entry point into the US, you have to cross immigration and customs.
Immigration in the mcnamara terminal was pretty painless.
True, i'm an american, so it's always relatively painless, but now with the kiosks, things have been simplified.
and customs seemed pretty simple as well.
after you cross customs, you give back your suitcases at the connecting flights desk.
Just ask the customs officer where it is.
i've gone braindead, so i can't remember where you come out, but i'm sure you have to go through security again.
it's pretty fast in detroit - none of those hour long lines.
I've made it through detroit immigration customs really speedily - i think i clocked myself at much less than an hour, then adding on security.
But i would never bank on that.
of course, i assume that virgin will only book you with the amount of time you need there...
once you're airside at mcnamara - it's a really long terminal...really really really long..
one long straight terminal....
there's a train right inside the building - it's overhead...if you look up you'll see it..
it has three stations - in the middle and at each end..
but i never use it since the terminal also has moving walkways and i like to look at the shops...
and if i have a long wait, i like to walk up and down the terminal to get a bit of exercise in between flights..
or rather to stretch my legs after the long flight over the atlantic..
the food in the terminal isn't bad and the shops are interesting..the first desigual i ever saw was at that airport...
i usually use the delta business lounge, so i don't hang out in the terminal itself except to walk around..
but again, i'm talking about mcnamara and not the north terminal.
the airport has good maps of the two terminals on their website..
https://www.metroairport.com
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