Come fly with SkyLink (Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW))

Member Name: JohnCleese

Product:	Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW)
Date:	01/05/09 (383 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: good links, spacious, well signed, good info points

Disadvantages: domestic terminals has no decent restaurants

I have been travelling on business recently and quiet naturally here is the review of Dallas - Fort Worth international airport. I have been flying through Dallas airport twice in last two years and I had no problems and enjoyed decent service.

The airport has 5 terminals (A, B, C, D and E). The terminal A is home of American Airlines, the biggest domestic operator, and D is the international one, opened in 2005.

When you look at the airport from the air the main shape you notice are three circles made by high speed train tracks. Each terminal is encircled by train tracks and there are two stops at each terminal. The train is very useful and you need few minutes to go from A to B (well, literally terminal A to terminal B), waiting time included. The train is called SkyLink and is fully automated. I know you wouldn't believe this but it is the world's largest high-speed airport train system. (Americans would invent something else if it was not the largest high-speed airport train system, like: the largest seats in the first two rows in any slow moving train...)

In terms of passenger numbers DFW is a 7th busiest airport in the world. In terms of land area it is second after Denver in US. It has 7 runways, which is quite a lot as only Chicago O'Hare has 7 runways.

The airport has very clear signs and it is very difficult to get lost. Even if you are lost there are volunteers in green uniforms which are very helpful and always smiling. They are mostly elderly members of local communities. There are a lot of fast food outlets but if you want to have a decent meal I would recommend you to go to international terminal D as you can find the best choice of restaurants and they look cleanest and slightly better overall compared to domestic terminals. Even if you don't fly international the SkyLine will make you hop between terminals a breeze. If you are for a really exclusive meal you can enjoy it in the new Hyatt hotel at terminal D. The same applies to shops. The best and most expensive are on terminal D. You can find all kind of Texas souvenirs if you missed to buy things elsewhere. Apart from that I would only recommend Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory at D26. It is not particulary cheap but it has some unusual chocolates.

I was also pleased that it was easy to recharge mobile or notebook at many points. There were also free of charge workstations with web access. Web access is limited to 20 mins use but if nobody is breathing down your neck you can spend 2 or 3 sessions getting to know what is going on outside of SkyWalk rings. Otherwise you can get access to internet from your notebook but it is not free of charge.

Overall I had no problems and had a pleasant trip to and from DFW. My advice is very simple. If you have to spend some time at DFW airport, even if you are flying on domestic flight, head to terminal D using SkyLink and you will find the cleanest, quietest and most interesting parts of this airport there.

... and now for something completely different ...

Summary: Come fly with me, come fly with me...