Friday night around 7:30 p.m., a Mercedes S-Class sedan drove through the front glass entry doors of the Detroit airport and into the Delta departures lobby and struck the Delta ticket counter. The area filled with glass and debris, and airport security and police took the driver into custody.
Fortunately there were no serious injuries, though Wayne County Airport Authority Fire treated six people at the scene. A K9 searched the vehicle but found nothing of a threatening nature. Officials indicated the driver was suffering “some kind of mental episode.”
It appears that barricades that are supposed to block something like this ended up inside with the car. I’m not sure that all passengers know you can’t park there. That is not, actually, the Sky Priority lane.
A friend sent me this video: A car crashed into the Delta Airlines baggage check-in area at Detroit Metro Airport pic.twitter.com/BoRPBvF8J2
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) January 24, 2026
Chaos at Detroit Airport
A man drove a Mercedes-Benz straight through the entrance of DTW's McNamara Terminal and slammed into the Delta check-in/baggage area
Friday night around 8:30 PM.
Bystander videos show the car inside the terminal, debris…— zamohappy (@zamohappy) January 24, 2026
#BREAKING: A man drove a car into the McNamara terminal at Detroit Metro Airport.
Bystander video shows aftermath inside the terminal. It’s unclear why the man crashed into the airport. pic.twitter.com/3CrVVEFFf0
— Metro Detroit News (@metrodetroitn) January 24, 2026
Oddly enough we’ve seen this before. A man drove across the tarmac ploughing through baggage claim and into Alamo rental car, another stole an SUV and crashed into the airport to escape the zombie apocalypse. One man was chased onto Portland airport by invisible trucks. Another took off his pants and drove a stolen truck into a Southwest Airlines 737. And of course a 1960’s-era Washington Dulles people mover crashed into the terminal just a couple of months ago.
Tim?
As a premium airline, Delta Air Lines is a 2026 Detroit Auto Show Premier Sponsor. Detroit-area auto executives humorously suggest that, instead of a lower-cost Mercedes involved in a recent incident at the DTW Delta Air Lines ticket counter, a $2,400,000 Pagani Huayra Roadster—with its 764-horsepower twin-turbo V12 engine—crashing into the check-in counter would better symbolize Delta’s premium status for Delta One clients. Next year, executives envision a Bentley, Lamborghini, McLaren, Pagani, Rolls-Royce, or Jaguar replacing the Mercedes as the official Delta premium car featured in such a premium crash at the DTW Delta terminal. Furthermore, these premium vehicles could replace the Porsche used to provide Delta One customers with luxurious private rides across the tarmac to their connecting flights. These initiatives, such as displaying a premium car at the Delta check-in counter, are a small part of a broader expansion of Delta’s premium offerings, all aimed at providing a seamless curb-to-cloud experience.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ryRW7YoEMp8
https://detroitautoshow.com/
It was a DAL pilot racing to make their sign-in on a short notice trip. You can tell because it is a Mercedes.
Tim has left the building!
Maybe someone with TDDS (Tim Dunn Derangement Syndrome).
Obviously, a driver seeking an elevated check-in experience.
There should be no doubt that I have achieved what few if any other people have done – dominate the minds of a whole lot of people on aviation social media.
No, I wasn’t in Michigan yesterday. but the real giveaway is that I would never be seen arriving at an airport in Mercedes given so many better ways to travel.
Finally Delta becomes premium with their new luxury drive up check in
Is valet parking included?
Finally ready to fly them this beats first class check with BA @ Heathrow
How close /was/ he to the checked baggage cutoff?
Turns out security theater goes farther than just TSA.