For the first time in 5 1/2 years, guests at the InterContinental Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) airport hotel (or savvy travelers seeking out a shorter line) can use the property's dedicated security checkpoint.
The Minneapolis airport's onsite hotel announced that long-awaited news Tuesday, reopening its quasi-private checkpoint to travelers daily from 5 a.m. until 10 a.m. It had been closed since November 2019 – before the pandemic upended travel, even – with no indication that it would ever reopen.
The checkpoint spits you out onto the airport's long C Concourse, near Gate 25. From there, you can hop on the airport tram to other gates or trek across the airport's walkway to the G concourse and visit the new Delta Sky Club®. As always, travelers flying into Minneapolis can head straight to the hotel using that skyway exit.
Importantly, it's only an option for travelers departing from Terminal 1 with just carry-on luggage, as there's no way to check a bag. If you're checking a bag or flying out of Terminal 2, your best bet is hopping on the hotel's complimentary shuttle, which runs around the clock.
And it's welcome news for hotel guests and everyday travelers alike. Even if you're not staying at the hotel, you can get dropped off at the airport, head up to level 3, and make your way through the checkpoint.
The one hitch? The hotel checkpoint will not offer TSA PreCheck or other expedited security services – at least not for now. But given how short lines are at this quasi-private checkpoint, you may not miss it.
Alongside its proximity to the airport itself, that dedicated checkpoint was one of the hotel's major selling points from the day it opened way back in 2018. But it was a bit of a boondoggle, clocking in at a cost of $23 million to build the skyway connecting the hotel and airport for a security checkpoint that was sparsely used. The checkpoint was sporadically closed due to Transportation Security Administration (TSA) staffing issues in the lead-up to the pandemic, at which point it was shuttered … seemingly for good.
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Now it's back. That makes Minneapolis one of just two airports in the country with a hotel sporting its own security checkpoint connecting directly to a terminal. The other is at the Westin in Detroit (DTW).
“We understand the value of efficiency and time-saving solutions in travel,” said Benjamin Graves, president of the hotel's developer, Graves Hospitality. “Our unique positioning with dedicated TSA connection to the airport makes our guestrooms, event spaces, and signature restaurants supremely accessible for travelers, meeting and event attendees, as well as local guests.”
Bottom Line
We thought this day might never come.
For the first time in more than five years, the dedicated security checkpoint connecting the InterContinental hotel directly with the Minneapolis airport is back open. It's only open from 5 a.m. until 10 a.m. daily and there's no TSA PreCheck available – at least not yet.
But the fact that it's open at all is a surprise, and a pleasant one at that.
