Change has come to Salt Lake City International Airport, at least for Northwest Airlines passengers.

In the wake of the recently announced merger between Northwest and Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines, Northwest travelers on Monday saw that most operations for the carrier were moved from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2.

Beginning on Monday, all Northwest passengers began departing from and arriving at gates on the C Concourse in Terminal 2. Previously, Northwest passengers used Gate A4 in Terminal 1. However, the Northwest ticket counter activities and baggage checks will remain in Terminal 1 until Jan. 26, according to a news release from the company, based in Eagan, Minn.

The changes proved to be of little consequence to most travelers who spoke to the Deseret News on Monday.

Mother and daughter Dante Corbin and Tyjah Corbin described themselves as frequent Delta fliers who travel between Utah and South Carolina regularly. On this day, however, they were flying Northwest and said the changes were "no big deal."

"We're pretty patient people," Dante Corbin said.

"You have to adapt to change," Tyjah Corbin said.

Husband and wife Jan and Cindy Warren were flying to Detroit. Everything ran smoothly and was quite convenient, Jan Warren said.

"We walked right in and checked in," he said. "We seem to be lucky with our travels."

A spokesman for Delta said that the relatively close proximity between terminals at Salt Lake City International Airport would result in fewer problems for most travelers because moving from one terminal to the other would add just a few minutes to their experience.

"It's three minutes longer to walk to where the new flights would be from the old Northwest side," Michael Black said. "We've got employees in uniform stationed by the original Northwest gates, directing passengers over to the new terminal."

Black said the reason for the two-phase transition was to get the aircraft and other physical operations to the new terminal first, with plans to transfer all the necessary technology services to Terminal 2 later this month. He said it would take a few weeks to get the required technology integrated and functioning properly.

Black added that similar merger transitions will be taking place at airports in countries where both carriers operate.

For some travelers, completion of the changes could not come quickly enough.

Michigan resident Tori Miltimore said she travels to Utah regularly to visit family. She described the two-stage check-in process as rather "annoying."

"It's a pain in the butt, especially with kids," she said. "When we travel, we come here and with kids, dragging them back and forth, plus luggage and all the extra charges they're adding onto your tickets, it makes it much harder to travel."

She said she would be happy when the transition is completed and the baggage claim and ticketing are all located in one area.

"Right now, their sign says that Northwest is in Terminal 1, but sometimes you fly out on a Delta flight in Terminal 2," Miltimore said. "It's just really confusing."

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E-mail: jlee@desnews.com