Transiting in Atlanta

[BevS97]

The good think about Atlanta is they run hourly flights to Orlando so if anything goes wrong they can just put you onto the next flight

[CuteLioness]

Originally Posted by ChrisS

Hi CL, exit aircraft and follow the madding crowd to immigration then into the luggage hall. Recover luggage, exit right of luggage hall, along a short corridor, turn left, few yards on hand luggage back to the lads on your left. Continue onward to security, upon clearing follow signs to the Plane Train, just afore you go down the escalator check the bank of TV screens for your terminal, go down and jump on the train. If you can't sit on the window seat grab a rail and hang on tight, that train is a fast mover! Off at your domestic terminal and head to gate.

Have a smashing holiday

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Ah amazing, you sound so familiar with this! Would you say we’ll be fine with our 2 hr layover then? Assuming things run to time?

[CuteLioness]

Originally Posted by BevS97

The good think about Atlanta is they run hourly flights to Orlando so if anything goes wrong they can just put you onto the next flight

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This is amazing to know, thank you so much! 🙏🏼

[ChrisS]

Originally Posted by CuteLioness

Ah amazing, you sound so familiar with this! Would you say we’ll be fine with our 2 hr layover then? Assuming things run to time?

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Yes, if all ticks along nicely, if not, as Bev said Delta regularly fly ATL to MCO. We fly Atl to Fort Myers, on one occasion our flight was delayed leaving the UK, then the pilot taxied in from Charlotte (well, felt like it ), we were surprised to make our onward flight within the 80 mins remaining. Unlike flights to MCO there's usually only one more flight to Ft Myers, if that's full we'd overnight, hoping for seats the following morn

[CuteLioness]

Originally Posted by ChrisS

Yes, if all ticks along nicely, if not, as Bev said Delta regularly fly ATL to MCO. We fly Atl to Fort Myers, on one occasion our flight was delayed leaving the UK, then the pilot taxied in from Charlotte (well, felt like it ), we were surprised to make our onward flight within the 80 mins remaining. Unlike flights to MCO there's usually only one more flight to Ft Myers, if that's full we'd overnight, hoping for seats the following morn

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Great, thank you so much for taking the time to help with this! Much appreciated 😊

[jas72]

I loved transiting through there sadly none of the carriers do it any more from Belgium so we are stuck with longer Chicago or the horrible JFK connections. Atlanta is a nice big airy airport and like others have said well signposted and easier to navigate.

[CuteLioness]

Originally Posted by jas72

I loved transiting through there sadly none of the carriers do it any more from Belgium so we are stuck with longer Chicago or the horrible JFK connections. Atlanta is a nice big airy airport and like others have said well signposted and easier to navigate.

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Thank you! I think my US transit experiences so far have been pretty negative, and that explains why - they’ve been in Chicago and New York! 😂

[Susu]

Sorry CL, I may be the bearer of an experience you don’t want to hear about.

We first transmitted through Atlanta in April 2017, we had 2 hours and we made the connection with about five minutes to spare. The following year, April 2018, I left longer between connections, about 2 hrs 45 as I recall. Several other international flights landed ahead of us and the customs hall was rammed. We missed our flights.

We were flying to Tampa, not Orlando and I was so glad for that - the Orlando bound passengers had no flight options that day as they were all full. They had to find a hotel for the night. They were just completely turned down by the Delta staff and told there was nothing they could do until the following morning.

For Tampa, we went to the gates for standby on the next two flights which both went out full without us. There was no guaranteed flight option for us, we had to wait until people didn’t turn up. Finally got onto a flight 5 hours later. We had been considering whether to split our group of five (2 adults, 3 kids) up to make it easier but in the end, some passengers didn’t turn up and so we got on that flight.

In future, if we fly that route, we will be leaving at least four hours in between as it was just too stressful.

If you don’t want the stress, I would see if you can change your onward flight.

[CuteLioness]

Originally Posted by Susu

Sorry CL, I may be the bearer of an experience you don’t want to hear about.

We first transmitted through Atlanta in April 2017, we had 2 hours and we made the connection with about five minutes to spare. The following year, April 2018, I left longer between connections, about 2 hrs 45 as I recall. Several other international flights landed ahead of us and the customs hall was rammed. We missed our flights.

We were flying to Tampa, not Orlando and I was so glad for that - the Orlando bound passengers had no flight options that day as they were all full. They had to find a hotel for the night. They were just completely turned down by the Delta staff and told there was nothing they could do until the following morning.

For Tampa, we went to the gates for standby on the next two flights which both went out full without us. There was no guaranteed flight option for us, we had to wait until people didn’t turn up. Finally got onto a flight 5 hours later. We had been considering whether to split our group of five (2 adults, 3 kids) up to make it easier but in the end, some passengers didn’t turn up and so we got on that flight.

In future, if we fly that route, we will be leaving at least four hours in between as it was just too stressful.

If you don’t want the stress, I would see if you can change your onward flight.

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Thanks for this Susu, we might well look at changing our flights given that we could possibly do it for no charge as they keep changing our timings. This makes us even more likely to try and do this, I appreciate you taking the time to comment. Sorry you had that poor experience, though!

[Orlandobelle]

How is ATL in general as a layover airport? I've got 4 hours there on my return 🙂