Switching planes in ATL

Although it is a large airport it is fairly efficient and fairly easy to negotiate. Atlanta is our "home" airport and in my opinion 80 minutes isn't enough time even if you do sit near the front. First, your incoming flight may be late. Depending on the arrival runway there may be a long taxi to the arrival gate. If you have a second connection in the U.S. you will still use a domestic terminal. But if you are flying nonstop from Atlanta to your international destination you will depart from the international terminal. As a general rule, if you arrive on a domestic flight and fly out of the international terminal, you will not leave the secured area. Simply take the "plane train" to the international terminal. Be aware however that the airport does change things from time to time so you may have to go through security again. A word of advice. The restaurants in the international terminal leave a bit to be desired. Trust me, you do not want to eat Varsity Chili Dogs before an international flight. You can, however, take the "plane train" back to a previous terminal and have a better selection.

Many thanks for the advice. Consider it followed. I will book an earlier flight!

I was going to say exactly what TC said -- eat in your terminal or one of the other ones BEFORE going to the international terminal. Its offerings leave much to be desired!! but it's easy to either pick up something in the terminal where you arrive, or hop up to one of the ones on the way before going to the international terminal. I don't know WHY they made it such a wasteland!

The old E terminal had better restaurants than A-D terminals. And I don't cherish eating Bojangles before getting on any plane.
I've yet to fly out of the new International Terminal, and would want more than 80 minutes due to it being separate from the subway system linking domestic terminals.

Great info.

Atlanta is my favorite airport to layover in, because in my opinion it is such an efficient airport. The train between the terminals comes about every 2-3 minutes and in reality you will spend more time walking from one end of the terminal to the other than you will spend on the train going between terminals. Several times while flying domestically I have had as short as 30 minutes in Atlanta and have never had a problem. I am changing flights in Atlanta next week on my way to Madrid and have a layover of 75 minutes, which I feel completely comfortable with in the Atlanta Airport. I personally think that 80 minutes is plenty of time.

I live in and fly out of Atlanta and I personally really like all of the new restaurants and choices available If you need anything please send me a PM.

Happy flying and eating.

Kathy

Hi Ray, I guess this is a matter of your comfort level but in September we had flights with a 50 min layover in Atlanta (to Zurich). By the time our travel date arrived I was a nervous wreck. Not to worry. Our flight from Cleveland landed, we took the train to the international terminal, made a rest room stop, and were at the gate with 30 minutes to spare. Maybe we were just lucky.

Haha. I mentioned the same thing to people when I went through there last May - eat before you get to the F terminal. There are only a handful of choices there. The old international terminal, E, has a food court with many choices.

We had a two hour layover in ATL last fall. We landed on time, grabbed the plane train out to F and sat for more than an hour waiting to load. I didn't mind it. dh used the time to smoke and I just played games. Before boarding they started calling out prices if one was willing to give up his seat and fly the next day. It was tempting when they got up to $800.

I have opted for a slightly earlier arrival. It likely means I will sit for an extra 90 minutes but hey, that's life. I might have been tempted with the 80 minutes if I knew ATL well, but I only passed through there once or twice. So I will have time to get some food or a beer before I prepare for my international leg. It is always hard to know about airports, in some an hour is plenty, in others, 2 hours is not enough. Perhaps I will get a better feel for ATL this time. Thanks to everyone for their replies and information.

I was interested to hear the responses on this since I am changing in Atlanta next April.

Would there be a terminal change since I am coming from Canada? --my onward flight is to Puerto Rico. I am assuming that is considered domestic?

We have 90 minutes to change and are in Comfort Class so I believe get off the plane earlier than economy.

Thank you.

Andrea, unless I'm mistaken flights to Puerto Rico are considered domestic flights. On flights we've taken from Canada to Atlanta we arrived at the international terminal. So there will probably be a terminal change but it is not a big deal because the plane train is quick and efficient. The real problem you may encounter is clearing immigration. Unless you clear U.S. immigration before you leave Canada, (as we have in the past and that may or may not still be available) you will have to clear immigration on arrival. If you do not have some type of expedited entry document (such as the Global Entry program for U.S. citizens) you may very well get hung up there. In the days before Global entry it took an hour or more on occasions to get through. Don't mean to be a downer, but some extra time might certainly be in order. Better to have it and not need it than the other way around.

Andrea, I agree, you might want more time to get from international to domestic. But as for Comfort getting off before Economy, that extra couple of minutes won't make any difference.

The website for Hartsfield (www.atl.com) shows one Delta flight to FRA today, leaving from the E concourse, not from F, the international terminal.

This is consistent with my experience. I've left for Germany from six US airports, Denver, Detroit, Chicago, Newark, Philly, and Atlanta. Only at Newark and Philadelphia did I leave from an international terminal, and I understand that Newark has changed since I used it. Over a decade ago, I flew out of Atlanta for Stuttgart. The plane to Stuttgart left from the end of the same concourse as our arrival gate from Denver (in fact, just a few gates away). We had an hour to make the connection and made it with plenty of time to spare, then sat on the ground an extra hour because of lightning in the area.

Denver and Philly use the same gates for international arrival and departure. They just make arriving international passengers go through a separate immigration and customs area before getting to the main terminal. The other airports have had international arrivals at a separate terminal, but the planes left for Europe from a gate in the domestic terminals. At every US airport at which I have arrived internationally, I've had to go back through security to get to the domestic gates.

ATL is also my home airport. The overriding theme here is "you never know." It's a remarkably efficient airport given the number of people they process every day, but problems do occur. Train goes out, security gets backed up, having to wait on the tarmac for a gate to open on arrival is pretty common. Most of the time 80 minutes is sufficient, and I would risk that if connecting to another domestic flight, but no way I'm missing my international flight because of my poor planning! Allow yourself time for the unexpected and enjoy the time for a pre-flight cocktail.

Thank you TC and Nancy. I think whether I clear US passport control in Toronto is dependent on airline/terminal. I know I've had to do it in the past when flying Air Canada, but not WestJet.

Yet another who flies out of ATL.

When determining layover, consider your personal habits. If you fly Sky Priority, First Class or even Zone 1, you can board as early as 40 minutes before the flight. If you have more than one carryon, overhead storage may get tight the longer you wait.

Even if you fly into the "T" gate and fly out of the International terminal, the trip on the plane train is 10-15 minutes at most. ATL is one of my favorite airports and it is definitely my favorite large city airport. BTW, they are about to spend 6 billion dollars on a major upgrade/expansion.

I am guided by the mantra expressed by a poster on this forum, who said you have a choice: "You can be stressed, or you can be bored." We usually opt for bored.

That said, I've never had a major problem in Atlanta, but I've only flown domestic there. It's big, but the logistics are pretty efficient.

80 minutes is plenty of time as long as you disregard the 'eating' advice above.
I used to fly out of ATL weekly. You would be amazed how many people I aw running up to a gate screaming about late connections or complaining about how long the train took etc.... while clutching the bags of food and junke they bought at the airport.

Go to your gate, find it and then find food! Don't expect Delta agents to look at your with sympathy when you have shopping bags from within the airport :)