CarolA

I recall reading a post recently about someone flying out of Atlanta. Yesterday morning (Monday, May 10) the wait was up to 90 minutes to clear security. Now granted that is higher then normal, but if I had an international flight I would give myself extra time!

There is an article about it in the Atlanta Journal Constitution if you want to read the facts.

abram

Perhaps it depends on the day of the week or time of day. When we flew out of there last Monday evening, it took only a few minutes to get through security.

Singletail

90 minutes fits within the airline-recommended arrival time of THREE hours ahead.

ggnga

I fly in and out of Atlanta. The real problem is connecting flights. I always feels so sorry for people arriving from European flights trying to connect When you get off the plane from Europe you must of course go through passport control, claim your bags from baggage claim, then carry them accross the room and put them on another conveyer to go on to your next flight or final baggage claim. All as usual, but then you must get in line to have all your carryons screened AGAIN even if you never left a secure area of the airport. I guess they do not trust that the carryons were properly screened before you got on the plane in Europe. OK, this is the really insane part, all the people with Atlanta as final destination also have to get in the lines to have their carryons screened to LEAVE THE AIRPORT.

You can imagine the confusion this causes not to mention the huge line. If they had different lines for connections and final destination it would make much more sense. The first time they told me I had to go through screening with my carryons to go out of the airport home I thought I MUST have misunderstood. People with connecting flights are always trying to tell the staff that they will miss their flight due to the hour (at least) wait but nobody cares. I have returned from Europe to several other US airports when doing connecting flights and arrived in Europe for connecting flights and have never seen any setup like this.

I think the workers in Atlanta are by far the rudest in all the world I have traveled. I really prefer returning on a connection rather than a nonstop.

Last flight in March checking in at Delta counter, the line snaked through all the tubes and completely down one corridor. That was before the security line.

Sorry for the rant but Atl. airport is the crabgrass in my lawn of travel.

rex

Raleigh-Durham was so clogged up yesterday (at 5 in the morning!) that I missed a flight (we had been there over the weekend for daughter's graduation). Tons of international (inexperienced) travelers headed home at the end of the school year; many with all their earthly possessions. I might have been ticked off until I realized that the guy they were letting go ahead of me was headed to Vietnam! Imagine the expense (of the airline) and headache (of the passenger) if he had failed to connect.

And since there was not a seat (unfilled) to be had (for at least 12 hours) to ANYwhere out of RDU, I cajoled the counter agent into letting me fly out of Charlotte, went back to Hertz and put a 120 mile trail of dust behind me. When I got to Charlotte, I managed to make it from the Hertz lot, via their bus, up to the counter to check in on an irregular, endorsed-over paper ticket, and through security in 21 minutes. Never stood in any line at all.

So local factors can make a huge difference.

Best wishes,

Rex

WillTravel

So for future reference, is a connection through JFK preferable to one through Atlanta (either coming or going from Europe)?

jody

ggnga...same thing in Orlando! You have to be checked thru security after deplaning to get into the terminal to go home!
I haven't figured that one out yet!

Glad for the info on Atlanta though,. Thanks!

bob_brown

I live near Atlanta and dred taking flights in and out of Hartsfield.
The cab situation in Atlanta is awful and parking is expensive.

If we had a contest for the worst airport in terms of passenger well being, I think Atlanta and CDG would fight it out for worst place.

The article in the Atlanta paper reports that even the people who run the security gates cannot agree on who had which gates open. That means management is so poor they don't know what the guards are doing. Can you imagine that gaggle of people keeping professional penetrators out?

Sally

When we returned to Atlanta from Rome last December, it was a mad house. The line that we had to get in to make our next connection resembled Disneyworld at spring break. It wound around and around taking up all the space in a huge room. It took us an hour and a half to go through that room - fortunately we had two hours so we made our connection. This was on December 12, not even during the Christmas rush.

Even though I have lots of Delta FF miles, next time I go to Europe, I may fly Northwest and go through Memphis instead for a less trying airport.

grace_omalley

I agree that the Atlanta airport is the worst as far as getting through customs and security after an international flight. We missed our connection when flying to Atlanta from Rome in Oct. We had 21/2 hrs to make our connection but our Delta flight took off late and then took forever to get to Atlanta. By the time we spent an hour getting through customs we had missed our connection; we arrived at the gate just as it was leaving. We had to spend an exhausting three hrs waiting for the next flight.

ggnga

Willtravel:

I have only connected through JFK twice but I would take it over Atlanta anyday!!

SoBeTraveller

...a dn can you believe TSA is thinking about allowing some airports let visitors go through security so they can see people off and meet them. Seems like a poor time to add more people to screen and increase time getting to the gate. TSA needs to rethink that one, and if airports are asking, place the issue on hold.

JackOneill

Not that I'm a fan of the Atlanta airport, but the manager of the airport is trying everything in his power to get the TSA to improve the speed of security checks. (He has even knocked out a few vendors' shops to add more security lines. Now, will TSA staff those lines?)

As to this past Monday at the ATL airport, it was worse than usual because bad weather had caused a number of flights on Sunday night to be cancelled. So, there were several more people than normal at the airport Monday morning.

Kay2

I can answer the carryon rescreening at ATL (and any other airport where you reclaim your checked baggage).
You may have checked a bag on the international leg to ATL, claimed it and gone through customs and are now headed into the other concourses of the airport within the secure area. Your bag, however, was not screened as a carryon--you may have items in it that can be checked (knives, etc.) and are now carrying it onto a domestic flight.

Because of the differences in carryon weight allowances and if ATL if my final destination, with the current set up I sometimes do just what I described--I check my 22" rolling case to ATL, then after retrieving it I take it with me onto the train and straight to ground transport rather than having to wait for it a second time at the luggage claim in main terminal.

I think there is a long-term (how long I don't know) plan to add an international terminal at the International concourse end of ATL, giving those passengers a different entrance/exit and simplifying the baggage claim.

bmillersc

I'll add my $0.02 that the personnel in the Atlanta customs and rescreening area are among the most unprofessional I've encountered. However, we had pleasant folks to deal with when checking in and going through normal security over Easter weekend.

ggnga

They have stickers
on the carryon and baggage tags on the checked bags. They are supposed to be checked by the personnel. I have seen them doing it and make the people put them back on the carosel to go through to baggage claim. I do suppose one could also try to sneak something out of a checked bag and put it in the carryon even if they didn't make the switch.
Still, absolutely no excuse that there is not a separate line for final destination and people trying to make a connection.