Chicago versus Atlanta for international connection
 

DH and I are going to Madrid late October. For the longest time, I've had my eye on a Delta flight connecting through Atlanta but now American is less expensive connecting through Chicago. We have never connected through Chicago on an international flight and, if at all possible, try to avoid certain airports during certain times of the year because of weather. We've been very fortunate using Atlanta in the past.

Any thoughts on which airport you would choose? The dollar difference is not so significant--@ $75.

Thank you in advance!

Hi A,

What are the connection times, both ways?

((I))

You got couple of answers to the same question on the airline forum.

Hi ira,

In Chicago, there's a minimum four hour connection time which is right up my alley. Our main concern is weather that time of year.

AAFF, thank you for the heads up!

you should be ok in October..If there is a storm on arrival home, it is less of a worry in my opinion. I dislike OHare but dislike Atlanta more,

Hmm this post has me thinking... Is there a minimum connection time in Atlanta? WHen I booked our flight a few weeks ago to Rome, Delta could only give me an hour...

An hour is next to impossible if you are coming FROM Rome, to Rome it should be fine. An hour's about the standard at ATL. Coming back give yourself extra time. ATL was not designed with the "TSA" in mind... As a result, after clearing customs EVERYONE must reclear security. (That includes those of us who live here) That is a bottleneck.

I don't mind ATL, but I hate that walk from the plane to Immigration and Customs on return flights thru O'Hare. It must be over a mile . All the money they spent they could have put in a few moving walkways!

My itenerary will be the same as yours as AA doesn't fly to Spain.

In about 13 days (who's counting) I'm flying AA from SFO to CDG. From CDG the flight I will be taking is on Iberia airlines to MAD.

You will probably flying on an AB 340 (346)from CDG to MAD. The configuration is 3-4-3 in coach, compared to a 777, which is 2-5-2, which is what you're probably going to take from Atlanta.

The AB 340 is one of the newest jets out there and a nice ride.

Iberia is not listed in this link www.seatguru.com , but you can find another 346 configuration to get an idea of what the plane is like.

As for CDG, Iberia and AA are partners in One World, so it is in the same terminal. It's a busy airport but you can get everywhere pretty fast.

If you want to 'blow' part of the $75 difference, get a one day membership at AA's Admirals Club and get away from most of the crowd at the airport for your layover. Check out AA's web site.

jody,

I just saw your comments. Didn't you take the tram from the Customs Terminal back to the main AA terminal?

From there it's not a long walk.

Wow, Rastaguytoday, thank you for all those details! Very nice of you. :-)

Enjoy a great trip!

Iberia in Chicago leaves out of the AA/Delta terminal (L-terminal 3). Delta only flies 767's to Madrid from Atlanta I believe?
If you use Chicago-try not to get behind Air India unloading.........way too many people.

My only comment would be that late October shouldn't present a weather problem with O'Hare. It should be too late for thunder storms, too early for snow. But, hey, I thought my flight to Ireland in March should be okay 'cause it was too warm for snow. Who would've thought thunderstorms would cause a problem?!;)

AA do fly to Spain from Chicago. They codeshare Iberia's flights from Chicago to Madrid.

We've made international connections in both ATL and ORD. Our own preference is definitely ORD. And October (usually) shouldn't present any weather problems at ORD.

GatoVolador,

Code share means that Iberia is the plane that's flying. It's just like the AA flight I'm taking from SFO to ORD, Iberia has a code share flight #, but AA is doing the flying. I'm off tomorrow morning for this flight. Can't wait.

Because AA and Iberia are One World partners, they share the same terminal, which makes it very convenient.

I'm flying on One World FF miles in BC, and the baggage transfers are pretty much seamless between the two airlines.