I just had a little trip pow-wow with my friend who is going to Greece with me in 2 days! I'm not sure why I didn't pick up on this when we booked our tickets, but she only has one hour to connect to the international flight. We booked our flights so that she (who is flying from Denver) would meet me (who is flying from California) in Atlanta. From Atlanta we fly on the same flight to Athens. I have over two hours scheduled between flights, but she only has one hour one minute. This concerns me a bit. Is this going to be too tight? If so is there anything we can do about it now? I'm not concerned about luggage (we're boty carrying on). I'm just concerned that she'll miss the flight altogether! We're flying Delta.

Hi S,

With only carryon, one hr should be sufficient. Note that this is not a guarantee.

Call Delta the day before to see if they know from which terminal and gate your plane will be leaving.

Enjoy your visit.

I think she will make it. Plus I have seen Delta hold a flight so connecting passengers can make it on.

May be an unpopular view but she may want to consider checking her bag. This is because in the event she must run to another terminal, not having a bag may help her get there. Also, if the bag makes it and she is still running, they will hold the plane for a passenger who has baggage on the plane, or they are required to take the bag out of the cargo.

I looked up the flights online and it looks as if the Denver flight will arrive in Atlanta at gate A2. The Athens flight is scheduled to depart out of E2. I don't know the Atlanta airport enough to know if that's a distance, but I do know that alphabet and 4 terminals away doesn't sound close!

ttt

A2 is a pretty long walk to the train.
E concourse is the last stop for the train.
If her plane is late arriving,this can be really tight.
I tend to think that an hour should be enough time, but not for her bags.
She needs to either be sitting up front or tell her flight attendant about her tight connection. I've had to wait as much as 15 minutes just getting off the plane.
The walk and train time can be done in 20-25 minutes, maybe a little less.
The Athens flight should pretty much be boarded by the time she arrives.

Is she on different legs of a single ticket? If so - is this a legal connection? Delta is likely to wait a few minutes, IF they can, if there are several passengers coming.

But - if it's not a single ticket and she misses the flight she may well have to buy a whole new ticket.

I would have alternate plans for meeting in Athens in case she doen;t make the flight.

Now I know why I didn't notice this tight connection time before--it wasn't booked that way! Since booking this flight Delta changed the flight time. At the time of booking this DEN-ATL flight was scheduled to arrive a full hour and twenty minutes than it is now, which would have provided a two-hour twenty minute connection time. We'll be pretty unhappy if this doesn't work since Delta is the one that switched things up on us. And unfortunately her seat is in row 43 of a 44-row plane (the flight appears fully booked as well). Besides the fact that we're carrying on only, the only thing we have going for us is that the flight from Denver originates from Denver, which hopefully increases the chances of this flight flying on schedule. Keep your fingers crossed. Thanks!

nytraveler, this DEN-ATL-ATH ticket was booked on one ticket. As was my California-ATL-ATH ticket.

She'll have to walk from her arrival gate to the middle of that concourse, go down the escalator, take the train to E concourse, and walk to her departure gate. As long as her DEN flight arrives on time, she should have enough time, but she doesn't have much leeway in case of delays.

If she would be more comfortable with a longer layover, she can try to SDC (same day confirmed) onto DL1244 leaving DEN at 7:45am for a $25 fee. She can Delta starting 3 hours prior at 4:45am to check availability (right now DL1244 on 6/7, assuming that's your travel date, looks fairly open in economy) http://tinyurl.com/quzo7

Caveat: Technically you're not supposed to be able to SDC the domestic segments on a transatlantic itinerary, but I've heard of instances where it was allowed. If the earlier flight sounds good to her, it doesn't hurt to try.

Good luck!

In light of the schedule change they made (which Delta does so frequently) your friend should definitely get on the phone with a Delta agent who will give her a seat assignment in the first few rows of coach -- tell her to ask for bulkhead since these seats are blocked off. Atlanta is a freakin huge airport but since she's already past security and has a boarding pass, she'll make it IF her flight is on time and she's sitting up-front. If she has trouble with the Delta agent she should keep asking for a supervisor until someone has authority to assign her in bulkhead.

If there's an earlier flight, they usually will put her on it without a fee in cases like this but she'll likely be waiting for hours for her connection. But this would be the safest option if it's available.

samtraveler,
I just saw your latest post. Did your friend ever accept the schedule change? If not, a one hour and 20 min schedule change should be enough to request that Delta change her to the earlier DEN-ATL flight for free if that's what she'd prefer.

It's me that's uncomfortable with this short connection time. My friend is super laid back about it. (I'm the worrier in the friendship--we're very good for each other She did call Delta, but the said if they scheduled her on the earlier DEN-ATL flight for some bizaro reason she'd have to take a different ATL-ATH flight. Makes no sense to me, but that's what they said. If it were me I'd press a bit more, call and try for a different agent, etc., but she seems fine with it, row 43 seat and all. So I just have to let it be and hope it works out. She's a big girl!

That truly is a bizarre reply considering DL only has one daily ATL-ATH flight

Good luck to her!

That's exactly what I thought (flight 138 is it to Athens on Delta), but there you have it!

She's a big girl but if she misses her flight, doesn't this really inconvenience you since you're traveling together?

If there's another ATL-Athens flight several hours later it's not a big deal although if she can't get out until 6-10 hours later she's going to be bummed spending her first day of vacation in the Atlanta airport. If you're not sharing airport transportation in Athens or a room with her, however, it doesn't hurt to let her go with the flow and hope for the best. good luck!

Agree with the post that said if Delta made the schedule change she should be able to get them to book her on an earlier flight without penalty,Why don't you call Delta yourself and get a first hand version of the possibilities.

If they must then put her on a different transatlantic leg it woul be better than her missing the current connection in Atlanta.You cant wait for her and then if she is late take a different flight together. You are on a different ticket.

Suggest you make a back-up plan to meet in Athens if she misses her flight.

GTG

If Delta has only 1 direct flight and your friend misses it ,they might be able to connect her thru Frankfurt.

Ask Delta.

GTG

If she missed the ATL-ATH nonstop on DL, there are a few later options that will get her to ATH via AMS or CDG later that day.

She probably can't get bulkhead except at the gate. If she gets it, she most likely will be fine.