Question - Flying International into Atlanta

ATL was my home airport for 17 years and during that time I learned this. ATL gets lots of afternoon thunderstorms (1-4pm) in the summer so it's better to fly out in the mornings if possible. Over that time I never had much in delays but I found my problem/delay airports were always O'Hare, Newark, and LA.

 

I beg to differ.

ATL has the capacity to absorb multiple immigrating planes if things get screwed.

CLT will just become a mess. Add bad weather or delays and CLT tuns into a shitshow real quick

 

Probably all comes down to personal experience. Domestic through ATL has always been good for me, as I head to ATL and Augusta a dozen so times a year. The few international flights a bit sticky.

 

I flew to Aruba once as a pre teen... i remember the security check offending me getting back. good memories overall though flying standby to a ski area running around bribing gate workers with donuts(my aunt was a flight attendant for delta in the 70s)

 

Why not Cincy? We're going to Sweden in May and found the best deal out of Cincy.

 

Still saved us a nice chunk vs. flying out of Louisville. Plus on the way home we can stop at the Hofbrauhaus

 

It's more expensive than HTS or CRW plus those airports are closer, less than 2 hours drive as opposed to more than 3 to Cincinatti.

Odd thing is, when we went to the UK last summer the best deal we found was from Lexington via Chicago, that flight costs more now than it did last year.

 

I fly into Atl about every couple / few weeks internationally, it’s by far one of the easier airports to get through immigration. If you don’t have any other things like global entry at least download the mobile pass app, that will get you through quick and baggage in atl is damn quick. If you think atl has a lot to be desired try LAX.

 

Don't do Dulles. Easy enough to get around in but coming back into the country can take you anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours (without global entry) and then you have to clear the second check point. Even with it if you check a bag, it's still an hour.
The lines to get into the country are huge on Sat and Sunday and then you have to fight through the families waiting for their relatives who just arrived.

 

I fly about 100,000 miles a year and use Atlanta (Delta) hub every time I go to Europe from San Diego. It is a very large Airport but they have great terminal transfer subways that are easy to use. ATL is actually not a bad connecting airport at all. Im not sure about getting in and out with a car as I am always connecting. I do still have to go through immigration before getting to my new gate, and I always carry on my bag, but i get through there quickly like someone above mentioned in about 10 minutes. Trust me, there are FAR worse airports in the world, 90% of them are in the US.

 

I fly through Atlanta a lot, that's my main hub. I recently flew into ATL from Costa Rica so I had to go through all of that. Not quite the way you mentioned it though. Once you go through immigration, you have to pick up your checked bag and drop it off in another location, IF Atlanta is not your last stop. Then you go through security and on to your next flight. If Atlanta is your destination, then you go a different route and pick up your bag. Obviously you don't have to go through security again then. Every international airport follows the same process, it's just that some are bigger than others and some are better organized than others. When you fly into ATL from an international flight, you can either go to the Global Entry line if you have Global Entry (quickest). Or if you don't you go through the regular line for US citizens. Recently they've added a Mobile Passport line, which is supposed to speed things up if you have the app on your phone. I went through that because I have the Mobile Passport app and it turned out to be slower than the regular line. That kinda pissed me off but I had plenty of time so I wasn't really in a hurry.

IMO, ATL is a pretty well organized airport and easy to navigate through, even though it's very big and the busiest airport in the world. My only issue there is that so many of my layovers there are only like 45-55 minutes, and Delta takes about 40 minutes for boarding, so if the first flight is delayed by even just a bit I have to run to catch my next one. Happened a few times so far.

 

No problems in ATL coming back from overseas. Get Global Entry for quicker transit. I always beat my suitcase.

 

I had to do that in Sept '16 when I returned from Roatan. It was a Saturday evening, took over an hour to get all the way through and I still had to catch my final leg home.

Coming into Dulles from CDG midday midweek a few times has been extremely fast, pretty much a straight shot through.

 

Gawd I love this place. I had never heard of the Mobile Passport thing (MPC) until reading this thread. I've got an overseas trip coming up in May and my return final leg is LHR to SJC. SJC is listed as MPC ready so somebody here just saved me some time and trouble. Already installed and initialized on my phone.

 

I can't say I'm completely clear on its purpose. As far as I can tell it just makes it so you don't have to fill out the stupid immigration form with a pen, you just do it on the app and submit. You can do it as your getting out of the plane or standing in line since it only take a minute. But whereas with a form you eventually have to give it to someone, the MP thing doesn't get checked at all, so I think it must be all automatic?? When you submit it on the app, you get a receipt which has a bar code, so I had my phone ready thinking I had to scan it somewhere, but nobody asked for it lol All I had to do was show my passport. So I'm kinda wondering what would happen if I get in the MP line but I don't submit the entry form on the app? lol

 

It’s linked to your passport so when they scan your passport the info comes up.

 

ATL is easy, I fly international every week, global entry is the way to go, mobile passport if you don't want to spend the money for global entry or just wing it. Always people stationed to help you and point in the correct direction. Bags are normally very fast. Easy to get around the airport. But I may be biased..