South - ATL taxi

I have a late-morning flight departing ATL at 11:30am on a Thursday (heading to YOW via YYZ) in August. Right now I am trying to decide between hiring a taxi to the airport from my friend's place or booking a cheap hotel closer to the airport the night before.

I am planning to be at the airport between 9am and 9:30am but am unsure how long it will take to get to the airport (my friend lives in the 30345 (http://goo.gl/maps/CPoI) area), how bad traffic will be during that time (I've heard traffic in ATL can be fairly hellish) and lastly, which will be cheaper.

Any feedback would be appreciated!

There's a little "lesser of two evils" here. Yes, traffic is bad. You'll be taking 285 around the city and that's definitely not my normal commute so I can't be 100% sure but I know the east side perimeter is pretty bad in the afternoon.

A cheap hotel by the airport... I would not recommend.(Cheap here meaning less than a cab ride) The area around the airport can be quite bad. There are some airport hotels that are decent but they will be more than a taxi fare. I take a hired car or taxi to the airport and I'm in 30319 and the taxi is about $65 and the sedan service is $90. Any hotel near the airport that costs less than that is going to be really sketchy. For $110+ you can stay somewhere suitable. The Holiday Inn Express is generally $100 or so and it's just fine.


I would say 1 hour for the cab ride. Security lines at ATL generally aren't that bad.

Thanks MissJ.

I've poked around ATL's website for area hotels and found a Best Western (http://www.bwatlairport.com/default.aspx) that's about a 10min shuttle ride away (according to Google Maps) going around $90/night (after tax). I've also emailed a few limo companies and the average price seems to be about $75 all-inclusive. I suppose I am willing to say they're both within my budget but I'm wondering if it's worth the hassle of moving over to a hotel for a night just to beat traffic.

For what it's worth, I use Cooper Atlanta and have never been disappointed. If you go with a normal taxi, make sure to use a big name company as I know plenty of people who have a lot of complaints about the smaller, locally owned cab companies here. In fact, one almost hit me at ATL this past weekend. I had a driver fall asleep while driving from ATL one night. I don't do taxis anymore here since the limo company is only about $15 more and well worth it.

Personally, I would just leave early, sit back and relax while someone else deals with the traffic while I catch up on e-mail in the back seat. Our traffic is definitely bad, very bad, but your flight is late enough that you'll definitely get a taste of it, but you won't have to leave at 5am to make your flight.

Thanks again for your help, MissJ. One last question: I consulted with my friend and she wants to do the limo route, so how much time should we give ourselves for getting the airport? Would an hour be enough when factoring in traffic?