South - ATL - when to be at the airport

I am not familiar with ATL at all, so here is to you experts out here:

I have a 6:10 am flight on United on Wed 12/14. I will have baggage to check in. I am Star Alliance Silver so I should be able to use their priority check-in. What time do you think I should be at the airport? How heavy would security lines be on a Wednesday morning? Any idea?
Thank you so much for any comment!

ATL is a funny place, 'cause your experience varies based on airline. Most folks are flying Air Tran or Delta. I've had 6:00 am flights and generally it's not crowded, especially on a Wednesday. I almost never fly UA out of ATL, though. IIRC, ticketing is in the North terminal and gates are in concourse T. Security can be a bottleneck but at that hour won't be bad. I'd give myself 60 minutes from the time I parked the car to doors closed. The ticket counter doesn't open until 5:30.

Securtiy for all airlines is in the same place. Later in the day it can easily take 1/2 hour to get through. I have never left ATL that early but I would reccomend getting there as early as you could.

Well thanks for your help!

The ticket counter doesn't open until 5:30.

Does this also apply to the check-in??? That would be very close to boarding!

Well thanks for your help!



Does this also apply to the check-in??? That would be very close to boarding!

That was from the UA website. I'm assuming you can't check in until the counter opens. Certainly impossible to check baggage before an employee shows up.

I haven't flown UA out of ATL at that early hour. I have flown DL and CO out of ATL at that hour. IIRC, the CO counter didn't open until 45 minutes before my flight left. At 5:30 a guy shows up to turn on the kiosks and open the counter. Getting there before the counter opens just means standing in line.
You can get there early if that gives you peace of mind. I'd rather get as much sleep if my day's going to start that early. You might try calling the number on the back of your MP card. They might know or at least give you a number for the UA counter in ATL. They will surely know.

<yawn> I'm getting sleepy just thinking about it. Of course, it's a 100 minute drive to ATL and I lose an hour in the time change. Making a 6:10 flight out of ATL means getting up at 2:00 am.

Securtiy for all airlines is in the same place.

Actually, that's not true. There's a separate security entrance for the T gates, just adjacent to the American Airlines check-in. You won't save much time getting through security, but you will have a refreshingly short walk to your UA gate.

How about checking in the night before, say at 9 pm, take the hotel shuttle back to the hotel and sleep a little longer. Would that work?