Orange County Commuter

OK like it or not I am flying SW ATL to PUJ this December.

Reading this I am worried that there's not a check in option at the International Terminal which is going to be a pain as I am sure that's where we get dumped out at when we return. I really don't want to do the cross country shuttle with my almost 80 year old mother!

SO is there a desk at the international terminal? And if so, any idea when it's open?

Orange County Commuter

I think they did.... my one and only flight on AirTran internationally I felt like I was dealing with people who had no clue. They didn't give out landing cards in advance, the flight crew had no idea what they were supposed to "announce" about immigration/customs and depended on a gate agent to come on and make the announcements etc.....

rsteinmetz70112

When was your flight on Airtran?

That said Southwest cancelled nearly all of Airtran's International Routes shifting departure points from those Airtran used to other airports.

Orange County Commuter

Just before the merger with SW was formally approved. I remember hoping that SW would be able to deal with "rude and clueless" employees in Atlanta.

jeffandnicole

I flew from Philly to ATL, then ATL to PUJ in December 2014, which was very shortly after SW started doing International flights. I had absolutely no issues. In Philly, they reviewed my Passport and stamped my boarding pass there. I flew into ATL and simply went to the gate for my plane. Had no issues flying into PUJ. At the time even the FAs had to read up on their notes as to what to do, but again, no issues.

When we departed, we left PUJ and flew into ATL. Went thru an extremely simply customs review; got our luggage and rechecked in, and hung around in the terminal until our flight back to Philly was ready to depart.

There were no rude and clueless employees, and everything ran efficiently. Actually, I'm doing this flight again in October.

Obviously, you're going to hear from people here that had bad experiences. Southwest runs dozens of flights every day to international destinations, and has done so for a few years now. Don't let a few people scare you, especially when much of what they state is opinion anyway.

Orange County Commuter

I really like SW. I really disliked AirTran. They were rude and clueless. I will say Atlanta has gotten better, but they still have some holdovers from the AirTran model!

Often1

The problem is not "rude and clueless" employees, it is that the systems on which they must work are antiquated and do not adequately handle simple international operations. As a result, lines are backed up, it takes longer, things which should be easy are not, and that gets taken as "rude & clueless" because it is hard to believe that in 2016, something can't be done.

This isn't to suggest that ATL doesn't have some "rude & clueless" employees. Of course it does. But, no more than the norm.

Orange County Commuter

True AirTran experiences.....

Customer goes to check in counter "when is plane going to depart" Agent "it's on time" Customer "On time was 10 minutes ago" Agent "I don't know just sit down and wait"

Customers are sitting in gate area waiting on plane. No announcements etc. All the sudden agent gets on loudspeaker and screams "WHY AREN"T YOU ALL AT GATE X WE MOVED THIS FLIGHT 10 MINUTES AGO" Agent then says to her co-worker "those passengers are idiots" Sadly, loud enough for passengers to hear. And I guess we were, we relied upon the airline staff at the gate to tell us the plane was not going out of that gate (NOTE: The signage at the gate had not been updated either)

Check-in line at the main terminal is incredibly long. Agent is standing there complaining about having too many passengers (Hint, if you don't have passengers you don't have a job!....) Passenger goes up to him to ask him a question and he tells the passenger "I just direct traffic I don't talk to you"




Rude and Clueless.


I am not saying the majority of SW employees are like this, but sadly they didn't fire all the rude and clueless they inherited in Atlanta

rsteinmetz70112

Funny I flew Airtran nearly twice a week from the time they started until they were shutdown and I never ran into very many rude and clueless Airtran employees. The only incident I can remember is a FA in business who spent the entire flight talking to one of his colleagues seated in Business and going on and on about then passengers he had removed for planes.

JohnnyAwesome23

When I flew PHL-ATL-CUN with WN, it was in the domestic concourse. You don't have to board a flight from the international terminal if you don't have ops over there, doesn't make sense connection wise.

Orange County Commuter

We start and end in Atlanta. My problem is parking. They will force us out the International terminal when we get to Atlanta. So I would like to start there. The shuttle between International and Domestic is not really a fun way to end a trip!

I had hoped to go out to International this weekend and see what I could figure out but Matthew cancelled my trip.

LegalTender

After immigration, just join the line for connecting flights. You'll do a TSA re-screen and board the train back to domestic baggage. Totally authorized. No one asks for a BP in this scenario.

rsteinmetz70112

But don't checked bags come out at the International Terminal?

LegalTender

Of course. Customs/Immigration process both you and your bags there. Two exit paths follow. You join the queue for onward connections, re-screen at TSA and board the train back to domestic. No need standing curbside for a shuttle.

Orange County Commuter

We are checking luggage. There will be liquids the bags cannot be screened at the TSA and go on the train for domestic.

I had no idea SW would not let me check in at international. That's just bizarre!