Originally Posted by
monitor
If you need to be in STL before noon tomorrow to avoid "deep trouble," pack your briefcase right now and go to the airport this evening either to get over to ATL or to go all the way to STL. IMO thirty-six minutes at ATL is asking for the "deep trouble" to happen even though B18 is right at the centerpoint. At any rate, one or both of those gate assignments are not unlikely to change more than once between now and tomorrow morning as the first flight touches down.
I avoid ATL as much as possible, and use a minimum connection time of 1 hr (preferably 90 minutes) when I have to go thru ATL. The DL scheduling "system" will offer a 36-minute (or similar) connect time, even when the in-bound flight shows a historical pattern of arriving 30 minutes late. I have discovered that the hard way.
If you are on DL 1324, DL.dumb shows that it was on time 93% of the time last month, with no delays greater than 30 minutes. Fortunately, you are outbound on a mainline jet. If you were on a regional carrier, that info likely would not be available.
The first flight of the day is usually pretty reliable... if the aircraft gets in the night before. That said, both ATL and BNA are showing isolated thunderstorms throughout the night and into the morning.
All-in-all, if the consequences of not getting to STL on time are sufficiently grave, I'd look at alternate Plan B.
You may, however, have difficulty in getting cooperation from the airline since, as they likely will tell you, "A 36-minute connection is legal." Shouldn't be, but is.