Originally Posted by
gopher99
Hi,
I have a question for anyone with more knowledge than myself on connections, I have a flight booked from LHR - MIA - ATL - GIG, my flight DL1323 from Miami to Atlanta only gives me 46 minutes connection time. I guess I will land in the domestic terminal and then will have to catch the shuttle bus over to the international terminal. Will this give me enough time to make the connection, that’s of course if the plane isn’t delayed in which case I have no chance. And also because the DL61 flight is only once a day, will Delta put me up in a hotel for the night if I miss the connection?
There is no "shuttle bus" at ATL. All concourses are connected via the "Plane Train" that runs underground and is pretty efficient. 46 minutes is tight but above the Minimum Connection Time for a domestic-to-international connection at ATL.
Whether DL will put up up at a hotel if you misconnect will depend on the cause of the delay. If the cause of the delay is within DL's control (such as a mechanical delay) DL will (well should) put you up (whether it's a hotel you would want to stay at is a different story). If the delay is beyond DL's control (ATC, weather, etc.) then DL is less likely to put you up and the best you may get is a coupon for a reduced/negotiated distressed passenger rate at an airport hotel.
What I recommend: when you arrive at MIA off the flight from LHR, check to see if your MIA-ATL flight is on-time BEFORE you drop off any checked luggage after claiming proceeding through customs, if you have any checked baggage. If the MIA-ATL flight is on-time, then you should be okay (assuming it stays on time) but if it's posting a delay already when you come off the flight from LHR, before dropping off your bag go to a DL service counter and see if you can be rebooked on another routing out of MIA on LATAM via any of the cities LATAM flies out of MIA as LATAM is a DL partner. If you don't have a checked baggage continue to monitor the MIA-ATL flight and if it posts a delay, go a DL service counter and see about getting rebooked on LATAM