ATL - Minimum realistic connection time?
Jun 29, 2018, 7:19 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: LHR
Programs: BA Exec Club - Lowly Blue
Posts: 162
ATL - Minimum realistic connection time?
My wife and I are arriving at ATL on BA227 at 20:15 EDT next month and, being unfamiliar with the passenger side of the airport, we were wondering how long it normally takes to clear Immigration, Customs, collect bags and change terminals etc.
We are debating whether to try and catch an onward flight that evening or whether we should spend a night at an airport hotel and travel the next day.
What would those who are familiar with Atlanta airport advise should be the realistic minimum connection time between arriving at the International terminal and catching a Delta flight from the domestic terminal?
Thanks in advance, Bellerophon.
We are debating whether to try and catch an onward flight that evening or whether we should spend a night at an airport hotel and travel the next day.
What would those who are familiar with Atlanta airport advise should be the realistic minimum connection time between arriving at the International terminal and catching a Delta flight from the domestic terminal?
Thanks in advance, Bellerophon.
Jun 29, 2018, 7:51 am
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Brighton. UK
Programs: BA Gold / VS /IHG Diamond & Ambassador
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Thee is a huge thread on the Delta board re ATL so pop over there and have a read as it does contain a lot of useful information on connection times etc that is not just applicable to DL.
Jun 29, 2018, 8:06 am
#3
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Lewes, UK
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 1,212
I travel to ATL once or twice a year. The BA flight is often delayed. Clearing immigration can also be a bit of a gamble depending on what’s come in, your cabin and how fast you’re prepared to walk/run to the machines/desks. Also my passport always gets rejected on the machines. I’m also feeling pretty tired with a 20:00+ arrival. If I were you, I’d stop over for the night. Given the hour change, you’ll be OK getting up and taking an early flight. If you do try and transit same day, I’d make sure it’s on one ticket to ensure your protected if anything goes wrong.
Jun 29, 2018, 8:15 am
#4
Join Date: Nov 2017
Programs: BA, Hilton
Posts: 2,091
Clearing immigration can also be a bit of a gamble depending on what’s come in, your cabin and how fast you’re prepared to walk/run to the machines/desks. Also my passport always gets rejected on the machines. I’m also feeling pretty tired with a 20:00+ arrival. If I were you, I’d stop over for the night. Given the hour change, you’ll be OK getting up and taking an early flight. If you do try and transit same day, I’d make sure it’s on one ticket to ensure your protected if anything goes wrong.
In Jan this year, took 2hr 30mins to get to the CBP officer.
Personally, I think I'd be strongly tempted to stop overnight but YMMV as they say. In Jan there were a good few BA passengers in the queue stressed about onward connections that they would have missed (I think they cancelled LGW-FLL that day and rerouted many of them LHR-ATL and onwards)
Jun 29, 2018, 8:17 am
#5
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Variables not covered here include:
1. day of week.
2. Global Entry.
3. Connecting carrier.
4. Details of connecting flight, e.g. carrier, flight number & departure time.
5. Citizenship (passport used).
Bottom line is that if you are not comfortable with all of this and would prefer a relaxed journey after a long-haul flight, why not book the connection overnight?
1. day of week.
2. Global Entry.
3. Connecting carrier.
4. Details of connecting flight, e.g. carrier, flight number & departure time.
5. Citizenship (passport used).
Bottom line is that if you are not comfortable with all of this and would prefer a relaxed journey after a long-haul flight, why not book the connection overnight?
Jun 29, 2018, 8:40 am
#6
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: ATL
Posts: 78
Evening flights in and out of ATL in the summer are always a risk. Summer afternoon/evening thunderstorms are common and has thrown Delta flights into disarray a few times this week already. I'd probably just take the overnight connection, but if you're in a premium cabin and are quick off the plane you shouldn't have much trouble with immigration. I just took this flight last month in F and immigration didn't take long at all (I do have GE though). Bags took about 15-20 minutes though. After collecting bags you'll have another 15-20 minute journey via walking and plane train to the domestic terminals.
Jun 29, 2018, 10:40 am
#7
Join Date: Jun 2018
Programs: BA Executive Club
Posts: 4
I have the good fortune...?... to travel on this route at least once a month and have done for the last three years (the worst has been 3 times in one month!) This flight is the most unpredictable I've ever been on. Sometimes it's from a gate, sometimes bussed, sometimes on time (I faint at that point) sometimes late, sometimes great service, sometimes mixed, sometimes on a 787-9 (rarely now) sometimes on a 777-200 or it could be the 300 variant. If we do leave on time and arrive on time, but there is bad weather in ATL, then that will have messed with all the other arrivals and CBP can be a right royal mess. The other week my colleague who doesn't have global entry, took 2.5 hours to get through. We agreed I would meet him at the hotel! In short - I wouldn't do a connecting flight from ATL arriving on the BA flight. Fly the next day. (what annoys me is why the flight is so late anyway. In the winter it isn't too bad, but the summer departure time moves it back by nearly 2 hours! - WHY BA WHY?)
If leaving from ATL - don't expect much - the lounge is fair at best... one time the incoming flight was so late in, I stayed at the hotel and left at 1am to get the flight which by this time was 5 hours late...I was surprised it wasn't cancelled to be honest!Why don't I fly Delta/Virgin..? Well I do prefer BA F over those carriers although sometimes I have done it - and they are good.
If leaving from ATL - don't expect much - the lounge is fair at best... one time the incoming flight was so late in, I stayed at the hotel and left at 1am to get the flight which by this time was 5 hours late...I was surprised it wasn't cancelled to be honest!Why don't I fly Delta/Virgin..? Well I do prefer BA F over those carriers although sometimes I have done it - and they are good.
Jun 29, 2018, 2:34 pm
#10
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: LHR
Programs: BA Exec Club - Lowly Blue
Posts: 162
A welcome outbreak of consensus on this forum! Overnight in an airport hotel and travel on the next day it is!
After a lengthy and very unsettling experience with US CBP at MIA last year my wife is not happy to transit there, so this year we decided to try ATL but, judging from some of the comments above, it may be out of the frying pan into the fire!
Time will tell, in the meantime, many thanks to all who replied so promptly and helpfully.
Bellerophon
After a lengthy and very unsettling experience with US CBP at MIA last year my wife is not happy to transit there, so this year we decided to try ATL but, judging from some of the comments above, it may be out of the frying pan into the fire!
Time will tell, in the meantime, many thanks to all who replied so promptly and helpfully.
Bellerophon
Jun 29, 2018, 3:44 pm
#11
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold, Eurostar Carte Blanche
Posts: 712
Having just done an LHR-ORD-ATL-MIA-LHR with inbound ATL leg cancelled in the air (returned; passengers dispersed over whatever available seats over the coming days) and outbound delayed by 2 hours 30 leading to a sprint from one side of Miami International to the other - don’t chance the summer weather.
Mornings should be thunderstorm clear, and the later arrival in the summer schedule make it difficult to find a matching connection (at least on AA).
Mornings should be thunderstorm clear, and the later arrival in the summer schedule make it difficult to find a matching connection (at least on AA).
Jun 30, 2018, 1:59 am
#13
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: London Stratford, E7
Programs: BAEC Gold! Thanks to FT
Posts: 3,378
A welcome outbreak of consensus on this forum! Overnight in an airport hotel and travel on the next day it is!
After a lengthy and very unsettling experience with US CBP at MIA last year my wife is not happy to transit there, so this year we decided to try ATL but, judging from some of the comments above, it may be out of the frying pan into the fire!
Time will tell, in the meantime, many thanks to all who replied so promptly and helpfully.
Bellerophon
After a lengthy and very unsettling experience with US CBP at MIA last year my wife is not happy to transit there, so this year we decided to try ATL but, judging from some of the comments above, it may be out of the frying pan into the fire!
Time will tell, in the meantime, many thanks to all who replied so promptly and helpfully.
Bellerophon
Jun 30, 2018, 2:04 am
#14
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Gatwick, UK
Programs: UA *G, BA Silver
Posts: 1,673
Don't forget to look at the possibilities of going through DUB, since pre-clearance there is usually pleasanter than on arrival in the US. But it probably depends what your final destination is and how easily you can get there from an Aer Lingus or American flight from Dublin.
Jun 30, 2018, 3:07 am
#15
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
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I have the good fortune...?... to travel on this route at least once a month and have done for the last three years (the worst has been 3 times in one month!) This flight is the most unpredictable I've ever been on. Sometimes it's from a gate, sometimes bussed, sometimes on time (I faint at that point) sometimes late, sometimes great service, sometimes mixed, sometimes on a 787-9 (rarely now) sometimes on a 777-200 or it could be the 300 variant.