MegatopLover

Let's say your international flight arrives at Concourse E. And you're an ATL-terminating pax. How do you get from the CBP threshhold area of Concourse E to Concourse F so you can exit without the forced re-check of bags?

And will ATL-tagged bags coming off flights arriving at Concourse E be sent to carousels at Concourse F?

Will pax connecting at ATL who didn't through-check bags have to go to Concourse F to collect ATL-tagged bags and re-check once landside at Concourse F?

As much as I like the idea of not having to re-clear security andwait an hour to collect a bag that I re-checked after already waiting and collecting it once, I see the new arrangements as having a lot of potential for creating confusion.

atldlff

There is a "sterile" walkway that connects arriving passengers from Concourse E to the CBP in Concourse F.

Yes, that is the plan.

I think you are asking if you are a connecting passenger but only checked you bags to ATL will you have to go "Landside" on Concourse F to re-check your bag.

Since your bag will be checked only to Atlanta, it will arrive at Concourse F in the International Baggage claim area. You will need to claim your bag clear CBP and re-check the bag. There is a re-check desk just outside Concourse F CBP that I believe you can check you bag onto your final destination even if it doesn't have the connecting flight bag tag.

I am not sure why you wouldn't want to through-check your bags to the final destination. If you are connecting in Atlanta and don't through-check your bags and your flight arrives at Concourse E will be have to go to Concourse F unnecessarily to claim your bags.

International connecting passengers will follow the same process they do today, the only difference is that they will be processed through CBP in the Concourse that they arrive at. The new process only applies to ATLANTA passengers. All Atlanta bound passengers will be processed through CBP in Concourse F and there is no bag re-check or additional security screening since you will exit directly into Arrivals Lobby Landside in the International Terminal.

atl runner

If you are an Atlanta destination passenger, you will have to go through passport control, baggage reclaim and customs on F. You will not have the option of going through the whole process on E. Why anyone would want to--as both myself and atldlff have pointed out, is beyond me anyway.

AdamS

Okay, so what if you are landing in F and connecting to a domestic flight? Is your baggage claimed in F (and always F)?

If the previous answer is yes, then will the new sterile walkway between E and F only have pax walking in one direction in general (from E to F)? (Because if you land in F, reclaim bags in F, clear customs and TSA in F then towards E,D... you would not be in the sterile walkway between F and E at that point.

One more scenario, land in F, no checked bags, line for first immigration check seems long. possible to walk to E through sterile walkway and clear there?

Dawgfan6291

DL has signed up for first rights on 6 of the 12 F gates. No idea what BA/LH/AF/KL are doing. Sounds like KE will be staying in E. (IIRC both BA and LH have club space in E...so I would be kind shocked to see them move to F.) I think it will end up with mostly Delta at F, maybe some AF/KL with BA/LH/KE gates staying in E. I expect all will have check-in in F.

Also
Q: There are Customs and Border Protection (CBP) areas on Concourse E and the new international terminal. Which one should I use?
A: All passengers who arrive at Concourse F will process through CBP on Concourse F, whether they are connecting to other flights or finishing their travel in Atlanta. Passengers arriving at Concourse E who are connecting to other flights will be processed by CBP on Concourse E. Atlanta-bound passengers arriving on Concourse E will pass through a sterile corridor with moving walkways to the CBP area on Concourse F for processing.

So E and F will have its own CBP areas.

http://www.atlanta-airport.com/Inter...nger/faqs.html

Dawgfan6291

All 28(i think?) (on E) and 12 (on F) will be common use. So Delta could use any of them. When people talk about the leases on F gates, it means Delta will have first rights to them. So If AF/KL/KE/BA/LH are all using a gate on F and Delta has 6 flights come in and WN has 2 flights come in, then Southwest would have to go to an open gate on E. (or if say E was full then they would have to wait for a gate). Delta wont have "its own" gates like it does in T/A/B/C/D. E and F will be a common use(CUTE) system.

(note what said above is very unlikely to happen)

Your 2nd question about using T/A for international flights. It is very possible, I am not sure if it will have to happen right after the opening but as the market grows and oneworld stops playing the market share game across the Atlantic and Delta stops taking our flights away to prop up JFK opps I am sure some of the canceled flights (like SVO/CPH/ATH/TLV) will come back and those adds plus growth over the next 5-7 years will make them bring flights back into A/T.

and for the last part of you post.....its very simple....money. It cost more to use a CBP Gate(even if its a flight that wont use the CBP) than a regular domestic gate. So Delta(or ASA or FL) would rather sit on the ramp for ~10-20min vis pay the extra in gate cost. When our WX goes to hell then E will see anything and everything (and still have sit times of 60-90 min. Nothing like sitting in the back of a maddog for 90 min on the ground.)

exwannabe

As too why, it depends on how the shutlle busses run.

On my last international arrival in ATL it took me only a minute to reclear security (after customs), then maybe 10 minutes to get to the terminal. So how long will it be to walk to F then take the buss?

My guess is the buss will be signifiantly more of a hastle than the security rescreen.

And I seriously doubt the off grounds parking operators will dropoff/pickup at the new terminal. The math does not work.

BTW, this also means that as an arriving ATL pax I no longer have the option of taking a shower. I often go straight to work and appreciate this option.

exwannabe

It sounds like all baggage destined for ATL goes to F, other baggage stays in the the arriival concourse. Is there a new sort facility? What happens to the poor fool who did not interline their luggage and just follows the instructions to use E? Glad I rarely check luggage :-)

Yes, it seams the sterile walkway is designed E->F only. Hopefully they would not enforce this for the example you give (even if us ATL pax can not take advatage of it).

What if you are a transiting (ex-US->ATL->US) passenger w/o a boarding pass for the next flight? Will they let you get through E? If so, how do they stop me as an ATL bound pax from doing the same? If not, what if your bags are interlined?

MegatopLover

Thanks for the response to my questions. As for why an inbound int'l pax with a connecting flight might not through-check bags: might not have a choice. Does Southwest have an interline baggage agreement with DL?

atldlff

If you are connecting to a domestic flight and your bags has been through-checked to your final destination then you will get your bag and clear CBP in the Concourse that you arrived at - either E or F.

I am not 100% sure, but I believe the sterile walkway is bi-directional as there are two moving walkways on both the sterile and "non-sterile" side. I am not sure why there would be a need to use the sterile walkway from F to E,

Once you clear CBP and re-screen through TSA, you can use the regular walkway to F or head down the escalator to the transportation mall and take the train to any of the Concourses.

I am not completely sure, but as I stated earlier, it is has dual walkways, so I believe that it is bi-directional.

PRWeezer

IIRC the answer on WN interline agreements is no, for bags or for transferring tickets in IROP situations (I'm sure I'll be corrected if that's not the case). And if it is the case, it sounds like you would have to collect your bags at DL baggage claim on F, as if they were ATL-terminating bags. Then you'd have to go check-in with Southwest and re-clear general security. At least you'd be treated like an ATL passenger and you'd skip that security re-check after CBP, if my scenario is correct. I can see a lot of potential for confusion among passengers who aren't terminating in ATL, but would need to go through this process as if they were.

Being based in ATL I've never had to connect to another airline here, perhaps others have more info on how easy (or not) it is to do.

AdamS

Wow, does that mean you would have to take the shuttle bus from F to the North or South terminal? Which airlines will have check in desks in both places? FL and DL would have to because they have domestic and international flights from Atlanta. What about UA, AA, US? I would not think they would have desks in the new international terminal.

The other alternative would be a transit desk after customs in F that can check ongoing luggage with any airline (with contract staff maybe).

You could not go through TSA with all your checked bags in F and ride the train to the N/S terminal to check in, that wouldn't really work.

But if you had no checked bags you could do this. But another question. Will there be a separate TSA check in F that does not require a boarding pass for passengers who just cleared customs?

PRWeezer

According to the airport's website posted earlier, I'll re-post the link, any airline w international flights will be in F. Agree with you that it would make sense to have at least a general transit desk. But until it opens or more information is revealed, there's a lot that doesn't make sense to me about the new terminal.

http://www.atlanta-airport.com/inter...r/airlines.htm

ETA: I believe DL does have interline baggage agreements w the other legacy carriers, so how does that work now?

FWIW I recently connected at JFK from an International flight to ATL & I could not go through the security re-check without a BP. There was a DL kiosk as well as a couple of agents which solved that problem for me. I'm sure somebody here has faced that in ATL before & could answer you. But it seems you would need to have a BP to get past security, as you would with any flight.

AdamS

The E TSA check does not check boarding passes currently. I wonder if they will in the future (another question!). I would never have a boarding pass to show them as I am always terminating in ATL.

PRWeezer

Well duh, neither would I, didn't even think about that. @:-) But since ATL-terminating passengers won't have to re-clear security any more, the current process may change to require a BP.

My recent transit through JFK was so hectic it's more top of mind. I was trying to run to catch an earlier flight & the kiosk didn't cooperate so I tried to get through without a BP...and was sent back to the desk for one. But that area was solely for connecting pax IIRC.