LouisianaFlyer

When I landed in Atlanta today, I had a choice. Either sit in the Crown Room for 3 hours and sip Gordon and Tonics until it was time for my ticketed connection or run for the next flight leaving 21 minutes later. Easy choice. I made it from one end of B to the gate at the end of C just before the gate agent started her departure paperwork. She graciously said yes to my request to move to his flight and we left 2 minutes early. I really did not think I would make it.

What is the shortest connection you have made in Atlanta?

mudpuppy

Due to a late incoming plane, 15 minutes, pretty much backwards of your route--from the end of C to the end of B. If the door closed at 10 minutes out I wouldn't have made it, but fortunately flight 1090 almost always departs late on Monday. In fact I wasn't even the last one on the plane.

IME the key is to be the first one off the train so you can walk up the escalators.

slipbeer

And then there are the days where the gate you are arriving at is next to the gate you are leaving from and you sit and wait for the arrival gate to clear while the plane at the next gate pushes back.

misterbean

and you always think "Well, I can just jump from wing to wing! Let me out!"

BobH

Not ATL, but in MEM a few years ago we arrived a bit late and were worried about our connection because we had only about five minutes.

The next plane was on time and at the adjacent gate and we made it easily.

Bob H

randidliyo

I once arrived at D something and left from D something plus one. So my connection time was ........ that's it. Made it.

kitkat77

I once arrived, a few min late, and was about to try to run to my departure gate when I realized, oh, I'm departing on the same plane I came in on. Sheepishly sauntered off to the waiting area....

cubbynole

Related to your backstory, granted I have no status with DL, but it still struck me as poor business practice. I had a scheduled 3 hour layover but a delayed flight was leaving for my destination at the adjacent gate of my arrival gate. I asked the GA if I could board this flight and that I only had carryon luggage, I was told I could, but I would have to pay $100 or whatever. I declined, fast forward three hours, as I'm waiting to board my flight to my destination, the GA announces they need a volunteer because the flight was overbooked and they were offering $400 in travel vouchers. I offered to give them my seat for free a couple of hours ago...
Regarding short connections, I do have a relatively short one scheduled for ATL tomorrow (less than 50 minutes), which is certainly doable, but I'm currently scheduled for a Concourse A arrival and Concourse F departure. Shouldn't be an issue, but that's a lot of ground to cover.

TTT

I once made a 37 minute international connection in ATL due to a very late departure from MUC. That was from gate to gate, including imigration (^ Global Entry). We had already been offloaded from our original flight but when we arrived at the plane they were just finishing the boarding process and had seats so the GA put us back on.

Shortest DL connection - 6 minutes in LGA. D11 to C20. They even re-opened the door for me.

pbjag

I have made it from A1 to B31 in 8 minutes flat -with a broken toe and dragging luggage. Nope, no carts or wheelchairs involved.

Stripe

I believe the minimum scheduled connecting time in ATL is 35 minutes, which I have booked and successfully made for a number of morning flights. I would not book such a short connection for a late afternoon or evening flight.

The problem with ATL is not just the gate-to-gate distance but the way DL's sloppy operations and the volume of passengers can foil the best laid plans. You may land on one of the more distant runways and the taxi can seem to be as long as your time in the air. "Our gate is occupied" is heard almost as often as "Welcome to Atlanta where the local time is...". The jetbridge might take inordinately long to be positioned. Moving quickly through the congested hallways can be a challenge and you are usually stuck in a large crowd at the base of the narrow escalators coming up from the inter-concourse train. And even if you get through all that successfully, you could easily find that the agent boarding your next flight assumed you weren't going to make it and dropped you from the flight. He or she will stare at you blankly and tell you to go to the "service center" where you will have to plead your case to a minion before you will even be allowed to stand in line to get rebooked.

Other than that, connecting in Atlanta is a breeze.

stils

I got off my flight which was running 20 mins late and checked the monitor... My next flight was running a few minutes late because I was getting right back on the same plane!

ltcrkm

47 minutes coming in on an international flight from RTB, connecting to PDX.
Thought we had no chance at all, when we rushed off the plane, but no line at immigration, bags were waiting for us and no line at customs. Kept our upgraded F buckets.:

kitkat77

I made it from C34 (WestJet codeshare) to D9 in under 10 minutes once. We sat waiting for our gate to be available for almost 45 minutes so I watched my hour connection turn into 15 minutes.

Happened upon the golf cart guy that took me to the new walkway, then I *ran* the rest of the way. Got there just as they were closing the door (~T-5 to departure time).

FlyAO2

I call BS

I call BS...


Unless this is Carl Lewis and he has 2 handles.