nsx

A family member has a 940 PM flight out of ATL Thursday. He will incur a heavy financial loss if he misses the flight or even if his bags are delayed. I know, I know. FWIW, we had no viable choice other than this flight, and the on-time record of the flight is excellent. I rate his chances of success at 95% to 99.5%.

What we don't want to do is add to the chance of failure by arriving at the airport too late. Considering weekday evening baggage and TSA lines, what would be a reasonable arrival time at the airport for >99.5% chance of reaching the gate on time with baggage checked on time?

If he ends up being late, would it make sense to carry the bags (slightly larger than rollers) to the gate and ask to pay the baggage fee for them to be gate checked? Or would Delta leave those bags behind or send him back outside to the counter?

I'm trying to plan for contingencies here, but I don't know DL's procedures nor have I been through ATL in the last 10 years or so.

BenA

My $0.02:

The most conservative approach: figure out what his second-best-option is - whether that's a connection through another hub or the previous nonstop flight. Show up at the airport 60 minutes before that flight departs, which would give you time to switch your itinerary to it if your other flight has posted a delay or cancellation.

If that's too early to arrive at the airport, 90-120 minutes should be sufficient. Just make sure you check in online at T-24 to minimize the chances of involuntary denied boarding.

As far as bags, you will be best off if you can consolidate into carryon bags - that way you control your destiny, and if you need to change flights, your baggage will travel with you.

If not, it doesn't really matter if you check at the gate or at the counter - the probability of success is about equal for both. And TSA might not let you through if you try to haul multiple bags exceeding a carryon allowance through - they sometimes (rightly or wrongly) attempt to enforce airline rules at the checkpoint. I'd choose to check at the counter; I'd also perhaps note the importance of your baggage arriving on time and politely ask if the checkin agent would be willing to add SkyPriority tags. (Or look into whether an F class upgrade is affordable, which would give you the tags and priority security line access as part of the service package.)

If the "heavy financial loss" is a connecting travel itinerary (e.g. cruise, etc.), consider retaining quality trip insurance - some policies will cover missed connections, even on separately ticketed itineraries.

If your family member has a trusted traveler program membership, consider entering the number into their reservation today to increase the chances of being selected for TSA PreCheck.

BenA

Also, I do know ATL now has two entrances - an international one at the new F gates, and a domestic one at the T gates. I'm not familiar enough with ATL origination to know, but perhaps someone else can comment on:

- can passengers use either entrance when flying domestically?
- if so, which one tends to move more quickly in the evenings?

dgilman

Why does reasonable matter in this equation? The only question is, how early can your family member get to the airport?

That's the time they should get there if this is really a concern. Bring a book, and a phone charger. Pay for a day pass to the Sky Club. Watch some movies on their iPad.

Now, if you know what time they can get there and want to know if that will be sufficient, others may have an idea.

David

nsx

Good point. This is the last flight of the day on any airline, and a flight delay but not cancellation is the best scenario.

I think he can get there about 810PM, 90 minutes before departure, using a taxi or Uber. Maybe 825PM using MARTA, which might be the lower risk option (no traffic troubles possible). Best might be a car and bail to MARTA if necessary.

gator21

DL at ATL requires bags to be checked 45 minutes before departure so keep this in mind. 8:00pm shouldn't be too bad going through security. 90 minutes gives you time to relax and allow for the unexpected.

exwannabe

One can use eitehr terminal. I have found the new terminal to be fairly quick, but there might be a wave of TATL flights right then. Plus road time might add more tha you expect.

The elephant in the china shop here is the ATL traffic (particluarly is comming from the northside). That is far more likely to add an hour than any airport issues. Marta?

dabu

Always book a Plan B with SWA, you have nothing to lose.

PayItForward

Agree with dgilman.
Get to the air port as early as possible and then grow some roots at the departure gates.
That is the safest advise.
For me... if flight is international, I will give myself at least 3 hours of buffer.
Domestic flights, I try to buffer in 1½ to 2 hours.
Security and queues sometimes can eat up a lot of time..

MSPeconomist

Don't forget to keep checking flight status so that a gate change isn't missed. Watch the DL app/website, the information posted/announced at the gate, and the DL airport monitors that list departing flights. Gate changes are very common for DL flights at ATL.

Sez_Who

90 min should be enough time but I wouldn't cut it any closer than that. Too many things can go wrong -- traffic problems, a flyer with no status/PC, unexpected long lines, train breaks down and you have to hike to your gate, Wx/Mx issues that cancels the flt, and more.

If I absolutely positively have to be somewhere the next day, I would never pick the last flt of the day. Too many wild cards.

Zeeb

To add to this, you could call Delta to find out how early they'll accept checked bags for the flight. That's the OPs answer. Whatever that time is. Heck, you could even make it an hour or two prior to that time just in case you get delayed, since they could always just hang out before security until they can check their bags.

It's still only Tuesday. If delayed baggage really would be such a huge deal there's still time to overnight them to the destination instead.

nsx

Thanks for all the advice. The trip was successful. He arrived at the airport 80 minutes before the flight and reached the gate in plenty of time for boarding.

The flight to PHX was on time, followed by a 4 hour drive to the Grand Canyon, followed a few hours later by a 10-mile hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon to meet a rafting trip. Fortunately the baggage was not delayed either, since no airline delivers lost bags by helicopter! No backup plan was feasible for any of this. There's no substitute for luck.

Sez_Who

Amen. ^

You might want to suggest he buy a lottery ticket, too. The timing sounds right.

JohnnyRockets

Makes me wonder what these people do for a living? Or nowadays business deals are done over rafting trips in Grand Canyon.