Zorak

International flights land in E or F. You can look on FlightAware a few days before to see where your ATL-RDU flight has been operating but on the day of I think it could theoretically be anywhere. You can walk instead of taking the plane train if you want; walking the length of the airport from F<->T is roughly 2 miles (this does not include the distance to/from the centerline of the airport from/to your arrival/departure gate).

zitsky

Thank you for that. Does the train make a loop or is it obvious which direction you are taking?

Duke787

Not that far to walk even if you have to go all the way to T or A. We usually walk between the terminals unless we are in a real hurry.

My recent RDU - ATL and vice versa flights have mostly been from A for 757s and jumped around for the others (my two most recent were a 738 out of D and an MD88 out of A).

No real rhyme or reason as far as I can tell (with the exception of the 752 and now 763 for the summer which are likely more consistent because they are international configs) but 3 hours shouldn't be an issue for any terminal even with the long security / baggage wait that can occur.

Zorak

The train goes down one side from F to T, then switches over and runs down the other side from T to F.

There are escalators from the concourse level down to the underground train level. If you follow the arrows for the concourse you want to go to and use the escalators in that direction, it is pretty difficult to get on a train going the "wrong" way because the stations are staggered. There's also TVs over the doors showing which concourses are in that direction.

If you end up with a bunch of time after clearing customs and immigration, some of the underground connections have exhibits along the walkways

Between T/A, an exhibit of African sculptures:

https://anewyorkerspointofview.com/2...tion-in-stone/

Between A/B, a sort of nature/forest installation:

http://airport.blog.ajc.com/2016/06/...oming-to-life/

Between B/C, exhibits showing a timeline of the history of Atlanta

zitsky

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated!

eastofthemississippi

Flight 1: CTG-ATL DL 984 (scheduled to land 6:58pm)
Flight 2: ATL-LAX AA 1249 (departs 7:43pm), from North Terminal

Have Global Entry so not worried about immigration, as well as TSA pre-check but from what I remember the physical distance between the two is going to be a problem? As of now not checking a bag.

Assuming I can get approval to fly the (not even that much more expensive) DL ATL-LAX, do you guys think DL 2255 (departs 8:26pm) would be fine given both would be in the South Terminal?

Duke787

No TSA pre-check for post-immigration security. That's most likely place you'll get tripped up on this. I'd take the 8:26 at a minimum.

LoganFlyer

This has to be two separate tickets given the short connection time, and there's no way I'd try this on two separate tickets. If the first flight is late, AA isn't obligated to help you. Even if they do, they might not get you out until the next day and the hotel would be on your own dime. I'd take the later DL flight you mentioned and buy it as a single ticket.

flyerCO

AA and DL can't be on the same ticket anyway. (At least shouldn't be as if there's IRROPS DL can't reissue a ticket with AA flights nor v.v.)

Zorak

If you arrive in F, when you exit customs instead of turning left to go through the re-clearing lanes past the bag drop, you can turn right instead and exit into the arrivals area, then go upstairs and use PreCheck there as if you were originating in Atlanta.

That being said, I still wouldn't try the proposed itinerary, as others have said.

[I forget what the previous discussions have concluded about whether exit-to-PreCheck is viable when you land in E but ISTR if it is even possible it involves a long walk in which case OP is still hosed]

exwannabe

If OP has no bags (and with checked bags this would hopeless anyway), then he can walk to F from an E landing. But this takes a good bit of time, and likely makes that a poor choice.

I would book the DL flight. The earlier AA flight could easily missconnect even with all flights on time.

The DL flight is no certainty, but the odds on that connection are fairly good. And as said, DL will be easier to deal with in case of a missed connection due to DL (not a slam on AA, just saying DL-DL vs DL-AA).

Also, if it does go "south" , I think DL runs a few more ATL<>LAX flights than AA.

gooselee

Since OP is connecting AA>DL, he is definitely on separate tickets which means he can only use the connecting-pax pathway if he does not have checked bags. If a bag is checked, he must follow the path of pax terminating in ATL since the bags will be routed to landside in F (which would involve the very long walk if the inbound arrives in E).

I'll pile on with others in recommending the later DL flight on a single ticket. I'm usually one of the short-connections-at-ATL cheerleaders, but even for me, 45 min on a separately-ticketed I>D connection is way too likely to go sideways.

spd476

I just got another schedule change email from Delta. My 84 minute connection in ATL is now 45 minutes. I'm flying from my regional airport to ATL to LHR in late August. I'll be coming in on a CRJ200 so I'll probably be in concourse C or D. I see that is still greater than the MCT but I'm concerned that won't give me much room for error. There is one more flight to LHR after this one but I would prefer not to take that one. Should I be worried about the short connection? I was already a little concerned about the 84 minute connection.

Also, this is the third schedule change on my flights. The first one reduced my connection in ATL to 12 minutes so they changed a flight. Will Delta be willing to change my flights even though I'm above the MCT? There are earlier flights to Atlanta and routing through DTW but they all result in layovers of a few hours.

zitsky

I have a trip scheduled with intentionally long layovers of more than 3 hours. It's an international trip, and I don't want to miss any connections. I don't do this all the time. One segment goes through ATL.

flyerCO

Tell them its way to short for you. Could have issues walking, if summer storms, etc. Know what flights you want regardless of price. Give thrm those flight details. Theyll generally be willing. If not HUACA, but be polite and not pushy.