Atlanta Travel Forum

Hello,
I'll be flying through Atlanta on my way to and from Europe. On the way home from Italy to the US, I have a choice of either a 2 hour layover or a 4 hour layover in Atlanta. Could someone with experience flying through Atlanta advise me which might be preferable? I'll need to collect my bag, go through immigration & customs (I'm a US citizen, if that makes any difference timewise), recheck bag, and go the the gate to catch my connecting flight. Is 2 hours enough, or would 4 be better?
Thank you

Two hours should be fine.
Just in case however, make sure there's another flight to your destination that same day, in case you happen to miss it they can re-book you, but I am confident two hours will be fine - figure 1/2 hour thru passport, 1/2 hour to get your luggage.

UNLESS .... you have fruit in your bag and the customes beagle points to you ... no joke. I was busted by this beagle because I forgot to eat the apple I had in my backpack when I returned from Spain, and that was a bit of a delay - so no fruit, no delay.

Nomad's anser is exactly right. I would only add that a delayed arrival could be a hitch. Also, the day of the week makes a difference. Less traffic in the airport Tuesday-Thursday and early on Sundays. In my experience most international flights in are pretty much on time so your 2 hours should be fine. Moving from one terminal to another is pretty quick so your only concerns are immigration and customs and the US citizen line usually moves a little faster than the others.

Thank you nomad and rexvaughan for your quick responses. We'll do the 2 hour layover. And I'll be sure to consume all fruit before arriving at the airport so the beagle won't get me. I do love to see those little guys at work, but would rather they work on someone else. ;)

Wave to me as you fly over my house. Have a safe and pleasant trip. I used to be your neighbor as I grew up in Oklahoma

I think I attracted the beagle with my attitude! When I first saw it I thought it was very cute, but I could not help thinking "why don't these people get a german shepherd to do this work". Well, the little guy showed me he was quite well qualified, and I'll never make fun of a customs beagle again!

Those Beagles are good. They homed in on a backpack that we used in Italy when walking around. It had fruit in it that was consumed during the day. There was nothing in it when the dog sniffed it out (other than residue from the fruit from the day before!)

As the others said, two hours should be MORE than sufficient barring a late arrival. Many people complain about the Atlanta airport being confusing, but once you have seen the layout of the airport, it is immediately sensible in design. (well, I have an issue with international arrivals having to recheck their bags when Atlanta is their destination. I spend more time doing that and re-reclaiming my bags than it would take me to get home! <grin>)

There are basically 6 buildings, all parallel to each other with an underground train running between them all. E Terminal is the international terminal and A-D are where most of the rest of the flights depart from. The main terminal houses ticketing, check in, baggage claim, security, etc and there are some gates in the main terminal call the T-gates.

The train runs every 1-2 minutes or so and you shouldn't experience much of a wait if you missed one. Alternatively, there is a walkway between each of the terminals if you have the time, want the exercise or just don't like crowds. But even that does not take long to navigate between terminals.

Isn't rechecking the luggage the stupidest thing they ever came up with? You're at your destination after a long flight, ready to be done with your airport visits, pass through immigration, pick up your luggage, pass through customs head to the train and WHAM stand in like to recheck your luggage.

The only thing I can think is that they don't want a bunch of luggage from international passengers on the trains taking up space that people could use.

Even then though I think I would make it optional.

Of course if that's the worst thing that happens to me at an airport I still consider it a good trip! :)

Well, in the Atlanta airport, you leave customs and immigration and are back in the terminals with the rest of the passengers after having been re-united with your baggage. So I can see the security reasons. If they had international flights coming in to the main terminal then you could just pass straight out of controlled areas and not recheck your baggage.

Supposedly they are going to build a new international terminal near the edge of the airport property, so hopefully those of us from Atlanta or nearby can just leave straight from that terminal and not have to recheck anything. :-)