Atlanta Hartsfield Airport

✅ Trip Verified | In transit from Punta Cana (Dom. Rep.) to Amsterdam. The largest and busiest airport in the world, but clearly under-capacity. Bag drop and customer assistance counters had reasonably short wait times, but queues for immigration and security checks were very long, even at off-peak times. The immigration officer I had was much more polite and respectful than most of those I've experienced at US airports. TSA agents were polite and seemed professional, if a little laid-back. Some areas of the airport have better food options than others, depending on which concourse/terminal you're in. One thing that caused me some stress was the fact that I received different answers from different personnel. Every time I've passed through the US in the past, I've always had to clear immigration with my baggage (i.e. collect baggage from the carousel, clear immigration, then drop off baggage again). As my baggage wasn't on the carousel, I asked a few airport personnel, who were all polite and friendly enough, but they all told me different things. Some said always collect your baggage, some said it wasn't necessary because of my final destination, some said my luggage must have been lost, and some said to check at the gate when boarding (which would have been too late at that point). My layover was 2hrs 25mins. I only arrived at the departure gate around 20 mins before scheduled departure time, which was 40 mins after they started boarding. My advice would be to leave yourself at least 3 hours between flights but, even at that, you won't have much time to eat, shop or relax. Because of this, I will avoid this airport in future.

✅ Trip Verified | We (6 person group) arrived at Atlanta Airport at 7.22pm on Wednesday night 2/28 (on time from SJO Costa Rica). The planning included an almost three hour layover at ATL to pass through Customs and security. The confusion, lack of available personnel to help and administer travelers was the worst I have seen in 50 years of airline travel. It took more than two and one half hours to clear customs and security. We have TSA traveler number, but the attendant told us it was not applicable at this location. Many travelers missed their connecting flights, and pickup service. After running, we finally arrived at our gate at 9.55, only to be told our airline was on the tamac and was being held up. So after all of that delay we got on the Delta plane after it was 25 minutes late. This is all in good clear weather? Over three hours later.

✅ Trip Verified | Unbelievably bad airport to pass through. Even though the people were nice enough, the airport was so busy that our early arriving plane of 10 minutes had to wait 30 minutes to get to the gate. Then after going through a Global Entry, I found out they don’t have Global Entry security lanes from international to local travel. Why be a known Traveler with Global Entry when you can’t through security for another hour? From the time of landing to getting through security for our connecting flight was 2 hours! I will never buy a ticket again with ATL as a connecting airport. Backwards airport with lazy TSA.

✅ Trip Verified | ATL is the busiest airport in the United States, so you'd assume that the ground staff and TSA folks at this airport take their jobs seriously, and are efficient. Unfortunately, that's not true. As someone who's traveled extensively through the US (every week) and internationally (several times a year), I'd like to believe I've seen the gamut of airport experiences. ATL continues to be one of the worst on my list (rivaling SEA). The security screening process at ATL is an absolute nightmare. It's the slowest, most inefficient security check process I've seen. It'll take you well over 35-40 mins to get to the TSA officer who screens your boarding pass, and that's on a "good" day. The TSA staff can clearly see the huge line, but refuse to open up more checkpoints/belts. Worse, the airport monitors continue to project a delusion that the wait time at all the checkpoints is less than 15 mins. I'm baffled how they could lie outright like that. Another issue is the belts for carry on screening. They have a bin system, wherein you have to fill up several and push them on to the belt. Leads to all sorts of confusion, and I've timed it and know for a fact that it's slower than the simple "push through" at most major airports. Overall, despite being the busiest airport in the country, ATL has a huge scope for improvement in terms of the efficiency of the security screening and boarding process.

❎ Not Verified | TSA are very unorganized, lazy, and couldn't care less about the travelers. Once you have waited over an hour to get through security, there was a group of about 10-15 TSA agents standing around at the security tower with their thumbs in their mouth. This is one job I’m sure everyone wouldn’t mind if they were all replaced by machines. Also not to mention the Southwest check-in/bag drop agents had the same type of I don’t care attitude. I’ve been traveling though Atlanta for many years and it keeps getting worse. Better off driving an extra hour or two to fly out of another airport if possible.

❎ Not Verified | The facility is nice but not many people around to help. TSA agents here are the worst. Very rude and condescending. I have to travel through here 3 or 4 times a year. By far the worst TSA I’ve ever encountered! Be prepared to be berated and talked down to.

✅ Trip Verified | This was the worst airport that I have ever been through, unorganized, bad customer services, bad attitudes. Just as many of the reviews stated everything is blamed on the weather. I was connecting through ATL on my way to Brazil, the concourse changed, I missed my plane. My luggage was lost twice. It gets worse, never again.

❎ Not Verified | What happened? This airport has always been my favorite. I've traveled for over 30 years and have never had anything but kind, personable staff at this airport. This last trip through Atlanta was completely unrecognizable. Passport control was absolutely hateful to me and my 77 year old mother. He took our passports and hammered us with questions about our trip and when he handed us our passports back he literally said the words "get outta here". We were putting our passports away and he said "go". It's a horrible thing when I feel more kindness and freedom when I leave the United States. We then get to the security checkpoint and we have more hateful agents screaming at passengers. Their directions are so unclear and confusing that everyone was getting flustered and even seasoned travelers were now confused on what these agents were wanting. Screaming isn't a way to convey a message. Its inefficient, confusion, unnecessary and actually slows down the process. I just cannot figure out what happened to my favorite airport but it makes me sad. It was the only airport that I looked forward to visiting.

❎ Not Verified | On the way to Cancun the flight was delayed nearly an hour, causing me grief upon arrival in Mexico. But my complaint is really about my return and 2-3 hour stopover. It was cold on Concourse E, even fully dressed with shoes and jacket. Even the mens room was the same way, I figured I could get warm in there, no way.

✅ Trip Verified | This is hands down the least efficient aiport I have ever been to in my life. Security lines are awful, the concourses are filthy and the staff are completely incompetent. The flight was delayed due to heavy take-off traffic. Avoid this airport at all costs.