Atlanta Hartsfield Airport

What a terrible airport I have never seen such a stupid setup in all my life. After arriving from London on a delta flight we thought we were free of the US security apparatus but no! Post customs we walked into an abusive storm from airport and security officials complaining that we had not bothered to read the signs. Despite not knowing what was going on (there are no signs explaining this ridiculously stupid process) our bags were ripped from us and we were shoved into a long TSA security line. No one else does this so who were we to know. After clearing security and picking our way through an airport that has multiple signs in the terminal for existing (all pointing in several different directions including the wrong direction) we were forced to wait 2 hours for our bags to re-appear. I note that we were greeted with the option of picking from 3 carousels in a luggage lucky dip. 15 International flights and 3 carousels - 3 hours after arriving we were free.

Taking into account that Atlanta is one of the most crowded airports in the world I think it does a great job. I am an American that works out of the country so I spend a fair amount of time going through customs everywhere. While Atlanta's could certainly be improved it is not as bad as many places. Once the new international terminal opens it will further help alleviate the current headache. The rest of the offerings in Atlanta are great however if you aren't flying Delta or Airtran I can see there could be some difficulties with gate changes.

In my long experience of travelling from the UK to the US Atlanta is the worst most inconvenient airport to arrive at. The whole business of having to recheck you luggage after picking it up is a farce. What makes it worse is that if you have any duty free alcohol in your carry on luggage it has to be transferred to you checked luggage at this point - only the floor is available to do this transfer! Then you have to go through aggressive security checks with your hand luggage - even though you have just come off of an international flight where you have been thoroughly checked. Is this because US officials do not trust 'foreign' security(?) - even though London is distinctly more thorough than when you leave Atlanta (eg. where were the checks on liquids carried onto planes?). When you finally get your luggage in the terminal you now have to haul it up onto another train to reach the rental car desks - it took us an unacceptable 2 hours from landing to reach this point. I suspect that the basic problem with the airport is that it was never designed to cater for international passengers - which it doesn't.

This is a crazy airport departing out of Atlanta was fine but arriving from overseas was ridiculous. Once you have waited for an age at immigration and then waited for your baggage you start to think you are home free but no. The signage and information is very poor and before you know it you have security personnel shouting at you as they take your checked baggage off you and it disappears. Then for you it's shoes off x ray the full routine as they do another full security screening. Then it's on a train that takes for ever to get back to the main terminal and another wait for your bags to appear. But don't believe the carousel number it's a lucky dip at this stage. We arrived on a Thursday afternoon at 3pm from Europe. It took 2 and half hours before we got out of the terminal. We shall avoid in the future.

We have used ATL for a dozen years or so flying Delta to international destinations as well as to the East coast. The operation works quite well. We have found ATL Immigration to be efficient and our luggage is delivered to us promptly; security rescreening back into the US at ATL can get crowded but we've found that it moves along and gets us to our connection in a timely fashion. The international terminal is great. Many shops and restaurant options; duty free shopping has everything you need. The trains between terminals are quick and efficient.

The only airport that security screens you after you land. Shoes off x ray the full routine and forces you to wait for your bags twice. Once from the plane and then a second time at the terminal. All liquids are confiscated as you pass through security to get into the country. This includes duty free - perfume alcohol and shower gel. What do the authorities think you can do with these items since they are freely available in the terminal. It's blatant job protection for the sake of pointless tasks. The final issue is that the baggage claim is in a public area so anyone can walk in off the airport and pick up bags that don't belong to them.

Big and seemingly always crowded but with lots of facilities including many many shops and eateries. We were fortunate enough to be traveling international Business Class so got free use of the Delta Sky Clubs. There are several in the airport but only the one in Terminal E (I believe) has showers and there are only two so there can be a wait. The train between terminals can get crowded but they are frequent. Lines for Immigration moved quickly though they didn't open until 5:30 a.m. so when our flight from Brazil arrived early (about 5:15) we had to wait on the plane until 5:30 until we could even disembark (and then there was the long walk to actually get to Immigration). On our return (again for a connection) we could not find our flight leaving 2 hours later on the departures board and the agent at the airline customer service desk said that sometimes flights don't make it onto all boards at the same time.

Arrival and transfer on July 2 - no queue for immigration.! I was ushered straight up and the immigration officer was polite and welcoming. However that very positive start was then offset slightly by a 30-minute wait for my suitcase to arrive on the carousel. You've got to faff about with a tube train getting between terminals - it's not all under one roof like Minneapolis or Memphis is - but with a four hour transfer window that was no problem. The range of eateries and shops was all pretty much what you'd expect. The only downside I'd flag up with ATL as a transfer airport is the absence of free wi-fi.

We will avoid using this airport on future trips. They continuously move your departure gate and may or may not notify the passengers. Then when you are late because you did not know they take no responsibility for it. We ran all over that place due to constant changes. It is very poorly run although I have to say the staff are friendly and helpful for the most part. We missed our connecting flight because they changed the gate and we did not know and then they left early. We were however put on standby for the next flight 2 hrs later and got on it. We saw this happen to others when we were returning home and spoke to a lot of people who had the same frustrating experience. I felt the problem was totally the airport and others said they always have problems with Delta.

The security process from arriving off an international flight is the worse I have ever used or seen. It took 45 minutes to clear security then another 30 minutes for the baggage to be transferred to arrivals. I will never use this airport again if I can avoid it.