Worst & Best Airports

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

Layover scenarios for travel plans this fall to yurp, off peak/no holidays

Scenario 1 - Itinerary with a 1 hour connection in ATL to get from domestic Delta to Intl Air France to go over the pond.
Scenario 2 - Itinerary with a 2 hour connection in AMS to get through customs, immigration, security, to a connecting flight to our destination

Trying to avoid long 4 hour+ layovers and puddle jumpers. Both seem problematic to me. What would BMills do?

[zion zig zag]

Layover scenarios for travel plans this fall to yurp, off peak/no holidays

Scenario 1 - Itinerary with a 1 hour connection in ATL to get from domestic Delta to Intl Air France to go over the pond.
Scenario 2 - Itinerary with a 2 hour connection in AMS to get through customs, immigration, security, to a connecting flight to our destination

Trying to avoid long 4 hour+ layovers and puddle jumpers. Both seem problematic to me. What would BMills do?

Biggest worry for the ATL connect is arriving flight being on time. You can make 30-45 minute connection, including checked luggage, at ATL no problem. Especially if you sit in C+ or better.

AMS is also easy to do non-schengen to schengen with two hours. At the post security line they have people roaming the line for tight connections.

I assume the AMS flight is SLC to AMS? If so, the 330neo they use is pretty nice.

[BmillsSkier]

ATL is so easy to make connections especially being on Delta with their gate priority over other carriers. You're 10-15 minutes from any concourse on the plane train and there's multiple (5 direct I think) flights to CDG from ATL a day on the off chance you miss your connection. I'd also rather do my layover on the domestic side of my itinerary even knowing AMS.

[zion zig zag]

CDG

Now that is an airport that you don't want a tight connection!

[BmillsSkier]

Now that is an airport that you don't want a tight connection!

Truth.

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

In our two itineraries: A 1hr layover in ATL means a 2h45m layover in CDG (flying AF). A 3hr layover in ATL means a 1hr55m layover in AMS (flying KLM).

[BmillsSkier]

Given that ^^^ I'd lean toward lowest total travel time. I wouldn't worry at all about a 1hr layover in ATL. 3 hour layover in any airport can suck, although there's the new biggest Centurion lounge in the Int'l concourse with an outdoor patio as well as the best Delta Sky Lounges, also with outdoor space in ATL if you need to kill time. Excellent food at One Flew South in the Int'l concourse as well.

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

That's the strategy, the last 25 hour+ death march on our return home literally almost killed us.

[zion zig zag]

In our two itineraries: A 1hr layover in ATL means a 2h45m layover in CDG (flying AF). A 3hr layover in ATL means a 1hr55m layover in AMS (flying KLM).

I'd probably pick based on level of service, type of plane and seat selection at that point. AF probably has a little better food?

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

AF has brand new a350's on that route, too.

[Boissal]

I'd probably pick based on the fact that there is 0 guarantee you're making your CDG connection with 2h45. I've missed my last 2 at that fucking airport whereas I've never had issues in AMS, even with just 1 hour. Last time through CDG the queue to go through passport control was hours deep with maybe 3 out of 24 lanes opened. Clearly I was going to miss my connection so I rebooked on the next one while in line, then did it again when it became clear I was gonna miss the 2nd one too (CDG to CVA flights are about every hour). Made it through and sprinted through the terminal to get to the gate as they were closing it. They told me I could get on but my luggage was already off the plane. The gate agent took pity and rebooked me on the next one right at the gate which saved my ass cause the AirFrance/Delta booth was surrounded by an army of angry people who were in the same boat.

CDG is always a fuck show, AMS very rarely, unless there are strikes in France and a bunch of traffic gets redirected. I'd be surprised if there weren't strikes in France right now. I'm flying out Monday and picked a 4+ hours layover in JFK rather than flying through Paris.

[zion zig zag]

^^^Just realized I have 1:45 layover in CDG on the way back to the US in September.


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[Boissal]

I've only ever had issues coming into CDG from the US. For some reason coming in from Switzerland has always been smooth sailing, probably because I fly in from GVA which has a French zone, meaning flights coming in from that zone are considered domestic. International flights seem to be where the CDG shit show really shines.

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

I'm inclined to fly through CDG on this trip as we are connecting through to Nice, and there are multiple flights a day if they fuck us over.

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

In other news, the Spirit airlines/Waffle house collab is progressing well

[old goat]

We flew SFO--AMS--Stockholm. Passport control line was extended way out of the maze and past a bunch of shops. It was barely moving and people were missing connections. Once in the maze it moved faster but outside the maze people were starting new lines from the side and merging in. Like KT on a sotrm powder day. Took us an hour mid Mon morning June 2. I can't imagine how bad it will be when the travel season really gets rolling. And no separate line for people with tight connections.

We ran in passport control in Copenhage going Bergen to Copenhagen to SFO on the way back. Also a mid morning Monday. The line was also out of the maze but did move pretty fast. I'm not sure why there was Danish passport control for people leaving for the US. The US also had a passport desk after the Danish one--zero line.

The Global Entry line at SFO was amazing. Kiosk scans your face and you're done. Zero line. (Might be a good idea to shave before your flight if you've just been on Everest for a month.) And Customs just waved us through with our bags. If they asked us any questions I was in too much of a stupor to remember.

All the Euro airports we were in were mobbed, no place to sit, long lines, corridors jammed. The uptick in travel compared to pre Covid is impressive. The infrastructure isn't there to handle it.

I would say 2 hours is the bare minimum for connections for intl to domestic or visa versa in the big Euro airports.

[liv2ski]

Tight connection? Fly through Helsinki. Our flight was running behind, we landed with about 15 minutes before our connecting flight left. Zipped through customs in the Business Class line and ran to the plane. We made it.
I really like smaller airports. Victoria was so pleasant as was Kelowna. Minimal security lines are the best.

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

I guess it's a good thing we flew into ORD yesterday.

[BmillsSkier]

Seeing images of the ground stop at ATL is wild.

Glad I'm not flying in the next week or so.

[Danno]

my brother is flying to LGA today. Whoops!

[The AD]

I was impressed how quickly we got through passport control and customs on our recent trip to the UK. We flew out of Vancouver (because the flight was much cheaper than from Seattle) and flew direct to London Gatwick. At Gatwick once we got our luggage we just had to scan our passport at an automated gate and went right through since we had nothing to declare. Flying back into Vancouver we just had to answer some questions about what we brought back on a touch screen terminal and since we had nothing to declare it was again just straight through. It's crazy how this can either takes seconds or hours depending on where you are and when.

[Brock Landers]

Seeing images of the ground stop at ATL is wild.

Glad I'm not flying in the next week or so.

I connect in ATL tomorrow afternoon….On the way to South Africa! Fix that shit!

[BmillsSkier]

Nothing moving earlier. Some DL flights are starting to trickle out now.

[muted reborn]

I was impressed how quickly we got through passport control and customs on our recent trip to the UK. We flew out of Vancouver (because the flight was much cheaper than from Seattle) and flew direct to London Gatwick. At Gatwick once we got our luggage we just had to scan our passport at an automated gate and went right through since we had nothing to declare. Flying back into Vancouver we just had to answer some questions about what we brought back on a touch screen terminal and since we had nothing to declare it was again just straight through. It's crazy how this can either takes seconds or hours depending on where you are and when.

In Dublin we went through US passport control in....Dublin. After security. So when we landed in ATL it was like landing a domestic flight - free to go wherever.

Anyone else see this in Europe too? Where?

[zion zig zag]

In Dublin we went through US passport control in....Dublin. After security. So when we landed in ATL it was like landing a domestic flight - free to go wherever.

Anyone else see this in Europe too? Where?

https://www.cbp.gov/travel/preclearance