Atlanta airport

Let me preface this by saying this was my second trip in which I've flown. Both have happened in the past three months. But I want to know if this story is normal, and what's the procedure if I miss my connection flight and get stuck an airport away from home?

I learned a valuable lesson this weekend without getting burned: Allow about two hours if you make a connection flight.

Flew AirTran from Raleigh/Durham, N.C. (RDU) back to Bloomington, Ill. (BMI) with a 45-minute connection in Atlanta on Sunday night. The plane from RDU to ATL was delayed in arriving. We were supposed to leave at 7:10, which is when we boarded. Roll out to the tarmac and stop right before the runway. Capt. comes on and says, "Didn't want to interrupt the boarding process earlier because I wanted us to take off on time, but I've just been told we'll have to wait about 10 minutes before we takeoff because they're having flood control in Atlanta." Great.

I figured I'd need to take off by 7:40 to have just enough time to get to my next gate, thinking it's a 1:20 flight and the next one takes off at 9:15 (meaning I have to be there at 9:05). We hit the air at 7:41 when they say it's an hour flight, this is good news. Land at 8:40 (I might actually have time to take a piss). It takes us 15 fuckin' minutes to get to the gate. While sitting on the tarmac again, a flight attendant says over the intercom, "We understand some of you have tight connection flights. So if you don't have a connection flight, please let those that do off first. They'll be very grateful."

Finally get to the gate. Everybody gets up. FUCK ME! In small talk with some nearby people, I find out the guy behind me is going to the same gate I am. We finally get to the point in the plane we're climbing over people who are taking their time getting luggage down. Fuck 'em, I'm not sleeping in an airport terminal because you're fucking slow. Get to the terminal, and start running to the gate. See the same guy that was behind me out of the corner of my eye. He says, "I have my parents and grandmother trying to make this flight too. I can move faster than them."

My boarding pass had the wrong gate number. Fortunately it was in the same direction and only two gates down. We made it about two minutes to spare. I take my seat and a minute later see the guy with his family boarding. And we all ended up sitting next to each other. Found out they were in town to watch their daughter play soccer ... same daughter I covered when she played high school ball around here. Small world.
Then we sat on the tarmac 15-20 minutes after we were supposed to leave to get luggage from the RDU plane. Some people were getting upset with that, but I didn't care, just happy to be on the right plane. And it was a sigh of relief for the family next to me.

Next Capt. says it's 1:20 flight to BMI, "but we'll see if we can't get there in time with some shortcuts."
Shortcuts!??!?! WTF? We're in the air, how is there a shortcut? In some thinking, I came up with this: Most of these planes flew at 30,000 feet this weekend. He said we would fly at 34,000 feet. Dude, puts the plane down five minutes before we were supposed to arrive. He says, "In the Navy, we used to call that a three-wire act. It might have been a little bumpy, but we made it in time folks."


So, all is well. I'm not reporting to from ATL with the shitty TMobile hotspot Internet connection. However, is this just one of those things I chalk up to flying ... take enough flights and it's going to happen eventually? Obviously 45 minutes isn't much time to connect, but what's your minimum connection time? What if I had missed my flight, do they put me up in a hotel? Since my ticket was the cheap, Web-only discounted ticket that isn't covered if my plans change, would I have had to buy another ticket to get home?

Few more things: AirTran isn't too bad. Love the XM option. North Carolina is beautiful. Chapel Hill has some great bars. Wake Forest's campus is huge for a undergrad of 6,500. I now understand while golf coures are highly regarded in that part of the country.

 

hahahahahah

You don't fly much do you?

Never leave yourself 45 minutes to connect. If you do, try like crazy to get a seat in the front of the plane. This will leave fewer idiots for you to wait to unload.

When plane fly south to north or west to east they can sometimes catch a nice tail wind that will get you there faster. Thus, it is in essence a shortcut.

 

Like I said, I've flown twice. First time was a direct flight.

 

I like AirTran.

I hate the ATL airport. It's basically Bosnia in a building. Too many people, not enough room. It looks like a war-torn village. Hideous.

 

I took it out of their hands. I only carried on.

IJAG, I didn't have much time to observe Bosn ... er, ATL. But I felt like a fullback clearing a path for my running back while trying to get to the next gate.

 

But at least there's a Chili's2Go. A skillet queso always helps pass the time when you're wise enough to schedule a 2-hour layover.

 

Fuck that, dude. I would rather a 45-minute layover and run than spend two hours in that hellhole.

I will NEVER schedule 2 hours in Atlanta of my own accord. Ever.

 

Next time, I'd like to schedule enough time to use the restroom.

 

HATE the ATL airport. Certainly in the top five of worst ones out there.

 

Ha. A warning...the women's restrooms in Atlanta now sing to you when you use them.

Don't know about the men's.

Glad to see ATL is using their funds in important ways that make traveling better for their patrons. Assfucks.

 

These days, it's becoming rare, not the norm, that takeoffs and landings go as scheduled.