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<p>Where is customs at Hartsfield? It must be in Terminal E, right? </p>
<p>Otherwise, they would be turning non-cleared arrivals loose on the underground tram with access to the entire airport…</p>
<p>yes, interesteddad-
As we have said, the customs folks are out on Concourse E. Back in the “old” (pre 9-11) days you used to be able to go out to concourse E and wait in a lobby to meet arriving international passengers, just on the other side of the customs area (ie as soon as they cleared customs they came through this lobby area where you could wait for them). Unfortunately, that is long gone…</p>
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<p>That’s the way I’ve always understood it to be. The gate agent at check-in will tag the bag for CR and it will be automatically transferred when he arrives in Atlanta.</p>
<p>If you’re not getting anyone to answer at Delta, you might try calling their Atlanta hdqtrs. I Googled and found an Atlanta airport corporate offices phone # of (404) 715-2600. A sympathetic person there might help :)</p>
<p>The only reason I think the bags might not be checked all the way is that the arrangements might have been made separately, since he is not traveling with the group. When my S flew to Korea, the Korea flight from NYC was arranged by the sponsoring organization. My S was responsible for getting himself to NYC. (Which didn’t happen - but that’s my other thread!) So his baggage was not checked through. He was supposed to pick it up in NYC, and check it into the International flight himself. Hopefully, Alu’s S will be able to check his bags all the way through, and not worry about them.</p>
<p>Yes, Patsmom, you collect all the baggage in Terminal E (there are free carts there in the back- look for them), walk through customs, then immediately re-check the bags. Luggage being rechecked to the front baggage claim is on the right. Luggage being re-checked to connecting flights is straight ahead. Then stand in line for security with your carry-on. Take off shoes, belt, jacket, empty pockets, and so on, just like at every security check.</p>
<p>Then you will go to the trains and make your way to whatever terminal your connecting flight is leaving from.</p>
<p>Alu - When my oldest went to Germany some years ago, we just gave him my ATM card and password, and gave him a limit on what he could withdraw. It is connected to a checking account, and we keep a minimal amount of money in it, so it wasn’t like we were afraid of being bled dry. Since an ATM card doesn’t need a name or ID, only a PIN, it worked just fine.</p>
<p>Alumother, Hartsfield is huge, but realitively easy.
E is the international concourse. He should be able to check bags all the way through, unless he is changing airlines, he possibly might have to pick up his bags and move them.
C is one of the big commuter/shuttle terminals, where the regional jets come in, avoid if possible!
The big food courts/ shopping areas are in the center of each terminal, where the entrances to underground train is. This is the train that takes you to the other concourses and the baggage claim.
Always move toward Gates 17-18, and he’ll find food, restrooms, phones, services ,and the train to change concourses.
The are money changing stations in the International concourse.</p>
<p>Of course he will have to claim his own bags and clear customs in Atlanta on the way back. It is a relatively easy process, there are free carts for the bags, and at the end of the customs process, you drag them about 30 feet and put them on a conveyor belt back into the sorter, then go to you domestic terminal/gate.</p>
<p>If he has time to kill, and it isn’t Sunday, go find the Chik-Fil-A, great food, I can’t remember if it is in Term A or Term B. When my D is on her way home from school, and has a long enough layover, it is her first stop.</p>
<p>through delta, plan that next flight might be delayed…</p>
<p>You guys are such an amazing resource. I am listening to the Delta hold music as I type:).</p>
<p>I will try that HQ number today if this try at the regular line fails.</p>
<p>I booked all his flights through the travel agent that handles the arrangements for the second program he is on. So it’s one record and sounds like at least high probability he will check everything through from SFO.</p>
<p>If the flight to Costa Rica is delayed, I believe other kids from the first program arrive at approximately the same time, the staff has been very communicative, I will just cross my fingers that he doesn’t wind up sitting in the Atlanta airport forever.</p>
<p>OMG. They are answering!</p>
<p>Am on hold again - but the music is better and I have spoken to a human who is checking for me. </p>
<p>Aaargh! He had to transfer me to the International desk. More holding.</p>
<p>OK. Final answer. Yes. His bags will go to Costa Rica. And guess what that means? When he checks in for the flight to Atlanta that morning in SFO, he has to get there two hours before the flight. That’s going to mean dragging a 5’ 10" or 11" teenage boy out of bed at something like 5:30am. Hahahahahha. Left to his own devices he’s up at noon. Good thing he is skinny. I should be able to forcibly yank him out of bed if I have to…</p>
<p>Thanks all for the help. Much appreciated. And I will certainly point him to Chik-A-Fil, since he is your typical bottomless pit of a teenage boy:).</p>
<p>My D’s career goal is to open a Chick-fil-A in Germany. It is the single thing she missed most, the first place we headed whenever we came back to visit, and the thing she is most dreading about attending school in Ohio. :)</p>
<p>Yay for checking through! And for perspective, 2 hours is the recommended check in time in Atlanta for domestic flights. Three hours or more for international. </p>
<p>If he ends up delayed significantly (like overnight) at the Atlanta airport, send me an email!</p>
<p>Edit – Just saw this:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2007/06/15/0615methartsfield.html[/url]”>http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2007/06/15/0615methartsfield.html</a></p>
<p>when trying to figure out if/when you have to clear customs, I’d just be prepared for anything. I was on a flight to the bahamas last winter that connected in charlotte. We only had an hour between the flight from the bahamas arrived to when the flight to newark left. I was a bit worried about clearing customs in that time, so my dad and I tried calling us airways to see what the deal was. We got two different answers, one that I would have to go through customs in newark, which made little sense, and one that I would have to go through customs in charlotte. I also asked a bunch of gate agents when I flew to the bahamas. I ended up changing my flight to a nonstop home because I didn’t want to be stuck in charlotte overnight…turns out that you went through customs in the bahamas prior to boarding, even though the agents in the bahamas had assured me that I had to go through customs in charlotte. It turned out fine, but was a bit odd</p>
<p>binx - ok so on his way to Costa Rica the waits shouldn’t be a problem for him because he will already be inside the secure area and checked in, right? However, it does mean that there will be crowds and lines everywhere…</p>
<p>On the way back we can only hope that by mid-July this frenzy will have abated.</p>
<p>Chick-fil-A, huh? What does that mean?</p>
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<p>I was only responding to your first post, quoted above. Chick-fil-A is a fast food restaurant popular in the south. </p>
<p>Yes, you are right - when he lands from the first leg of his trip, he will already be inside security. Just tell him whatever he does, do NOT leave the secure area. (All the terminals are secure, as is the train. The baggage claim and ticketing areas are not.)</p>
<p>Chick-fil-a is great chicken! <a href=“http://www.chick-fil-a.com/[/url]”>http://www.chick-fil-a.com/</a></p>
<p>There is a trick to getting to shorter security line at Hartsfield, but I have to go down there to pick up my H, so I will have to leave you I suspense 'til I get back! Binx, do you know what I ma referrign to (North terminal vs South terminal… not the short line for the first class passengers and people with gold medallion status)</p>
<p>Nope, I have no clue, jym, but I am teachable!</p>
<p>My last international return was through Atlanta and while Immigration lines were long, they went quickly enough and Customs was a breeze. But then we encountered the security check. It was a nightmare (and we missed our connecting flights). There were three impossibly long lines, and just as we got to the front of the line we were in, the CLOSED THAT LINE and made everyone in that line go to the rear of one of the other lines!!! And there was no explaining that we had just spent almost an hour getting to that point and our flight was about to board. The TSA folk there were rude, uncaring, and - as far as I could tell - as dumb as a brick. Sorry for the harsh words for the TSA, but what a nightmare.</p>
<p>ps: My father was a Customs Inspector in Florida for 35 years. I can’t say anything bad about them 
. We only had a rude Customs agent once - in Miami. My wife let him “accidentally” see her FBI ID as she opened her wallet, and we were on our way in an instant.</p>
<p>The South terminal is basically all Delta - ticketing and baggage claim, and the North terminal is everyone else. There is an atrium between them with food and seating areas and a few shops. Also the entrance to the concourses (and security). I think binx meant that the concourses are secure, but the terminals (where ticketing and baggage claim are located) are not. Another reason that the airport has been hectic lately are afternoon pop-up thunderstorms, which cause delays for both incoming and outgoing flights. </p>
<p>Alu - since your son is leaving SF so early in the AM, delays from the t-storms should not be a problem, they’re usually late afternoon and evening. However, as they are a typical summer occurrence, such delays are taken into account for connections. </p>
<p>I have to agree with Dig about the TSA security people in Atlanta.</p>
<p>Digmedia - how long ago? I used to complain and complain about TSA in Atlanta. In fact, if there were foreign visitors around me, I would apologize to them, and tell them that I was sorry the Atlanta airport had to be their first introduction to the US. I have a bunch of stories of rude, inept, uncaring workers. (Not just TSA.) However, last summer when we came home, everyone in the airport was downright charming. Some of the people even smiled. I kept checking the signs to make sure we hadn’t been hijacked to somewhere else.</p>
<p>Edit: Georgiamom, you are right - I meant concourses, not terminals. Thank you for catching that.</p>
<p>That was at the end of March of this year, just under 3 months ago.</p>
<p>Grrrr…</p>
<p>If there is only one international terminal, that means that all the airline lounges will be in that terminal. You must be a gold card member on one airline, Alum. Do you think you could wrangle or ‘buy’ a couple of lounge passes for AluS for your lounge? My sons are lounge junkies because they can get free food (better overseas) and they can take showers and they can use free internet.</p>
<p>You’ve gotten great advice above–the luggage will absolutely be checked through. He will have to retrieve it in Atlanta when he returns–before tossing it back onto a domestic luggage cart–(usually right outside of customs).</p>
<p>My other suggestion is to remind your son to look up. All the information in airports is above eye level. It sounds crazy…but these are teenage boys we’re talking about.</p>
<p>Also, make sure he has photo copies of his passport and his atm cards and his traveller’s checks. Copies make replacement much easier. Boys tend to lose important items whilst travelling. In my experience.</p>
<p>Just got back from the airport. A bit of a zoo around there today. I haven’t seen traffic jam in a while. There was a long line for the cars approaching the airport, which seemed to be the rental car returns line. Once I passed that, things cleared up. I will be glad when they finish the off-site rental car building. Traffic should improve a little bit.</p>
<p>They were making fun of the TSA/Airport finger-pointing on the radio today (airport blames TSA for the security line backlog, TSA claims all the lines were open… eventually). I was at the arrivals/baggage claim area so really didn’t scout out the security line that hasd apparently snaked out all the way to the food court/atrium. As always, there were several military deployments around, getting applauded as they walked by. </p>
<p>As for the “trick” for security-- Ithink I may have to PM you binx, or tell you over a cup of coffee. If I spill the beans here, it will no longer be a “secret”. And it really isn’t a secret-- its just not something a lot of people know about.</p>
<p>By the way, forgot to mention–
pre 9/11 the security people (were they called TSA back then? I forget) anyway-- this was a job that the local drug and alcohol rehab people used as a transition back to employment I KID YOU NOT. There was an arrangement with several of the treatment facilites and MARR (Metro Atlanta Recovery Residence) to use the security/screener jobs as a transition back to employment for the recovering folks. Once the government took over, I am not sure what happened to that arrangement, but it does seem that many seem to have the IQ and motivation of a potato. Back when they let us hang at the international arrivals lounge, I remember thinking that I would love that job bec. the immigration people seemed to do nothing but sit around. this was tru wheter there were people to clear from an arriving flight or not. They all just sat around…</p>