Atlanta Customs?

[sam_gordon]

How long a layover in ATL is needed to process two adults & three kids (14, 8, 6) through customs?

It would be a Friday evening, flight arriving ~5:30P. Not a holiday weekend. Yes, I know every day is different, I'm just looking for a rough idea.

Also, what's the customs procedure? We'd be coming from Mexico if that makes a difference. Do we collect our checked luggage, go through customs, then re-check the luggage?

thanks

 

[Jestocost]

How long a layover in ATL is needed to process two adults & three kids (14, 8, 6) through customs?

It would be a Friday evening, flight arriving ~5:30P. Not a holiday weekend. Yes, I know every day is different, I'm just looking for a rough idea.

Also, what's the customs procedure? We'd be coming from Mexico if that makes a difference. Do we collect our checked luggage, go through customs, then re-check the luggage?

thanks

There are a few places outside the US where you can pre-clear customs prior to departure, but no place in Mexico is on that list. As a result, you will need to collect your luggage, go through the customs and immigration checks, and then recheck your bags before you can head to your connecting flight. You also may have to go through security again too.

I'm not familiar with Atlanta, but I would leave at least two hours for the process. I'd be more comfortable with a little more, really, but if the option is two hours or six hours, go with two.

 

[tinkermommyof3]

I had this same concern and was reassured by United Airlines that I had plenty of time to get through Customs and make my next flight. They said this was it regular flight. There was an hour between getting into the U.S., going through customs and getting to the next gate. Personally, I would not have any less than 2 hours. It was so stressful! Yes, we had to get our bags. We had to recheck our bags. Go through customs. Go through security. Lines were long. We were hungry, thirsty. Dying for Sbarro or Starbucks. The airport is so big. Trying to find the next gate. Thankfully, our next flight was delayed by 15 minutes. I was never so happy to see my flight delayed!! The moral is give yourself plenty of time. Have a great vacation!

 

[CPT Tripss]

Atlanta has a uniquely bad layout. Everyone that goes through customs/immigration has to go through security - even to leave the airport.

 

[jsilvers]

Atlanta has a uniquely bad layout. Everyone that goes through customs/immigration has to go through security - even to leave the airport.

Although it is a bad design, it's not unique - Chicago Midway immediately comes to mind as another airport where customs exits into a sterile area, so everyone needs to re-clear security, even to leave the airport.

Also, Atlanta's new international terminal is scheduled to open in June, which will make it possible to directly exit the airport from customs, without clearing security.

 

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

How long a layover in ATL is needed to process two adults & three kids (14, 8, 6) through customs?

Have to assume from your question that you're buying a completely separate ticket on another airline before resuming your journey onward from ATL, is that correct?

Because every airport has what they call "minimum connecting times" that flights must meet. And an International to Domestic connection has the longest of those times. Travel on a ticket that includes both flight legs already meets the minimums because the ticket will not issue without meeting the minimum at the connecting airport. But when you're using separate tickets, you're in control of the connection because one ticket doesn't know about the other ticket.

In Atlanta there are lots of international flights coming in so lines at Immigration can be long. The good news with a 5:30pm arrival time nearly all the flights coming from Europe will have already been in hours before and it may not be too bad at Immigration. At ATL you will do Immigration, retrieve baggage and do Customs and then drop-off checked luggage with the reps on the exit side of Customs. You then must go through the TSA security screening again. All this takes time and you have to allow extra time assuming your initial flight could be late.

Thus, traveling on separate tickets, I would allow for a 3 hour connecting time. If you're coming in on Delta and transferring to another Delta flight you can cut a half-hour off this. I think anything less is taking a risk of missing the later flight. But you can call Delta and ask what their minimums are at ATL.

BobK/Orlando

 

[sam_gordon]

Thanks Bob. Both flights are Delta. The flight connection the travel agent found for us is a two hour layover. Looking at options myself, we can leave Mexico an hour earlier (but who wants to leave vacation an hour earlier?) and have a three hour layover, or take a later connecting flight and have a four hour layover (and pay an extra $60/ticket).

Then again, we are talking Delta and flights that are 6 months away, so the odds are a change being made. lol

 

[sam_gordon]

Follow up questions...

After you clear customs, do you go to the "normal" check in counters to recheck your luggage or is it a counter for only people who have gone through customs?

Also, when the bags get tagged in Mexico, will they be tagged to end in ATL, and then when we recheck a new tag gets put on? Or are they tagged for our destination airport and we just need to handover the bags?

TIA

 

[prncess674]

When you checkin in Mexico your bags will be checked thru to your final destination (not ATL) and while you do "recheck" your bags it isn't like a typical checkin.

When you land in ATL you will stand in line for immigration. Once you clear immigration you go into a sort of holding pen with the international carousels. There will be free luggage carts. Collect your bags on the cart. Go stand in another, usually short line, and you will hand the guy your customs forms. After you clear customs there are a bunch of agents and basically they just look at your luggage tags to ensure that it is checked to somewhere other than ATL and they throw it on the belt. Then you head to a special security area and reclear into the terminal.

Two hours should be plenty. I would not change.

 

[sam_gordon]

Thanks prncess! You just set my mind at ease.