ATLAirport Guide

Is Atlanta Airport Closed or in a Ground Stop?

This site shows no live status. Check the FAA's status page, ATL's flight search and your airline, and see what a ground stop means for your flight.

A gate window at Atlanta airport looking out at parked aircraft and baggage carts on a wet apron under a gray sky.
Gate window view, ATL

The FAA’s status page shows whether ATL is in a ground stop, since it lists active events airport by airport. ATL’s flight search and your airline cover your own flight. This site publishes no live status. For what stays open overnight, see our overnight guide.

Where to check, in order

  1. The FAA’s National Airspace System Status page (nasstatus.faa.gov). Its Active Airport Events list names each affected airport by code and the type of event. Most entries add a time window and either a cause or what is closed. Some carry an Advisory label. Look for ATL. A Forecast Events section lists stops that are only possible, with the airports and a time window.
  2. ATL’s flight search (atl.com/flight-search). It looks up arrivals and departures by flight number, airline, origin city or destination city, so use it for your own flight.
  3. Your airline. ATL’s flight search page says to confirm flight updates with your airline before going to the gate, and ATL’s FAQ calls the airline the best source for your own flight status. Use the airline’s app, or its phone line from your booking. Delta’s help center lists 800-221-1212 for general sales and service and 800-325-1999 for flight information.

The FAA page gives times in UTC, so convert them to Atlanta time before you count the minutes left.

What the labels mean

Label on the FAA page What it means
Ground stop Flights headed to the affected airport are held at their departure point for as long as the stop lasts
Ground delay The FAA’s glossary calls this a Ground Delay Program. Flights headed to the airport get a departure clearance time and can’t leave before it. The FAA uses it when demand is expected to exceed what the airport can handle for a long period, most often in bad weather such as low ceilings and visibility
Airport closure The entry gives a time window and a line of text on what is closed, which can be only some aircraft

The FAA’s glossary names three common reasons for a ground stop. Demand may be about to exceed the airport’s acceptance rate for a short time. Traffic may need to pause while a longer fix such as a ground delay program is set up. Or the airport’s acceptance rate may have dropped to zero.

Read the text under a closure entry first, since a closure listing doesn’t always mean airline flights have stopped.

What it means for your flight

Flying into Atlanta, your plane stays on the ground at your origin until the stop ends. Leaving Atlanta, you can still be delayed if your plane is one of those held elsewhere.

Delta’s help center has tools to change or cancel a flight and make same-day changes, along with a refund request.

ATL’s security wait times page lists five checkpoints: Main, North, Lower North and South (PreCheck only) in the Domestic Terminal, and International Main in the International Terminal. Each shows its wait in minutes and a Low to Extended rating, or Closed when it isn’t screening. It also shows whether the checkpoint is open, so you can see which ones you can still use.

If you’re stuck

Ask a person first. Customer Experience Representatives stand at the Domestic Terminal’s west crossover and in the transportation mall at the Plane Train. Information desks are on Concourse E, Concourse F and at International Terminal arrivals.

If your airline rebooks you to another concourse, our Terminal page maps every concourse.

To rest inside the airport, ATL’s directory lists Minute Suites on Concourse B near Gate B24 and on Concourse F next to Gate F6, both open 24 hours. A third is at Concourse E Center with no hours listed, and the directory doesn’t say which side of security any of them is on.

If you need a bed, our hotels page lists places near the airport. Four hotels are on the SkyTrain, which runs free around the clock: AC Hotel Atlanta Airport Gateway, Atlanta Airport Marriott Gateway, Renaissance Atlanta Airport Gateway and SpringHill Suites Atlanta Airport Gateway. Sonesta Atlanta Airport North says its free shuttle runs every 30 minutes from the Hotel Shuttle Area at Bays 9 to 13, while ATL’s ground transportation page lists that hotel on Aisle C at stalls C6 to C8 (North), so ask the hotel which one to use. Other airport hotels send a shuttle to Aisle C of the Ground Transportation Center, per the same page, and you call the hotel for times. After you’re rebooked, our flights page links each airline’s page, but it doesn’t show live gates.

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