Layover and connection guides

What you can do with the time between flights at ATL: how long a connection really needs, how to move between concourses without leaving security, what a long layover can hold, and what to do when the connection is tight. Each guide answers one of those questions.

Looking for the listings themselves? They are on the Connecting flights page.

• A two-hour layover at ATL: what fits and when to stay put

  Two hours at ATL fits a meal and one Plane Train hop, and no trip outside security. What to eat quickly, and when to stay on your concourse.

  • Two hours leaves no room to leave
  • Food that suits a short clock
  • Make a hop worth it
  • When to stay put
• An eight-hour layover at ATL: going into Atlanta and back

  MARTA reaches Five Points in 17 minutes. Count back from ATL's two hours before a domestic flight, or three before an international one, to your train.

  • The ride and what it costs
  • Count back from your flight
  • Back through security, the hour picks your checkpoint
  • If your layover runs into the night
• ATL arrivals and departures: how to check a flight

  Search ATL flights by number, airline or city, then read the gate, bag claim and terminal columns. Covers pickups, send-offs and delays.

  • Look up the flight
  • How to read an arrivals row
  • Picking someone up
  • Seeing someone off
  • Which terminal and concourse a flight uses
  • When a flight says Delayed
• Can you leave Atlanta airport on a layover?

  MARTA's Airport Station is inside the Domestic Terminal. ATL asks you to be back two hours before a domestic flight and three before an international one.

  • Leaving from a domestic arrival
  • Leaving from the International Terminal
  • Coming back, plan around ATL’s two or three hours
• How long is a safe connection at Atlanta airport?

  ATL publishes no minimum connection time or ride times between concourses. It does give a Plane Train wait and a 15-minute shuttle from the International Terminal.

  • What ATL publishes, leg by leg
  • Between concourses, the train is the plan
  • Landing from abroad takes a left turn
  • The shuttle to the Domestic Terminal takes you outside security
• How to spend five hours at Atlanta airport

  Five hours at ATL fits a sit-down meal, a lounge or suite and one trip to another concourse. ATL publishes no ride times, so plan the return first.

  • Pick the concourse that’s worth the ride
  • Walk there, then ride back when time gets short
  • Rest in a lounge or a private suite
  • Work back from your gate
• Is Atlanta airport easy to navigate? A first-timer's map of ATL

  ATL is two terminals, seven concourses and one underground train. Here's the layout in plain terms and the mistakes first-timers make.

  • The layout in plain terms
  • Where first-time visitors go wrong
  • Take the Plane Train between concourses
  • A free shuttle bus links the two terminals
  • Ask a Customer Experience Representative
• Overnight layover at Atlanta airport: hotel or terminal?

  A free SkyTrain reaches four hotels all night. Minute Suites sells eight hours inside security if you start by midnight. How to pick by flight time.

  • Hotels on the SkyTrain have a ride that runs all night
  • What stays open inside security
  • Pick by your flight time
• Quiet places at Atlanta airport without a lounge: sensory room and chapels

  ATL lists a sensory room on Concourse F, a prayer room and two chapels open 24 hours. No quiet seating. Past those, it's Minute Suites or a day pass.

  • Where ATL puts its quiet rooms
  • The sensory room on Concourse F
  • Chapels: what the airport lists, and when they’re in use
  • Calmer seating: what ATL doesn’t say
  • When a free room doesn’t work
• Terminal N, S and I at ATL: what the letters mean

  ATL has no Terminal N, S or I. It has a Domestic Terminal with North and South sides and a separate International Terminal. See what each side uses.

  • What ATL calls each one
  • Where letters do show up at ATL
  • Which side of the Domestic Terminal do you want?
  • Which airline uses which side?
  • The International Terminal is a separate building
• The Plane Train and walking between ATL concourses

  The Plane Train links every ATL concourse. ATL's own story gives a 108-second wait and no walking times. Here's how it runs and what to do if it's slow.

  • What the train links
  • When it runs and how long you wait
  • You can walk, but ATL gives no distance
  • If the train is slow or stopped
• Things to do at Atlanta airport, by how much time you have

  Under 30 minutes, stay on your concourse. With an hour, ride the Plane Train for a spa or duty free. A table shows what each ATL concourse has.

  • Under 30 minutes: stay on your concourse
  • About an hour: ride one stop for what your concourse lacks
  • Two hours or more: pay for a break or sit down properly
• What is the best concourse at ATL? What each one holds

  Your gate letter sets where you board. What each of ATL's seven concourses holds for lounges, sleep and food, and which suit a long wait.

  • Your gate picks the concourse
  • What each concourse holds
  • Which one suits a long wait
  • How far apart they are
• Which concourse is my airline at ATL? Gate letter and check-in building

  At ATL the letter in your gate number is your concourse, T to F. Domestic flights check in at the Domestic Terminal, flights abroad at the International.

  • Find the concourse from your gate
  • Airlines whose pages name a concourse
  • Where Delta, United and American have a desk or lounge
  • Which building each airline checks in at
  • North or South inside the Domestic Terminal
  • If you’re at the wrong building