Despite traveling all around the world over the years, I never experienced the inanity of arriving at Concourse F in Atlanta until my first time doing so in 2017 after returning from Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Poland, and the Netherlands — and I was reminded of it yet again earlier this year.
The Inanity of Arriving at Concourse F in Atlanta
Concourse F opened on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 with much fanfare at the international airport which serves the greater Atlanta metropolitan area. I actually visited that concourse during its construction on Monday, November 14, 2011 for a special tour of its initial twelve gates, a new security checkpoint, baggage claim, and the new area for United States Customs and Border Protection to process visitors upon arrival. I took greater than 100 photographs of the $1.4 billion international terminal that day…
…but the excitement quickly wore off when I arrived at Concourse F on that day on Tuesday, April 25, 2017. At that time, three long lines filled with people were available at the customs area, as the:
- First line was for passport machines
- Second line was to check passports
- Third line was to leave a printout and then leave the airport
Afterwards was the choice to either transfer to another flight or terminate the trip with Atlanta as the final destination. As I am based in Atlanta, I had no other choice but to choose the latter.
The problem — which exists to this day — is that choosing Atlanta as the final destination takes people outside of the secure area of the airport to the landside part of Concourse F that is not accessible by the The Plane Train automated people mover that travels between concourses.
Fewer services — such as shuttles for parking and lodging — are available at Concourse F than at the main domestic terminal of the airport. The only way to get back to the main area of the airport is by taking a light blue ATL International Shuttle Connector bus, for which one sometimes must wait. Using the service is free of charge.
I stood in the long line to wait for the shuttle bus to get to the main domestic terminal, as I had just missed the first one. The lines were long for what were essentially mini buses, which still currently operate even though larger buses are now available to use.
When I finally boarded the shuttle bus for the first time in 2017, it was crowded — to the point of standing room only.
The seats were not very comfortable — but they sufficed. Limited room was available for luggage and baggage.
The “fun” part was yet to come: the route of the ATL International Shuttle Connector bus takes at least 15 minutes and travels greater than six miles around the entire north side of the airport — including past the world headquarters of Delta Air Lines and the Delta Flight Museum. The ride of the shuttle bus itself was rough and noisy.
The Plane Train automated people mover — as indicated in the map above by the blue train icons between the start and the end of the route — would have been faster and significantly more convenient. I said to the driver of the shuttle bus on that first ride back in 2017 that “This is the worst setup I have ever seen.”
His response was simply: “Oh, well.”
I finally arrived at the domestic terminal almost two hours after leaving the airplane that day. What a mess was that system, as each and every part of using it took a very long time. I thought that adding a new concourse for international flights was supposed to improve the process. Instead, I felt like I was catapulted back to 1985 in terms of progress.
I thought that experience was bad…
…but on my most recent trip from which I returned from Tulum in Mexico, the experience was even worse: the airplane landed and parked at a gate at Concourse E instead of Concourse F, which are spaced rather far apart. The problem is that all passengers were forced to walk more than a mile all the way to Concourse F and then first go through the aforementioned process. Some moving walkways helped — but not all that much.
This process took even longer than the initial process in 2017. Even worse is that the ATL International Shuttle Connector bus does not even operate 24 hours per day, as the service ends at 1:00 in the morning every day. If an airplane arrives afterwards, passengers who need this free service are likely out of luck.
The good news is that help seems to be on its way, as a new service called ConnectATL seems to be in the works that will supposedly operate between terminals 24 hours per day and seven days per week.
Final Boarding Call
Departing from Concourse F in Atlanta is not a problem, as anyone can take the train from the main domestic terminal once he or she successfully passes through the security checkpoint…
…but as a result of the inane design of the process of arriving at Concourse F, I usually try to return to the United States through New York, Los Angeles, or other cities in the United States with a gateway international airport to avoid this mess that some clueless idiots designed with regard to international passengers arriving at Concourse F.
If you complain about changing airplanes in Atlanta, just be thankful that Atlanta is not your final destination and you must go through Concourse F…
All photographs ©2018 and ©2024 by Brian Cohen.
