Connection time international returning

[jerwick]

How much time do you recommend between flights from out of the US returning to US. Considering you must clear customs, pickup luggage and then go to domestic airlines, recheck luggage and then clear security checkpoint, do you think 2 hours is enough? Example, arriving Atlanta from Argentina at 7am, connecting for SFO at 9am. My thoughts are not enough time. Any experiences to share? Have always had non stop from Europe to SFO in the past so I have not had to deal with this.

[JJPNYC]

How much time do you recommend between flights from out of the US returning to US. Considering you must clear customs, pickup luggage and then go to domestic airlines, recheck luggage and then clear security checkpoint, do you think 2 hours is enough? Example, arriving Atlanta from Argentina at 7am, connecting for SFO at 9am. My thoughts are not enough time. Any experiences to share? Have always had non stop from Europe to SFO in the past so I have not had to deal with this.

 

2 hours should be fine, but you probably won't have any time to dawdle at ATL.

[FlyerTalker]

Recently re-entered the USA through ATL. Short pass through immigration, two luggage carousels for the flight, plenty of luggage carts, multiple luggage recheck stations, and three security stations back to the concourses. Two hours should be fine.

 

One piece of advice....never dawdle on your way from the aircraft to immigration -- it can never hurt to be towards the front of the pack.

[ericosmith]

My experience with 2 hours through ORD was essentially this:

 

Plane was about a half hour late. Huge lines for immigration but they opened more so got right through. Then waited over an hour for our luggage to finally appear. Breezed through customs but with less than a half hour left they wouldn't even let us in the line to recheck for our connection. Ended up waiting forever while people who did have a shot at making a connection were allowed to cut the line. Finally made it through the line and had to rebook for the next day. They wouldn't accept any of the luggage back so we were forced to haul it all to the overnight hotel and back. Oh, we had to pay for the hotel too, not the airlines fault for the delay.

 

I certainly wouldn't book less than a 3 hour connection if I could avoid it.

[alcpa1]

Jerwick,

You might check ATL to see how many flights are coming in about the same time from overseas. That will give you a feel for the crowds. The last time we went through immigration several months ago it took about 45 minutes, but that was a short turnaround.

It may be a little tight but you should have time to grab a Starbucks and sweet roll on your way to your gate.

The best part is you have a lot of options for the SFO leg if you are late.

Have a great trip.

[FlyerTalker]

Coming in from South America is a better deal than the daytime period when the European rush hits ATL. Your flight from EZE comes in at 6AM. Before that is one from Rio (GIG) at 5:40 as well as one from Tel Aviv (TLV) also at 5:40. Then from Santiago (SCL) at 6:15am. So no huge crush with several flights all hitting at once. For the reference of others coming from South America, the other DL flights into ATL are Sao Paolo (GRU) at 7:05, Quito (UIO) at 7:15, and Lima at 8am. Pretty good spacing.