[jerzyt]

I did a project in Atlanta which required my presence on-site, so every week a flight to and back. I've spent enough time working there that I had to pay Georgia state tax. Anyway, I consider Atlanta to have one of the worst airports in US. Pathologically long lines through security, even with the rapid pass.

Maybe it won't be a problem in the Covid era, with zoom calls everywhere, but in the pre-Covid era Atlanta was a PITA for travel.

[prepend]

Hartsfield sucks but when compared to other busy airports it’s pretty good. And they have many chick-fil-as.

[filoleg]

I found the entire Hartsfield experience, ironically, to mirror that of Chick-fil-a. You see a very long line, get a sense of dread of having to wait in it, and in 5-10 mins that whole line disappears.

I remember one time arriving to Hartsfield just an hour before my flight was supposed to take off, saw that the TSA line spilled out into the entrance area of the airport (due to half the security checkpoints being closed for whatever reason), and, at this point, I've made my peace with missing the flight. Just 10 mins later, I got to the front of the TSA line.

The way they managed to unwrangle such a huge line was impressive, and it instantly reminded me of Chick-fil-a at the Georgia Tech student center building. Every time I got to it, I would see a line of 20-30 students, but it never took me more than 10 mins to get my food (from the moment I joined the line, to the moment I walked out).

[wslack]

It's also much bigger than most other airports, double the number of gates as SFO.

[prepend]

Good point, I used to hate it until I experienced other airports.

JFK you have to walk and bus between terminals. DeGaulle you have to bus to planes. LAX you have to walk between terminals.

ATL’s plane train means you’re always 10 minutes away from any terminal. And at least Marta runs into the airport. Atlanta public transport sucks but at least it’s to the airport. It’s weird how many cities don’t have trains going to the airport.

I’m not sure there’s any airport close to busy that works this well. I prefer smaller airports where you can just walk in (OAK, FLL) but they don’t have as many flights to places.