ATL is one of the largest airports in the United States. Located in Atlanta, Georgia, and only around 45 minutes to Covington (which I mention as I visited). By largest, I refer to size rather than number of flights, but it is also up there as well. By “up there,” I refer to it having the most flights in the world. I was somewhat surprised to learn this, but it makes sense. The place is often packed, has quite a few terminals, and services one of the most important cities in the country and a capital of a US state.

Through this review, I will go over my experience at the airport, tips to navigate, and whether I would recommend it as a departing/arriving place.

Security and TSA

Starting with departures, the security here is very well organized. The biggest issue is the relatively confusing navigation signs. There are what feels like a ton of lines, and each is somehow different in one way or another. As an example, the pre-check line was entirely in a different area from any of the other lines. It’s also referred to as something other than pre-check on several signs. I believe something like “auxiliary security” or something like that?

The setup past the agents is similar to the setup at Denver, if I recall it correctly. There is a belt with four stations that each automatically give a tray to you to put your items in. Take the first free place, order doesn’t matter. Put your items in as few trays as you can. Luckily, it seems electronics do not need to be taken out. As mentioned before, I have about 4-5 “large” electronics that occasionally need separating. I’m always glad when I don’t need to figure that out.

The advantage of having a million security lines is that they seem to take a very short amount of time. In my experience, Atlanta has been one of the fastest securities I’ve been through.

Food

There is food before security and after security. Overall, I prefer to go through security before getting food. Just makes things simpler. Plus, I can take my drinks on the plane if I need to. Security does not like that.

Now, the only place I went to inside the terminals was Freshens. Its a tasty, wonderful smoothie/frozen yogurt place I’ve found in a few different airports. I looooove this place. Their froyo is so good! Certainly helps when I get to my gate hungry and thirsty.

I’m not sure if this is the same place I found in the Detroit Airport, but it’s certainly possible. Either way, it was super good, and I recommend if you like smoothies or frozen yogurt.

Layout

There are a few things to cover regarding how this airport is laid out. From arriving, rental cars, navigating, etc. It might help for me to mention what I saw as I navigated myself.

The airport is a fairly large one, with more than a few terminals available. When getting back to the place, the rental car return was luckily quite easy. Many signs lead the way, and the location on Google ended up being the correct one. With a quick return, the next thing to do was take the escalators up to the train.

The train moves between the rental car center, the hotels, and the main terminals. The final stop is where you got off to go through security.

Once through security, if your gate isn’t nearby, you can then take the underground train. It goes to each terminal. No food or drinks are allowed, unfortunately. Luckily, nobody cared the last time I had some while riding.

Conclusion

ATL is one of the better airports, and certainly full of convenience and helpful things. Good security, well signed areas, and fairly clean all things considered.

If you’re going to go through here, don’t worry too much! It’s a good departure or arrival airport.

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