So I have an hour layover in Atlanta (ATL) - what should I do?

[robert_columbia]

I will have a 1 hour layover at the Atlanta airport (ATL) in the early afternoon. What should/can I do that would be interesting?

[treis]

Is this a joke? The only thing you should do is wait an hour for your next flight.

[kayaker]

Big airport. Pray that an hour is enough time to get to your gate.

[gallows fodder]

Considering that you board a half-hour before your next flight's departure time, you're only going to have a half-hour to deboard your first flight and find the gate for your second. You barely have time enough to pee.

[Leaffan]

Go have a couple of beers.

ETA: Well, that's what I'd do.

[Zeldar]

All of these answers conform to what I would have said. An hour in Atlanta goes by really fast.

You could watch some CNN or Weather Channel and feel some sense of closeness to the origination point.

[Yorikke]

Shit into a Ziploc bag. Put in carry-on bag. Hilarity ensues.

Joe

[Chronos]

Yeah, that's 15 minutes to get from one gate to the other, a half an hour for the boarding process, and 15 minutes slack to allow for contingencies, and maybe grab a snack or a bathroom break.

On the bright side, you'll have managed to see everything worthwhile about Atlanta.

[Rand Rover]

Go see Savannah, it's pretty nice.

[Zsofia]

Seriously, an hour is the bare minimum safety zone for Atlanta. I prefer at least two.

[billfish678]

If you can hit the bathroom on concourse A next to gate 17 you can kill 5 minutes. Go to the bathroom stall at the far end. Hang your carry on the outside of the door. When somebody asks if this stall is occupied you reply "not enough sailor". Be there 15 minutes past the hour. Enjoy.

[Enderw24]

If you can hit the bathroom on concourse A next to gate 17 you can kill 5 minutes. Go to the bathroom stall at the far end. Hang your carry on the outside of the door. When somebody asks if this stall is occupied you reply "not enough sailor". Be there 15 minutes past the hour. Enjoy.

And remember, wide stances take too long to implement. You're only there for an hour.

[Zeldar]

It might behoove Atlanta to post signs to the effect that unless you have a longer layover than one hour, you might as well head to the restroom.

[Voyager]

Considering that you board a half-hour before your next flight's departure time, you're only going to have a half-hour to deboard your first flight and find the gate for your second. You barely have time enough to pee.

Assuming there is no line, all the urinals are working, your flight arrived on time, and your new gate isn't on the other side of the airport.

OP, have you actually flown anywhere in the past 20 years?

[tdn]

A few years ago I had a maybe 3 hour layover at JFK. I asked a few people what sights I should see in the city. After the laughter died down, I was made to realize that the airport was not, in fact, in midtown Manhattan.

And my connecting flight was delayed by several hours. God, that was boring!

[Voyager]

A few years ago I had a maybe 3 hour layover at JFK. I asked a few people what sights I should see in the city. After the laughter died down, I was made to realize that the airport was not, in fact, in midtown Manhattan.

Heh. JFK is the middle of nowhere. I know, I once delivered mail to a route right on the boundary, and could count the rivets on the 747s flying over.

I wonder which airports are close enough to something interesting to make it worth leaving with a 3 hour layover, ignoring security. San Diego certainly. LAX, though I'm not sure there is anything close by. Maybe Logan and Reagan, since they are on subway lines. None of the New York airports. Not O'Hare. Midway is on an actual street, but not one that is very interesting. Not SO, Oakland or San Jose. Any ones that would be good?

[appleciders]

You can take tours of the Salt Lake Temple in Salt Lake City. The LDS Church provides shuttle service to and from the airport for just this reason.

[tdn]

Definitely Logan. You could spend an hour at Quincy Market.

[billfish678]

The Denver airport has the impressive giant tent thingy covering part of it. But that part is not in a secured area. I had a short layover there once about 3 years ago. Walked out of the secure area, did some looking around, then went back through security to catch my plane. So there is one airport that has something interesting to see for a bit before you catch the next leg.

[Zeldar]

For some bizarre and twisted reason I'm tempted to ask which major airport is closest to its city's dump/landfill.

[lisacurl]

Given my experience in ATL, you'll be delayed landing or getting to the gate, so you'll spend that "hour" sprinting to make your connection.

[FlyByNight512]

One does not simply walk through the Atlanta Airport.

One sprints. It's huge, and chances are very good that you'll be late arriving and have approximately ten minutes to cover a mile of concourse to your next gate. Personally, if I had to fly through there, I'd make sure it was at least a two hour layover. I much prefer Chicago/O'Hare or Minneapolis/St.Paul.

[cjepson]

For some bizarre and twisted reason I'm tempted to ask which major airport is closest to its city's dump/landfill.

Philadelphia International is quite close to the city's waste water treatment facility... it's about the first thing travelers see (and smell) after leaving the airport, if they're heading towards the city.

[Jackknifed Juggernaut]

Go have a couple of beers.

ETA: Well, that's what I'd do.

Me too. Or possibly get a cocktail (only $2 more to make it a double!)

[kenobi 65]

Agreeing with many other posts -- unless you wind up being fortunate enough that your arriving and departing flights are located in the same concourse (and Hartsfield-Jackson has six concourses (http://www.atlanta-airport.com/docs/terminal/Hartsfield-Jackson%20Map2009.pdf)), odds are that the "spare time" in your layover will be minimal.

[Disheavel]

Heh. JFK is the middle of nowhere. I know, I once delivered mail to a route right on the boundary, and could count the rivets on the 747s flying over.

I wonder which airports are close enough to something interesting to make it worth leaving with a 3 hour layover, ignoring security. San Diego certainly. LAX, though I'm not sure there is anything close by. Maybe Logan and Reagan, since they are on subway lines. None of the New York airports. Not O'Hare. Midway is on an actual street, but not one that is very interesting. Not SO, Oakland or San Jose. Any ones that would be good?

The ones I can think of all have a train directly downtown from the airport that takes less than a half hour such that a three hour layover would give you at least an hour downtown:
(In addition to your suggestions)
Amsterdam
Lisbon
Seattle
Vancouver
Venice

*We did go into Manhattan on a 3.5 hour layover at JFK once, but I'd lived in NYC previously and knew the timings, trains, etc.

[Quasimodem]

Shit into a Ziploc bag. Put in carry-on bag. Hilarity ensues.

Joe

D and liked to have died laughing at this one.:D:D:D

Thanks

Q

[Voyager]

Philadelphia International is quite close to the city's waste water treatment facility... it's about the first thing travelers see (and smell) after leaving the airport, if they're heading towards the city.

I think Philadelphia International is part of the dump. I used to go there all the time - hated it.

Portland is on light rail, so that would be good.
And while I disparaged SFO, the BART does run there.

[Voyager]

You can take tours of the Salt Lake Temple in Salt Lake City. The LDS Church provides shuttle service to and from the airport for just this reason.

I've taken that tour - my only concern is if they'd let you go in time.

[Qadgop the Mercotan]

You can take tours of the Salt Lake Temple in Salt Lake City. The LDS Church provides shuttle service to and from the airport for just this reason.
My wife and I did this years ago when we had a 4 hour layover there. Very nice, very polite folks. But we ditched our official tour guide, and cruised through the complex on our own. It was definitely surreal. The heart of whitenessdom on earth.

[Nawth Chucka]

For some bizarre and twisted reason I'm tempted to ask which major airport is closest to its city's dump/landfill.When you leave the 'Detroit' airport (Wayne County Airport, located in Romulus and a 20 minute ride from Detroit) and head West there's a landfill within 4 freeway exits.

The upside is if you have 3 or more hours layover at DTW you can make it into Dearborn and have an amazing and leisurely Middle Eastern meal.

[kunilou]

The Red Line in Cleveland will also get you downtown in less than a half-hour.

[Lamar Mundane]

For some bizarre and twisted reason I'm tempted to ask which major airport is closest to its city's dump/landfill.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=denver&hl=en&ll=39.845647,-104.735155&spn=0.052653,0.077162&sll=42.359302,-83.064772&sspn=0.012669,0.01929&t=h&hnear=Denver,+Colorado&z=14

There is a large landfill less than a mile northwest of Denver International Airport. I don't think it is Denver's, though. I think it is run by a neighboring county.

[Quasimodem]

Agreeing with many other posts -- unless you wind up being fortunate enough that your arriving and departing flights are located in the same concourse (and Hartsfield-Jackson has six concourses (http://www.atlanta-airport.com/docs/terminal/Hartsfield-Jackson%20Map2009.pdf)), odds are that the "spare time" in your layover will be minimal.


I agree as well. God! Don't leave the airport! You'd never make it back in time. They want you at the gate at least 30 minutes before the flight (correct if I'm wrong), so where would you go that takes 15 minutes there and back (not counting your previous flight being late and slow disembarking?)

Q

[Dangerosa]

The Mall of America is accessible on a three hour layover in Minneapolis St. Paul. However, by the time you get to the train, take the train to the MoA, and allocate enough time to get through security and to your gate (at least one hour before boarding, the security lines can run 45 minutes), you'd be able to walk in, turn around, and walk out. The MoA is across the street.

The issue is "ignoring security" You simply can't, and at most modern airports, security will add between ten minutes and 45 minutes to your time.

[Spiderman]

Philadelphia International is quite close to the city's waste water treatment facility... it's about the first thing travelers see (and smell) after leaving the airport, if they're heading towards the city.

If you go over the Platt Bridge to I-76, within 2-3 miles of the airport is a HUGE auto recycling plant; the kind where car pancakes are stacked 15-20 high & then once they go thru the shredder are the size of pieces that will fit in your pocket. Across the road is a refinery; usually smells of sulfur.
Sadly, the plant is moving back to Camden & the refinery is up for sale/going to close as it always amazed me the tourism folks would let your first/last impressions be foul odors & destruction.

[Count Blucher]

EWR (Newark, & likely Terminal 3) Coffee & people watch.

Lets be honest: Even if you had an insanely fast driver who could get you & your camera out to 78E, red-line it through the tolls & take the Turnpike Extension like a Pole Position 'S' curve... take 13B and blow out their shocks red-lining it across the cobblestone...
you'd be lucky to get 1 pic of the GWB, 1 pic of the skyline, & 1 pic of the Statue of Liberty before having to sprint back to the car. Then you'd blow out the rest of your suspension & have to side-swipe 2-3 cars just to get back to EWR in time to...

...miss your flight out. :(

But the spinning red 'A' on the Anheuser-Busch brewery will be fun to look at while you try to catch the next flight out.

[kenobi 65]

The MoA is across the street.


Though, in this case, "the street" in question is Interstate 494. :)

[ZenBeam]

Perhaps this was a rhetorical question. robert_columbia was able to post the OP before he had to log off and board the plane.