departing from Atlanta - anyone done this and can share?

We are flying home from atlanta in July following a visit to the mouse.

As there are no G from orlando obviously and Delta and southwest flights are way too expensive, we are driving from Orlando to Atlanta.

I cant see any trip reports or any other posts where anyone has actually driven to Atlanta for a flight home. (loads of connecting flight ones though)

It seems from the internet that the car drop off is some distance from the international terminal and involves 2 shuttles, one on an old rickety unreliable nightmare. (I've no doubt hyperbole is in action though!)

Anyone done this and can give an idea of when to arrive?

We're on the 1935 to LHR in UC

thanks

I haven't done it yet but we are off to MCO in three weeks.
We couldn't get Gs back so we are coming home from Atlanta.

I usually study Google maps to get a good idea but the street view around Atlanta airport car rental centre are well out of date. However I plan to come up the I75 to junc 238b
loop round onto The Perimeter westbound I285
After 2 miles it goes under the runway, then take the next exit for Riverdale Road
follow Riverdale road for 2 miles and there is a right turn which has a large sign to the Domestic Terminal and under it a smaller sign for the car rental centre.
Follow this road a short distance and there is a right turn to the car rental. Crosswinds Road
A couple of junctions along this turn left into Rental Car Centre Parkway.
An elevated road take you into the Car Rental Centre.

Once you get rid of the car there is an overhead rail into the Domestic Terminal, from there I guess it's the same as any transfer passenger.

That's the plan. I will do a trip report on my return at the end of March.
I'll try and remember to get Mrs D to take some photos of the junctions.
Wish me luck.

Dick D

It's dead easy, you've a choice. The car rental centre is off site but they have a monorail that connects it to the domestic terminal. You can get that back and then make your way the length of the terminal to the international terminal, there's the air train that will take you there. Or you can get the shuttle direct to the international terminal from the car rental centre. Yeah it might be described as a bit rickety but it saves you having to lug your bags all the way across the airport with you. It's quite a way, maybe 10-15 minutes drive, but when you're there, you're there. Check in then up to the lounge where you can enjoy a last bit of Georgia sun. Personally, I'd have no problem with the direct shuttle to the international terminal if I was flying out of ATL again.

[Neil]

We drive to ATL after a road trip for our flight home and as you've said the car return is a 10min drive from the International terminal.
The car return was very slow for us, and the small bus required a 10min wait, and it didn't fit everyone on it. We were quite late and still had plenty of time, but it's worth making sure you,leave yourself a few extra minutes.

[Darren Wheeler]

I did this last October. Left Altamonte at 10am and got to the car hire depot at ATL just before 7pm.

No major stops, just for fuel, caffeine and toilets. Nearly missed the car drop time due to horrific traffic in Atlanta.

It is doable but by no means a quick drive. If I had to do it again, I would, consider flying. It's like driving London to Edinburgh but with lower speed limits.

As you're not flying until July, I wouldn't expect the cheaper internal flight prices until around April / May. Might be worth holding off.

We have considered it before but ended up picking up G's from Miami. When we were looking at our route options to Atlanta, we considered an overnight stop in Savannah. It would add on about an hour to the total trip length.

It's dead easy, you've a choice. The car rental centre is off site but they have a monorail that connects it to the domestic terminal. You can get that back and then make your way the length of the terminal to the international terminal, there's the air train that will take you there. Or you can get the shuttle direct to the international terminal from the car rental centre. Yeah it might be described as a bit rickety but it saves you having to lug your bags all the way across the airport with you. It's quite a way, maybe 10-15 minutes drive, but when you're there, you're there. Check in then up to the lounge where you can enjoy a last bit of Georgia sun. Personally, I'd have no problem with the direct shuttle to the international terminal if I was flying out of ATL again.

Thanks. I didnt think there was a direct train to the international terminal?

It looks like I have to get the sky train to the domestic terminal and then change to a bus to the international terminal. There is another train, calld plane train that seems to connect the terminals, but that is airside only.

The ATL website is terrible!

We drove down from Nashville to catch the Virgin flight to London.
I'd echo what others have said - make sure you've got PLENTY of time
I've travelled to most major airports, and even I was surprised about the size of ATL
I think we spent 35 minutes on the shuttle bus, doing approx 45-50 miles an hour a lot of the time
And like other reportees, we had to wait for the second bus, we we couldn't get on the first

In all, I think it took about an hour and 15 minutes, getting from the car return to the bus stop, waiting for the bus, and the journey

Hope this helps

Peter

Like Peter, we drove from Nashville to Atlanta for our flight home, this was May last year. No problems with the drive and yes, we allowed ourselves a lot of extra time (but we always do!) Seems fairly usual for these days for car rental to be off site, but once near the airport, we found the signage fairly clear. Transfer to the terminal was easy too.

It's dead easy, you've a choice. The car rental centre is off site but they have a monorail that connects it to the domestic terminal. You can get that back and then make your way the length of the terminal to the international terminal, there's the air train that will take you there. Or you can get the shuttle direct to the international terminal from the car rental centre. Yeah it might be described as a bit rickety but it saves you having to lug your bags all the way across the airport with you. It's quite a way, maybe 10-15 minutes drive, but when you're there, you're there. Check in then up to the lounge where you can enjoy a last bit of Georgia sun. Personally, I'd have no problem with the direct shuttle to the international terminal if I was flying out of ATL again.

Thanks. I didnt think there was a direct train to the international terminal?

It looks like I have to get the sky train to the domestic terminal and then change to a bus to the international terminal. There is another train, calld plane train that seems to connect the terminals, but that is airside only.

The ATL website is terrible!

Sorry, didn't make it clear. It's not a train to the international terminal, it's one of those Jitney style buses. It does take a while, but it saves you having to lug your luggage around from terminal to terminal. Have to agree about signage to the airport, it's signed from a long way out. Traffic in Atlanta is insane though, eight lanes all doing eighty! Give yourself an hour to get sorted, or do what we did in Vegas, check in and then take the car back, us airports usually give you twenty or so minutes free. Then you're able to circumnavigate the domestic terminal without luggage which will make it lot easier.