Luggage Question at Atlanta airport

[Jasjas]

We will be flying with Delta from Johannesburg to Miami via Atlanta. Will we have to collect our checked luggage on landing at Atlanta International before clearing passport control and check it in again for our flight with Delta to Miami ?

 

I heard from someone that the luggage would be taken from one flight to the other if it is the same airline, but I read on some website that we have to pass through passport control with ALL our luggage...??

 

We will have three and a half hours on Atlanta airport...I hope it will be enough for all we have to do...?

 

Sincere Thanks !

 

Jasjas

[njhorseman]

The US requires you to go through passport control and customs at your first point of entry into the country, so you will have to collect your luggage and recheck it to your ongoing destination. You go through passport control first, then collect your luggage and go through customs, then recheck your bags.

 

I haven't taken an international flight into Atlanta, so I can't comment on your time line.

[Jasjas]

Thanks njhorseman...for your prompt reply....it is sincerely appreciated.

[chengkp75]

To clarify what njhorseman said, when you check your bags in South Africa, you will get a tag all the way to Miami. However, all baggage will show up at a baggage claim area inside customs, where you will collect your bags, take them past customs, and then there will be porters and a conveyor that will take ongoing bags right there and get them to your connection. You won't have to take the bags outside of the customs hall, or back to the front of the terminal to recheck them.

[cole]

Atlanta has done a good job getting people through customs when they arrive on an international flight. There are computerized stations where you will scan your passport, answer a couple of on-screen questions about whether you are bringing anything into the country, etc., take a photo by looking into the screen and pressing a button, then you will receive a printed form that you will carry to the passport control where you will show your passport and this form and get these stamped. As explained above, you will collect your luggage at the luggage carousel and take it through another passport control station where you will leave the printed form you received with one of the attendants, deposit your luggage with one of the porters and then proceed to a security checkpoint. You will go through the same procedure you go through at any security checkpoint and then on to your connecting gate. The signage at Atlanta is well done and easy to follow. Your 3+ hour layover is plenty of time to go through these steps, even though it sounds arduous.

Cole

[Jasjas]

THANK YOU SO, SO MUCH to you cole and chengkp75 for you wonderful explanations.....I feel so much more at ease now...

 

Sincerely.

 

Jasjas.