The Atlanta Traveler » Travel Tips – General Information

Navigating Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 04:36:00 +0000

Hartsfield-Jackson is one of the busiest airports in the United States, and it is easy to get lost or to pay too much money for parking. The airport has both long-term parking and short-term parking on-site. You can also find out if the parking lot is full before you go to the airport.

The airport has hourly parking, daily parking and economy parking. The rate is $1 per hour for the first two hours. You will then pay $2 per hour for the next 4 hours that you are parked. If you end up staying in the hourly parking lot, you will pay $28 per day.

The daily rate is $2 per hour and $14 per day. If you plan to stay at the airport for several days, you should use economy parking, which is $2 per hour and $10 per day.

The airport Park and Ride has the best daily rate at $9 per day. Remember to keep track of where you park your vehicle and the level that you parked on. Write this information down and carry it with you; you won’t be sorry.

Photo by Hyku, Flickr, Creative Commons License

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Have You Heard of This Scam?

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 18:19:52 +0000

The Tom Joyner Morning Show, a radio show on 104.1, discussed scams. A scam expert told listeners about some of the top scams. I was surprised to hear about one scam in particular. Here’s how it works. You go to a gas station and decide to pay for your gas at the pump using your debit card. So, you key your PIN number in at the pump like you have done about a million times.

You don’t know that there’s a video camera aimed right at the keypad. The crooked gas station gets a copy of the receipt with your credit card number on it. Now, they also have your PIN. You should always hide your PIN number when keying it in at any public place, including gas stations and grocery stores. You never know who may be watching.

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Traffic Nightmare is Averted

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 04:00:30 +0000

For now, we don’t have to worry about traffic delays due to 10th Street road improvements this weekend. So, I think that it will be o.k. to venture out into downtown Atlanta over the next couple of days. The Department of Transportation decided to postpone the project until next weekend due to anticipated showers in the area. To be honest, I rather have the rain than be caught in traffic in downtown Atlanta. The roads in the area reportedly have not been paved for more than 12 years. The work had been scheduled to begin tonight with three northbound lanes of I-75 closed. Traffic is expected to heavy this weekend because of a 26-mile race with around 14,000 runners beginning at Centennial Park. People will also be out and about attending a Braves game against the Cleveland Indians. The postponed work will begin next weekend.

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Delta Charging $25 for Luggage

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 03:27:46 +0000

Atlanta-based Delta Airlines will begin charging $25 for bags beginning on May 1.The first checked in bag is free, but passengers must pay $25 for any additional bags. Delta is the latest airline to announce extra baggage fees. United and U.S. Airways had previously announced additional fees for extra baggage. Delta’s fee does not apply to people who are flying first class, business class or to top-level frequent fliers. The price increase is said to be due to the rising cost of travel in the United States. Of course Delta is going to make money. Either people will pay the extra $25 for additional bags or they will pack lighter to avoid the fees. What are you going to do? I vote for pack lighter, and put as much as I can in my carry-on bag.

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Air Travel Changes

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 04:57:09 +0000

I recently returned from a trip to Mexico. I admit that it has been a while since I have traveled by air, but will someone please tell me when airlines began charging passengers for food? I mean, dang, U.S. Airways tried to charge a sister $7 for a sandwich. Dang, I wanted to ask the flight attendant to just give me about 8 teeny bags of trail mix (if they are still free). It’s a good thing that I made a pitstop to Publix before I got on the plane. I brought some food, but not nearly enough. I promise you that next time I take an international flight from Atlanta Iwill have a picnic basket on the flight.

That’s not all. They are even charging hapless travelers $5 for the headphones you need to listen to the sound for your inflight movie. I know that times are tough U.S. Airways, but we need a break! Now, I didn’t think that having headphones was a big deal until I sat in the same aisle as a woman with the most annoying laugh on the planet. I am not trying to be mean or anything, but her loud obnoxious laugh was torture in those otherwise friendly skies. If I didn’t have my MP3 player, I would have gladly handed over my poodle, home, car, and sold my first born child just to make her laughing.

Now, I am sure that you are wondering what all of this has to do with you and Atlanta. Well, I learned some valuable information while in the Atlanta airport. So, in addition to packing food, headphones and bringing cash just in case you run out of food, here’s some additional insider’s advice for navigating Atlanta’s airport.

1. The Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta has hourly, daily, and economy parking. Daily parking is $2 an hour and $14 a day. Economy parking is $10 a day at the airport. If you park in the economy spaces, you can ride a courtesy shuttle from 8 a.m. to midnight. It’s a little hike from the economy spaces to the airport terminal. There are also some cheaper spaces owned by a slew of different companies outside of the airport that are about $8 a day, but you will need to take a free shuttle from your car to the spaces (which is a pain if you have a lot of luggage). I prefer to park closer to the airport and pay the $10 so I don’t have to worry about waiting for the shuttle, even if it’s just a few minutes. I walked to and from the economy lot since I arrived at the airport at the crack of dawn and returned at 2 a.m. The courtesy shuttle was not available.

When driving to the parking areas, pay attention to the signs as you head to the terminal, on my trip, I had to stay in the left lanes to reach the economy parking lots.

If you plan to be at the airport between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m., you will find courtesy officers around the parking lots. When I went looking for my car at 2 a.m. I saw a sole courtesy officer whizzing by on a bicycle. I couldn’t get his attention to ask him a question, like where is my car? Who moved the parking lot? That brings me to my next point.

2. This is extremely important for any large airport. Write down where you park (the letter and number combination in the Atlanta’s airport). I left my car in area A13, for example. Note the parking deck level where you parked, even if you park outside of the deck. When you leave the baggage claim area after your trip, you may need to go up or down a level to reach your car.

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