Atlanta (ATL)

Atlanta is the busiest passenger airport in the world and an enormous Delta hub.

My first time visiting ATL was unplanned. During high school, I flew out to visit family and colleges in the Bay Area. My return flights were scheduled from San Francisco (SFO) through Cincinnati (CVG) to Dayton, but due to the Comair strike I ended up being rebooked from San Jose (SJC) through Atlanta to Dayton instead. That Atlanta to Dayton flight was also my first flight in first class, as Delta had upgraded me for my itinerary change.

From 2009 until about 2013, I mostly flew through ATL on AirTran as a layover on the way to a number of Orlando (MCO) work trips.

Once AirTran merged into Southwest, I only flew through ATL every once in a while. When Southwest was still in Dayton, they tended to serve Orlando either directly or through Baltimore (BWI). ATL was still a huge Delta hub, but for whatever reason Delta was rarely the contracted carrier for most of the city pairs I flew for work.

Then, in late 2019, Delta started being our carrier for quite a few places I flew for work. Reduced travel from the COVID pandemic notwithstanding, Delta was my carrier for a significant portion of my flights through late 2023, when nearly all of my work travel city pair contracts went back to American Airlines.