Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is relocating its cellphone lot amid construction near the domestic terminal.
The new cellphone lot at 1920 Autoport Drive in College Park will be farther from the terminal, but more centrally located for motorists going to both Terminal South and Terminal North to pick up friends or family arriving on flights.
The Atlanta airport opened the cellphone lot a decade ago to allow “meeter-greeters” to wait for free in a parking lot set apart from the terminal, until their relatives or friends called on their cellphones that they were ready to be picked up at curbside. But it has always been located at Terminal South, where Delta Air Lines operates. There is not a cellphone lot at the International Terminal on the east side of the airport.
The new domestic terminal cellphone lot location will be a short distance farther for motorists to get to passengers waiting to be picked up after Delta flights, but will make it easier for drivers to pick up passengers arriving on Southwest, Frontier, Spirit and other non-Delta airlines. It will open Tuesday, Oct. 18, replacing the old cellphone lot.
“We wanted to create a more centralized location,” Hartsfield-Jackson spokesman Andrew Gobeil said.
The new cellphone lot is located west of the terminal, occupying part of the hold lot used by taxi and shuttle drivers.
That lot between Autoport Drive and North Terminal Parkway has been “underutilized,” Gobeil said.
That’s because of a precipitous decline in taxi drivers, as Uber and Lyft have taken over much of the business of picking up passengers at the airport.
Of more than 868,000 ground transportation pickups at Hartsfield-Jackson in the third quarter this year, about 771,896 were by Uber and Lyft and 96,748 were by taxis, according to airport figures.
The airport said motorists should follow signs to the cellphone lot on message boards along airport roads.
Driving to the airport has been a frustrating experience for many for months, with roadwork and parking deck construction causing long backups, full parking lots and rerouting.
This week, the airport will close two lanes of the South Terminal roadway to repair manholes, from Monday at 11 p.m. through Thursday at 5 p.m. Only one lane will be open at Terminal South.
Long security lines have meant waits of more than 40 minutes at the main security checkpoint during busy periods at the airport, meaning travelers must get to the airport even earlier to get to their gate in time.
The airport has been recommending passengers get to the terminal two to three hours before their departure time, and to consider taking MARTA to get to the airport.
With parts of the Terminal South parking deck closed for construction work, the airport has also been recommending that travelers driving to the airport use the remote ATL West parking deck, which is connected to the domestic terminal via SkyTrain.
How to get to the new cellphone lot at Hartsfield-Jackson
Directions to the lot will be posted on message boards along Airport roadways, according to the airport.
From Interstate 85 North: Take Domestic Terminal Exit
At the first available right, proceed onto Autoport Drive
Follow signs to Cell Phone Lot
From I-85 South:
Take Domestic Terminal Exit
Follow signs to ATL West Parking/Rental Car Center
At the intersection of Rental Car Center Parkway and Crosswinds Road, stay in the far-right lane and follow signs to Cell Phone Lot
From Camp Creek Parkway:
Take Atlanta Airport Exit
Follow signs to ATL West Parking/Rental Car Center
At Intersection of Rental Car Center Parkway and Crosswinds Road stay in the far-right lane and follow signs to Cell Phone Lot
Source: Hartsfield-Jackson
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