Power outage in Atlanta

Understand there is a power outage and ground halt at Hartsfield in Atlanta. Can't imagine what those people are feeling if they are trying to reach a cruise ship! Hope the ships wait.

Wait for what? It's already 4:40 PM and some ships have already left FLL. It sounds like flights are not even going to Atlanta. Perfect example of why it's a good idea to fly in a day early and have insurance.

could be on a cruise tomorrow and stressing ..... ya never know how screwed up the flight schedule might become after a shutdown ....

good time to have stock in Rolaids and TUMS!!!!!

It's why we always fly the day before. Still wouldn't want to be sitting there.

It's why we always fly the day before. Still wouldn't want to be sitting there.

Agree, but if I had insurance I would just decide it's an experience. This late in the day I would probably get out of the terminal - call Uber and have them take me to a hotel away from the airport, where all of the rooms are probably gone by now, and decide in the morning what to do. And, yes I would leave without my bags - no way would I spend the night there.

This is why you get trip insurance.

Agree, but if I had insurance I would just decide it's an experience. This late in the day I would probably get out of the terminal - call Uber and have them take me to a hotel away from the airport, where all of the rooms are probably gone by now, and decide in the morning what to do. And, yes I would leave without my bags - no way would I spend the night there.

We live 30 miles from the airport and watching this fiasco unfold.

There are NO lights inside the airport. All passengers have now been evacuated to wait outside in the cold!!!

No one is allowed to enter the airport to pickup anyone. They are talking about putting people on transit trains and taking them “who knows where”. No rental cars, no hotels rooms in the immediate area and no taxis allowed in.

I am absolutely floored an airport this size has apparently no plans in place for disasters like this! Security people leading passengers through dark tunnels using a cell phone isn’t a real good plan!!

I would not plan going in or out of Atlanta anytime soon. Right now they are saying it will be at least after midnight before power is restored.

Unbelievable!!!

The outage started at noon so it is entirely possible that people taking short flights down to Jacksonville, Port Canaveral or Tampa for a cruise could be affected. Also, tomorrow will be a madhouse. The airport isn't expected to have power until after midnight then they'll have to clear the terminals, bring up all systems, run everybody that's evacuated through security... I wouldn't want to be flying out tomorrow

We have a flight leaving from Michigan, stopping in Atlanta on the way to FLL Tuesday night and I AM stressing!!

We have a flight leaving from Michigan, stopping in Atlanta on the way to FLL Tuesday night and I AM stressing!!

I would seriously keep checking on that. Last news report I saw said it could affect flights well into Tuesday.

Hopefully they will get their act together sooner, rather than later.

I am still shaking my head at the lack of leadership and preparation this whole thing has shown!!

Fingers crossed for you that all will go smoothly!!

You’d think the busiest airport in the world would have somesort of backup power system. Over 1000flights cancelled, affecting air travel throughout the country. Passengers forced outside, standing infreezing rain for hours. Otherpassengers stuck in the trams between terminals had to be rescued by firefighters. They’re hoping power will berestored by midnight – still gonna be a massive mess tomorrow. My heart goes out to all those travelers.

Just another reason to travel at least a day early and have Trip insurance. You never know....

We have a flight leaving from Michigan, stopping in Atlanta on the way to FLL Tuesday night and I AM stressing!!

Check with your airline now to see if they are allowing changes in the flight without extra costs.

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We have a flight leaving from Michigan, stopping in Atlanta on the way to FLL Tuesday night and I AM stressing!!

I’d be booking new flights right now at the fully refundable rate.

If you don’t need the flight, just cancel and get the refund.

If you do use them, turn in the receipts for insurance refund.

All those people who got bumped off flights need to book new flights. Many, many years ago was in a similar situation during a NE power outage and got stuck in Pittsburgh. Luckily got a hotel and around midnight called the airline for a new flt the next day. Wouldn't even check out of my hotel the next day until I knew the airport had finally reopened. People on my shuttle back to the airport were surprised that they needed to book new flights and they couldn't just continue. They didn't realize the flights leaving were already booked. Hope the people at Atlanta do this.

You’d think the busiest airport in the world would have somesort of backup power system. Over 1000flights cancelled, affecting air travel throughout the country. Passengers forced outside, standing infreezing rain for hours. Otherpassengers stuck in the trams between terminals had to be rescued by firefighters. They’re hoping power will berestored by midnight – still gonna be a massive mess tomorrow. My heart goes out to all those travelers.

They do have a backup...according to a report I read on CNN the substation fire was so intense it also took out the redundancy system.

CNN is reporting a fire that destroyed two airport substations incl the redundancy system. They hope to have it resolved by midnight. That would be amazing if they can get it up and running again by then....

It doesn't take much to shut down our infrastructure sometimes, does it? :rolleyes: You would think that they would have better plans in place. I feel very sorry for all of the holiday and cruise vacation travelers. We left this morning from Tampa with a layover in St. Louis, and thankfully, we were not affected.

This is why you get trip insurance.

May or may not cover something like this. It's not weather related, and it's not common carrier related.

I have two policies from two different companies for upcoming cruises and I'm not convinced either of them would cover this.

One of them, TravelGuard bought through Costco, doesn't even cover mechanical delays by a common carrier. I wouldn't recommend them now that I've researched it a bit more.

A single point of failuredoes not a redundant system make....

Hopefully they've learned their lesson, but it doesn't help thepoor people who spent hours on the tarmac or had to sleep in the airport. Could take days to get all flights back to normal. I feel so sorry for all those folks who've had their travel/vacation plans disrupted. Monetary reimbursement from travel insurance is nice (if lucky enough to have it) but doesn't make up for all the inconvenience.

CNN is reporting a fire that destroyed two airport substations incl the redundancy system. They hope to have it resolved by midnight. That would be amazing if they can get it up and running again by then....

So they place the redundancy system physically close enough to be damaged by the fire in the main system? I don't get that.

It's certainly been an unfortunate mess of those flying home from cruises. :(

So they place the redundancy system physically close enough to be damaged by the fire in the main system? I don't get that.

I wondered about that myself. Maybe more to be disclosed about how this whole event occurred??

Reality Check

While this is a major PIA, in reality, when was the last time something like this happened at ATL?

Should this have been foreseen? I don't know, I'm not an engineer.

Was the possibility foreseen, the design people asked for more money and the tax payers voted it down? I don't know.

I do know that tax payers always want stuff done on the cheap and then get upset when something goes wrong.

This is exactly why I never, ever fly in on the day of my cruise.

I can relax knowing I have at least a day between.

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