Staying overnight in Atlanta

[tnt]

We are checking flight options for our trip in December. One option is to fly from Chicago to Atlanta arriving at 9:30 p.m. with our flight to MoBay leaving at 8:30 a.m. the next morning. We would stay overnight in Atlanta at a nearby hotel. Has anyone had trouble with this type of flight/travel? It will save us quite a bit of money compared to the US Airways flight we were going to take. Plus, I believe Delta does not charge for your checked luggage? My other question is does the airline keep our checked bags that night, or do we need to pick them up and recheck them in the a.m. for our flight to MoBay?

[JohnMon]

I just did this in April and it worked like a charm on the way down...Detroit to Atlanta. You do have to get your checked bags and recheck the next morning but that was not a hassle. We stayed at the Airport Marriott and the shuttles run every 1/2 hour from 5am to midnight and then every hour. I may be off a bit on the times but that is pretty close.

What I especially loved, was the time it took to get to the airport...about 10 minutes AND the fact that you get to Couples early enough to enjoy an entire day almost.

[Coloradojuli]

Johnmon ~ Did you have to request your checked luggage to be available or do they automatically have you pick them up knowing it is an overnight flight?

[bigwillie]

We are doing the exact same thing in July but leaving from DFW... We are going to stay at the Marriot Spring Hill because we can to the Sky Train to the convention center stop, walk down the stairs and across the street to the motel. The free breakfast in the morning, back on the sky train to the terminal and into Mobay by 10:30 am. I got most of my info on the hotel and sky train from tripadvisor. There is not a lot of info because it is a relatively new hotel and sky train service but never the less I was able to verify it all.

Having traveled to Couples numerous times we've found it is much better to arrive in Mobay in the morning and enjoy the majority of the day at the resort rather that spend our resort money for only a few hours...That is if we can't arrive before noon or save money/

[MikeMonica]

TNT, staying overnight in Atlanta is a great option. Monica and I do it every year. The one difference is that we drive to Atlanta and leave our car at the hotel. We have stayed at the airport Marriott before and enjoyed it. However this year we are going to stay at another hotel that is also operated by Marriott. Here's the website for Marriott.
http://www.marriott.com/default.mi

Check them out and you will find one or two that are cheaper and offer the same service to the airport. By the way, you will probably have to get your bags and recheck them in the morning for your overseas flight. Call Delta and verify.

Which Couples will you be going to in December? We'll be at CSA, hope to see you there.

[tnt]

Thank you for your input and responses. It helps to know this is a good option. We usually fly direct via Air Jamaica, but they discontinued our Chicago route!! We've flown USAirways in the past, but they've raised their prices AND charge for checked bags! So, this is new concept for us. I'm looking at staying at the Quality Hotel Conference Center, as they had a really reasonable price and great reviews on trip advisor. If you know anything bad about this one, I'd love to hear about it BEFORE we book it!! As for the checked bags, I called Delta this morning, and the lady said they would be checking our bags all the way through to MoBay. She wasn't certain if we would pick up our bags in Atlanta or not, but she said we could request to if we wanted to.

Mike & Monica...We will be at CSA also...Dec 5-12. Will we see you there?

[MikeMonica]

TNT, we will see you at CSA. We arrive the afternoon of the 11th and depart on the 19th. Looks like you will be buying the Bob Marleys on your final night. Come on over to the Meet-up at Couples CSA thread and look for the Dec 2010 group. I will be starting a list for everyone in a week or two. Post a picture and let us know a little about the 2 of you.

[tnt]

Our credit card company put a damper on this plan! They don't allow us to use our miles for an overnight layover flight! So, back to the drawing board to figure out our best option. We may decide to arrive a day earlier and stay in Montego Bay one night. I'll see you on the Meet-up at Couples CSA thread MikeMonica! We will be sure to have the Bob Marleys ready for you.

[JohnMon]

Johnmon ~ Did you have to request your checked luggage to be available or do they automatically have you pick them up knowing it is an overnight flight?

Sorry for the late response on this Juli but the answer is that we did NOT have to tell them anything about the luggage, it is automatic. It was as if we were flying on two one way flights. Very easy.

[mikayla73]

We're thinking of doing this for our Dec trip too. We found a great rate at Hampton Inn near the airport. Anyone ever stayed here? The Mariott's might be a good option too.

[AHammon]

Any Hampton Inn hotel is great!!!

[FerChitsNGiggles]

We are also going in December from Chicago. We have a direct flight to MoBay. I think it is on US3000, a charter plane. Might look into that option. We booked thru a TA.

[tnt]

Thanks for the info about US3000. We did look into that. Our credit card company will not work with them for our miles. We also did not like the return flight time. We don't want to leave the resort that early!! It's bad enough we even have to leave at all!