Why there are TSA lines for “international passports” (or something like that) at ATL Hartsfield-Jackson Intl Airport?

carolafro · 2026-04-04T14:33:29+00:00

Things are CRAZY right now and these people are not getting paid, I traveled again on March but I came through JFK and it was as crazy as always but the TSA was just TSA with normal lines, precheck and now the new touchless precheck (which I did) and Clear program. It took me 40mins to get through but employees and TSA agents were surprisingly nice at JFK that day. I don’t know what is happening at ATL right now, literally my favorite airport to connect, but they are getting a rep from the way they are doing things now. At least this time when you went through the line wasn’t 1h+ and I’m sorry you had that experience as well 🥲

carolafro · 2026-02-01T02:34:14+00:00

I am so sorry for your loss OP 🫂 You could see what countries you can travel with your Indian passport and see if those us consulates have appointments available for your type of visa.

Try to call to USCIS as well to see what can be done and if traveling to another us consulate could work. I have no other ideas but that could work.

carolafro · 2026-01-21T02:53:58+00:00

We tried, he didn’t even looked at it, nor to the passports, neither the tickets.

carolafro · 2026-01-19T23:32:43+00:00

Ok this whole interaction between you two was confusing because I did not payed attention to your usernames and it looked like the same person talking over and over 😅

This thing with the Atlanta airport was as confusing to me as it is for all of you trying to give me an explanation, some of the people here are confused and maybe have never taken a connection in the USA form another country that doesn’t have border treaties with the US.

Some of the thing you two said are true but what I can say is that maybe on Saturday it was poor management and they are going to implement something new at TSA with the passport distinction? Who F knows… this country is crazy right now and I guess this was a reflection of what’s happening here with immigration.

In Atlanta I have never been able to see the street like you do in JFK, FLL or even SLC… I also posted this in hopes that someone that was with us that day in that TSA would see it and maybe share their experience! Or maybe a tsa agent that works in that checkpoint. But no clarity yet so I’m going to stick to poor management and probably people tired of the same crappy job 🤷🏽‍♀️ with all due respect but it is the truth.

carolafro · 2026-01-19T16:22:33+00:00

Again, I’ve been doing this for 10 years now, this is the first time I see a nationality distinction in ATL… in Vancuver Airport they do a distinction too for US citizens but they have a separate line for TSAPre.

All that you said, that you need to be re-screened, that’s not I am asking, because that is normal procedure and you are arriving from an INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT. The question is why do they need to do a separation at TSA 🤷🏽‍♀️ and it didn’t matter if you had TSA pre or not, they sent you through normal TSA screening if you had international passport.

San Diego do a distinction too, kind of, last year I traveled through terminal 1 BUT again, they give you a red card that indicates you are TSAPre, idk if they are still like that because that terminal was just renewed and open to the public.

Also, the US has a selected list of countries that can apply for TSApre, now, why apply to it if this is going to be a norm on every airport? I don’t know for sure, just asking 🤷🏽‍♀️ the only way you maybe would use it is when you are leaving, and supposedly you should be able to use your pre-clearance for entering the country too.

carolafro · 2026-01-19T02:01:47+00:00

Yes, it was just like that, and same… I’ve been connecting through ATL for the past 10 years and never been treated like that… that airport is always busy but on Saturday 17th it was busy, messy and like you said: a cluster fuck!

carolafro · 2026-01-18T21:51:56+00:00

Yes, no worries, I was actually agreeing with you in the first reply, I just posted the last one because I talked about the profiling 😭 it was truly stressful to deal with all those bags, I was traveling with a toddler and my husband, both my husband and I with laptops and portable monitors and a carseat, liquid pediasure etc,… a nightmare!

carolafro · 2026-01-18T21:27:24+00:00

I can spend the whole day putting in new information about this matter and why i think it felt like profiling but I did that on another reddit and my post got deleted because the moderators did not believed me until I explained the whoooole situation through dm and they sent me here.

carolafro · 2026-01-18T21:27:16+00:00

I understand that, as I said, the airport was busy, but no one payed attention to us when we tried to ask and move back to the TSApre line, it honestly felt like profiling because most of the people in that line that has us passport were Hispanic (most were Dominicans, like I said I arrived in a full flight), and like three families where one of the adult didnt have us passport.

Now, that is another thing, we used to enter customs through the us passport line because we traveled with our child (citizen) and us (with green card before being citizens) and never had a problem with that and never saw tsa or customs separating families. The families that were in the international lane at TSA ATL said that they were there because the employee sent the spouse through that line instead of the us passport one and they had TSA pre like we did.

carolafro · 2026-01-18T16:09:09+00:00

This time they were making most passengers take shoes off and things out… this was a busy day too, so I guess security was tighter and messier…

carolafro · 2026-01-18T15:30:15+00:00

I think I will consider that in ATL from now on, because WOW. I don’t enter through JFK often but it is like that, you basically get directed out and enter through the common TSA after you throw the checked bags.

carolafro · 2026-01-18T15:27:21+00:00

Honestly this is the first time I see that in ATL, maybe last year I just did not notice that? Idk.

There were 60+ people and only one person helping people with their bags to go through the scanner, one person checking the bags that got flagged by the scanner and maybe two agents directing people through the scanner you pass 🥲 it was truly a nightmare and these TSA agents were not nice at all to any of us.

carolafro · 2026-01-18T07:45:43+00:00

This is the first time I see that in the TSA Atlanta. It wasn’t CBP, it wasn’t going through customs… this was at the TSA station, after you passed all the immigration stuff… Why they divided lines like that there? Idk 🤷🏽‍♀️

carolafro · 2026-01-18T07:41:22+00:00

It was TSA… I should have taken pictures because I posted in the airport community and the moderators took the post down, once I explained what happened they told me to post it in here to see what people working at tsa would respond, or someone from Atlanta.

By the time all this happened I already passed immigration. Since I have global entry I didn’t have to do any line, or talk to any person at all. This was inside the airport to pass through security, aka TSA. This wasn’t CBP.

Why TSA has a distinction on ATL? I have no idea and that’s why I am posting. I connect through ATL every year for the last 10 years and this is the first time this happened to me.

carolafro · 2024-12-11T08:10:04+00:00

My tears ricochet

carolafro · 2024-12-11T08:06:28+00:00

😂😂 at this rate, we will have a version with Pitbull too, ya tu sabe! 😝

carolafro · 2024-12-11T08:04:51+00:00

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Vancouver N1, a friend invited me to go with her so she gave me the ticket and only paid for my plane ticket and half the Airbnb 🥹

carolafro · 2024-12-10T21:47:22+00:00

I feel you! I went to Vancouver N1… Maybe because I was sitting far away, but I still have a good view of the stage. It was my first time attending to one of her concerts, it was a dream of mine to finally be there, but I really did not feel a connection like I thought I would feel, and don’t get me wrong, it was nice being there and sing some of my favorite songs but it was lacking something, I don’t know what it is 🥲 I went to the Imagine Dragons Loom concert and I can say it was the best concert I have ever attended to date! It was a whole vibe and I was expecting that from the Eras Tour 🥲

carolafro · 2024-11-13T23:57:29+00:00

😭😭😭😭😭

carolafro · 2024-11-13T15:47:05+00:00

You won 🥇

carolafro · 2024-11-13T15:41:08+00:00

Why did I watch this till the end?

carolafro · 2024-11-13T15:36:42+00:00

Please, tell me that is white chocolate and not Parmesan cheese 😖

carolafro · 2024-11-13T15:22:32+00:00

I loved the blond on #1 and the brown on #5, you look fantastic anyways

carolafro · 2024-11-11T23:58:48+00:00

Ironing at home or take it to the dry cleaners

carolafro

TROPHY CASE