Air Tran flight 8/9 aka: MEN! Scrub and moisturize your elbows!

So today was a pretty harsh Monday.

Flight departing at 8:50 required me to get up at 5:30 to leave at 6:15 because I had luggage to check. Well, I wake up at 4:30am and can't go back to sleep. So, not off to a good start already.

Security wasn't the champ it has been recently but pretty good considering how busy it was. I get to the gate 47 mins ahead of flight and ask about upgrade--no dice--all full.  I swear all one annoying family, two old people and one FAAAAAT guy. I'm all about letting the big fatties upfront!

So, there was no getting out of my middle seat, but at least it is exit row.  I actually don't mind the middle seat as long as my neighbors are courteous and realize that those arm rests are mine! (see previous blogs)

Well, my neighbor to my right, the window, was, please picture this, a cross between every adult male image of an Amish man mixed with Gandalf dressed as a cowboy. Seriously.  He was TALL. Like 6'5" and had huge hands and was reading the biggest scariest boringest textbook on the Stone-Caldwell Movement.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Latter_Day_Saint_movement

Now you could tell he was reading it for his own personal edification and I'm all for reading so I'm not knocking it exactly but for me, YAWN.
Now what was super interesting about Zeke was that he traced the words with his finger and when he found something he felt deeply about he'd nod his head solemnly in a "yes! I knew it. That's right!" in a deep, long held conviction sort of way. He did this the whole time. Now what was just exceptional was that I noticed him looking out the window as we started to descend for landing. A moment later the fasten seat belt light came on and he nodded approvingly at that too!!! I wish the captain could have seen it.

Well, Nebucanezzer there had a long sleeve shirt on. Of course he did and I'm glad tootin' he did. Cause Paddy to my left sure didn't.

Paddy, so named because of his irish ruddy and freckly complection (ok, he looked like me!) was the typical male traveler in that he S-P-R-E-A-D-S out no matter how big he is. He was only standard height and weight, say 5'10' and 190ish but he thinks his balls are massive and does not know how to close his legs slightly at all. I'm a big girl and my thighs sure spread but not all of me and I do fit into my seat. He could if he tried but just likes to let it all hang outwards in a < > direction.
While this is all bad enough, the real problem is that he kept hurting me. Ok, kept equals 2-3 times which isn't bad considering how he spreads but seriously, it can all be avoided with good bodily care. Men, if you have dry rough skin on your elbows take care of it.  There are things called Loofahs. There are files if that isn't enough. And of course moisterizer. Go to a spa. And not the happy ending kind. A real spa.
I swear Paddy hasn't seen sunscreen or moisturizer in his life. At one point I had to check his left hand to see if he is married.
Yep.
Wives, TELL THEM! I know it bugs you too!
Dude seemed totally clueless.

So, other things about my flight: approx 5-7 rows up was quite the cast of comedians. I could never hear a damn thing said just the riotous laughter and it was so annoying. I want to know the funny stuff or shut up you lot! Seems they were so damn funny that one of the flight attendants stood talking to them for a good 20 minutes in everyone's way while people were coming and going to the bathroom just hootin' it up!
OH! This stewardess--picture Tootie from the Facts of Life mixed with Sideshow Bob! OMG her hair was a total fright-wig like Sideshow Bob!

Now, if my photoshop
skills were better I'd be able to make Tootie tall like Bob, give her hair like Bob, keep her black skin and great smile and of course no belly or dagger needed. But alas you'll need to close your eyes and picture this.


So, that was my morning 2.6 hours of my day. How was yours?

Congrats Denver (DIA)!!!!

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-10-best-airports-in-america-2010-2#no-1-detroit-metropolitan-dtw-10


And where oh where is ATL to be found on the best and worst list? Go find out.

The only one I really disagree with is PHX. I hate Phoenix's airport! ugh.

Flight 303 to where else Denver 7/26/10 Air Tran

I couldn't get an upgrade to Business Class--all full--looks like I will have to keep paying for them, at least until Summer is over. With everyone trying to escape the 105+ heat index of Hotlanta the planes are all full.

Last week's flight was seriously unbearable. I was thinking that you just cannot work in coach. I was so squished and could hardly type. So, I made sure I booked an exit row to just have more room for the laptop if nothing else. I got some work done on email and calendar appointments but cannot do the real work that I needed to do as there is a problem with the server, so I'm kind of stuck.

Good time to blog!

The exit row seats, especially when you only have one row of them are ideal, as far as coach goes. The people in front of you can't recline but I have plenty of room for me and my laptop. Which by the way is only a 15 inch laptop but does have an extended battery thing out the back which takes up more space. So, I guess I'm saying that if I can't be in business I'll need to keep booking exit row only.

But I usually get the aisle seat and I'm starting to rethink that. I love having the ability to jump up at the end of the flight and not have to bug anyone when I want to get up, so there are benies for sure, but today I really suffered on the end.

1) EVERYONE and I do mean everyone of all sizes, walked down the aisle the regular way, so each person bumped into me while they were boarding or when they got up for the bathroom. Being constantly bumped is no fun. But seriously people unless you are a pre-pubescent thin as a rail 10 year old girl (aka no hips) you are too big to walk normally. You need to walk kind of sideways, almost like a crab to get down these tiny aisles. And since I'm sitting on the aisle I can see that they are just hitting everyone as they go by. I know it isn't personal but it is so rude. I walk sideways. I have no misconceptions about how I would bump people if I didn't. So, let this be everyone's wake up call: YOU ARE NOT AS NARROW AS YOU THINK! And particularly not as narrow as the sadists who design these airplanes think everyone should be.

2) So, pre-takeoff when I cant work I read my book and listen to the free XM radio. Well today I got tired and put my book down to snooze a bit till they announced I could go online. Just after the sweet few moments of that point where you kinda know you are falling asleep and drifting off to happy land I get touched on the arm by the attendant. I wake up thinking Why the frick are you waking me? I know I did nothing wrong, etc. Well, she's "asking" me to hold the demonstration bag for the security theater demonstration they do. I say "asking" because she didn't give me a choice. Anyway, I look around and wonder why did she wake me to do this? Ask the guy next to me who is awake!! After that of course I couldn't fall back to sleep and now am very tired but not sleepy. Oh well.

Security theater and rude people. That's what airlines are all about nowadays.

Hmmm. Someone's been "reading" my blog

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2010-07-22-airplaneetiquette22_CV_N.htm



And no one asked me for permission or to comment.  ;-)

Theme change?

Should this blog's theme be changed to "annoying people who travel"? If so, I must include myself! :)

Got great feedback from Nolan that this blog is more about noticing how annoying people are and hopefully trying to minimize your annoying self when traveling.

I must admit that since I am not carrier hopping or shopping anymore it is really the Delta and AirTran show and I guess I've said all there is to say for you all to think about when buying tix.

For those of you who haven't read those old posts and won't but want to know the bottom-line: I only fly Delta because they fly a lot of places overseas and I want to use my FFmiles for that, particularly on AirFrance--cause it RULES.

However, it is a lot of hassle, rudeness and drudgery every week for months or years to rack up those points for your once every few year's vacation overseas, so just weigh that into your decision.

Hasta for now. Don't forget--comments on posts are strongly encouraged.

thanks new readers!

FYI--lost and found pix

I took some pix of the Denver Airport but somehow lost them so will re-shoot this week. Now that this is published I'm a bit more motivated to get to the airport early, though I'm loathe to be there one minute longer than I need to in general. :)
(ahem Miss Mary--1.5 hr wait!) Wish I knew my pix were lost then.

UPDATE: found em! Here ya go!

                                        This is my FAVE sign in all of DIA. I want to know where to pick my enemies up.

TURN OFF YOUR SCREENS

This is a command and a plea to people on flights with the in seat screens:

IF YOU ARE NOT WATCHING THE TELEVISION, TURN THE DAMN THING OFF!!!

I do not understand people at all. On my last Delta flight the in board tv/movie/games service would not reboot (bad for Linux) and no one could figure it out.

So, of course I turned off my screen. I looked all around me and even when I went to the bathroom approximately 98.5% of people let their screens keep flickering every of couple of seconds through Delta's adds.

Only after I had my screen off and my neighbors were having difficulty sleeping did they think to copy me and turn theirs off too. I think I saw 3 others total off and those 3 had no influence on their neighbors either.

WTF is up with people? Why would people want to see this flicker every couple of seconds for 2.5 hours? Could they really not have seen the power button? Could they not have been bothered by it? How could they ignore it, truly ignore it, for 2.5 hours? Could they be so clueless and unimaginative to try to find a power button?

I've seen idiocy on Frontier for the same thing except Frontier doesn't have a power button. The user there has to figure out to lower the brightness level down to 0.

So, is it me or are Delta customers imbeciles?

Recent Delta Flights

Even though I am elite on AT, I keep trying to fly Delta 1x per month to keep my points up and it looks like I'll get Silver Medallion after next flight, though, besides for free bags, there is not much reason. Silver gets you nada, esp in ATL.

So, last week I was on Delta both ways and both were interesting.

Crew to Den were all based in Detroit. At least one if not several had some sort of accent, kind of hard to discern but I settled on French. I sat in the exit row and instead of the attendant quizzing each row individually (there were 4 rows total) about the willing and able to assist stuff, the guy asked us all at once and basically only listened to row nearest him and took off.

Then, for descent, they announced that we'd be landing shortly but never came around after that to get trash, make sure that all seats and tray tables were up, appliances off, etc. There were a bunch of us who looked around as were were about to land like "OMG, I could have kept my table and seat down and my IPod on the whole time and they wouldn't know!" The crew totally didn't care which was amazing. That or they all thought someone else was doing the work. Maybe they were all on strike mid-flight.

For the return to ATL flight again the attendants were Detroit based (no discernible accents this time) and though not as lackadaisical they too did not feel they were the Nazi enforcers that most attendants do nowadays, particularly Delta employees.

Two theories on this:
1) The Detroit crew really has different standards or work ethic. If so, why? What is it about Detroit that makes them so casual? Could it be that since ATL is homebase they get more training here? Could it be that Detroit just realizes that there are bigger fish to fry? Maybe since their economy has been in the tank for so long their priorities have totally changed/reset? Could it be that Detroit is really more the norm and that just ATL staff are evil because living in ATL sucks so much and it just gives everyone a nasty attitude?

2) While 1 has a lot of interesting regional and cultural implications that hopefully are worth talking about, I think my 2nd idea is more likely: Attendants work by seniority which means that maybe it is a different level of seniority working this summer. As mentioned in past blogs the vibe on delta flights sucks as their are so many medallion members that they expect a lot and have a bitchy entitled attitude. Well, that has actually been reduced this summer. I don't know why but maybe just having more leisure travelers on board has changed the vibe. Security has sucked more everywhere as no one is enforcing the expert lane and there are just too many people who have no idea how to travel going through security so the vibe there sucks but on board it has actually been very nice. So, I think that the less senior attendants are working and are just happy to get hours and because there is no "I DESERVE THE WORLD" attitude on board the attendants are actually being more patient and helpful. So, the really interesting socio-cultural question in this one is why would the more senior attendants all have bad attitudes? Burnt out? Overdue to retire or use those great benies for a nice trip of their own?

AT 6/28 flight 306: Elite gets you nada

So, yesterday at home was super busy and I did not realize that I did not get my usual email from AT 24hrs before flight. Realized only after I had gone to bed and was setting my alarm. At that point I couldn't be bothered but now wish I had. I need to find out if this was a glitch or what happened to the email. I want to have a fighting chance at the upgrade.

Business is full or was because people got upgraded. Got to airport in plenty of time for flight but not to get upgraded I guess. Security was really busy this am. Got to gate around 8:20ish and it was too late to do anything.

So, now I'm stuck in 19c, the row behind the exit row, and I'm cramped. Can hardly work. Guy in front of me got up to go the bathroom and noticed I was working and has not put his seat back again which is nice. Wish I had my camera to ask the lady next to me to take a picture of how I had to work until he sat upright.

For this flight the passengers are nice but the head flight attendant is a nazi.
Everytime I'm in Business they allow people from coach up to business's bathroom but not when I'm in coach. Very interesting.

Also, in coach there is no where to put your laptop while waiting to use it. So, you must either wait until they release the seat belt restrictions or have it under your seat. If under seat and not in a sleeve it slides all around. So, basically I need 2 computer bags which is ridiculous.

AT is serving jasmine tea nowadays which is awesome but if you just order tea you have no idea what you'll get. They just randomly give you a bag. Had this happen on 2 AT flights.

Difficulties in Durango

A lot of my flights have been short recently and/or don't have internet available. My last flight last week had internet and I had 2 laptops but funnily enough both were dead. Guess that's what happens when you let someone borrow a charger and then spend the next two days unsuccessfully juggling one charger for 2 laptops when you are never really around your computer because you are too busy putting in face time and putting out fires.

So, here's the story of a day trip to Durango CO.

Normally, whenever I travel, I carry around some basic necessities like toiletries, toothpaste and toothbrush as well as a change of underwear. Sometimes I feel like a major tramp if my bag is open in public as it seems that my comfy cotton pink panties are flashing a neon sign saying I'm easy and cheap even though it would take Psych or House to notice them.
Anyway, normally I'm traveling across country where anything can happen, many delays, spills in lap, bad airport food, etc. Is that a nice enough way to say that shit happens, sometimes literally?
Since I have 2 home bases really I don't need to pack much in clothing. Sometimes I carry 1 change of clothing with me too, but always the underwear.

Well, this day was special. I, along with 2 co-workers, were going from Denver to Durango just for the day to make a presentation. The agenda was like this: leave hotel in Englewood at 630am to make an 8:15am flight. Flight to be 1 hr long. Goal: not to sit with my coworkers at all as the hour apart would be most welcome and be able to look out window to see the rockies. After landing, our host was to pick us up and drive us around the scenic way until we got to our destination of fire station where we'd do our presentation. Afterwards, work with team, then take another scenic drive and get back to airport by 4pm for the 5pm flight.

As it always happens, within 15 mins of arriving at the airport we learn that Denver is having a really bad and weird storm and flights are delayed. At first the flight was delayed in departure till 6:15. So, the team and I think, ok, we can go to the cafe, grab a beer and get some work done for an hour and a half. So we do and they actually have a good beer on tap brewed in Durango so all is well.
Then we hear at 5:45 that the flight is delayed again till 7:15 due to tornadoes and hail storm in Den. So, ok, what's another 1 hr delay right?

So, now at this point I've been in a car or room with my co-workers since 6:30. It is now hitting the 12 hr mark, but I only have 1 hour more to go, then I get the delicious alone-ness of the plane. So, I escape for a bit outside to see some more pretty scenery no matter how sparse it is, it is better than inside.

My savvy reader you can probably see where this is going. The cafe kicks us out at 6:30 stating that they were supposed to close at 6pm even though the airport is packed with people all in the same boat, increased revenue from this be damned, they are going home. Then the flight gets delayed till 8:30. We are now roaming the hallways and looking at the candy machines thinking "thank god I ate, even if it was tacos and chili" (tasted good but yep, as scary as it sounds on the other end) at least I'm not reduced to fritos and snickers bars. "

Well, it wasn't all bad. Durango is beautiful! Even if I did spend most of my time at the airport.

June 13th Air Tran flight from ATL to DEN

Wow. I can't believe that I haven't blogged in such a long time. Here's why:

Week of 5/17: can't remember that far back

Week of 5/24: Really busy week including trip to Durango CO which I'll blog about separately.

Week of 5/31: Memorial Day: This day began a multi-week trip. Shouldn't have to travel on the holiday but it was better for me since the Thursday I would normally come home instead I went to SLC. Spent 6/3 night thru morning of 6/7 in SLC with my bestest family friends in the whole world. Wow what a weekend that was. I could write and write about the family, the graduation, the bbq party, the birthday party, how I am not meant to handle 7 kids aged 5-23 and a visiting grandma and great-grandma, how it took all of my patience and how it probably added 5 years of wrinkles due to lack of sleep, but instead I'll focus on something seeming miniscule but more appropriate to this theme.

Two people in SLC asked me this question when they heard about my job: "I bet you are being paid a ton of money for this job, right?"
This was not a hypothetical question.
They waited for replies.

Dear reader, what on earth should one say to that?

No one ever prepped me for this. Humility would say to answer yes as by most standards I am. It certainly is the most I've ever made in my life. But, seriously, really, you ask a total stranger that? In the company of other friends and acquaintances? Really? Do you ask people their age and how much they weigh? Do you ask them about politics and religion too when you first meet them?

Ok, now one was a child and no one expects an 11 year old to know exactly what is appropriate and proper, but the other was a 30+ year old!

I am used to a lot of people saying things like how I can give them my Frequent Flyer miles and even some questions about how my husband and I are doing dealing with this job, but straight up "do you make a lot?" just threw me. (this pic was not taken while on said trip to UT but I thought the face fit. LOL)

Is it me? Am I the only one censoring myself? Is it people in SLC? Are they going to say I should donate or tithe to the LDS church? Are they just not taught what is appropriate?

Well, I am now sure that I will be asked again by someone and I want to be prepared. I am very direct and truthful in general. I do want to say that I am paid well but not be boasting, nor do I want to be dis-honest, but most of all I want a way to put an end to the discussion tactfully. I need the ability to make the person feel like it is not right to ask that but I'm not mad at them or anything, just skillfully side stepping the question.

Dear readers, do not make me write to a women's magazine about this, but I do know it is that type of question. I just did a quick but limited Google search on this and I found a lot of "how to ask the right questions" and "what to say in a job interview" or "how to answer what is your salary requirement" type questions. That is the closest but as you can see not what I need.

So, any thoughts welcome.

Always go with your gut

Well, it is only 9:42 and I've had some life affirming lessons all before 930. On a Monday!

My fave taxi driver dropped me off in good stead. I had over 1 hr before we started boarding. I do my normal quick way through ATL security, zoomie zoomy, and I'm at the T gates. There are boards immediately after to check your flight before you get on the train. Well, I almost always check that but there was such a crowd I couldn't be bothered. I had checked the board before security just 20 mins-ish ago.

My gut told me "you'll regret that".

Well, I got on the escalator and down to the train and checked the board there. My flight was not on the board. I thought that odd but proceeded to B anyway. I got off at the B terminal and check the board again. Of course. My gut now says told ya! It says that my flight is now going out of T-3.
For those of you who don't know ATL, I was approx at T-9 when I started.

So, back down the escalator to the train. Oh and now I'm surrounded by the Florida Gator track team. I'm thinking: you wankers--you could beat the freaking train, probably at a slow sprint for you--stop crowding me!
Anyway, T is a very civilized terminal. Not as crowded. Better shops, definitely more peaceful so I'm thinking this isn't so bad. Not as good as the international terminal of E but definitely better than A-D.
But now I have only 25 mins before we board and still need breakfast and coffee. I know T well enough to know that I can get Starbucks but may have to eat at Starbucks too because there is not a lot of food choices.

Well, I find a too good to be true looking place: only 1 person in front of me, big selection of fresh and mostly healthy looking options, etc. Long story short on this one; got the egg and bacon croissant. Took one bite while waiting for my cappuccino and could tell that something was not quite right. But like a hungry dummy kept eating. By the 3rd mouthful I knew it was the bacon. Since then I've been telling myself, it was just a few bites--toughen up you wussy stomach. So far it has held. Which is good because I'm in a middle seat.



BTW: middle seats are not so bad if you have good neighbors. My guys today are alright. I may actually be better off in the middle seat as my back has been in a much straighter position. So, while I like the end for the sense of space and getting up whenever I want, I now realize it is worse for my back.
Why does this belong in a blog about going with your gut? I was thinking of trying to change my seat. If I had gotten here earlier I would have, but something in me just said, whatev, don't bother.

The final lesson was in the delta in seat trivia games: as long as I go with my gut and my finger can actually touch the right damn button I always win or come in the top 3. I eventually had to turn off the game because I was frustrated with the pushing of the game thinking I chose a different answer than I did. These screens are odd. But I do enjoy it when others around me are playing and they don't know I am watching them. I like watching their faces contort and how they have to fight to click the right button too. I know that means there could be someone watching me too but I try to ignore that. ;-)

Frontier--bunch of luddites

So, in a couple of weeks I am taking a Frontier flight from Denver to Durango just for the day for work.
Which is kinda cool in that it makes me feel like a real jet-setter but the bad thing is I'd like to spend a while in Durango and have to leave within the day. :( Murphy's law.

Anyway, Frontier, as readers will know, has always been good to me prior to this. In person that is.

I made resv on their website. They offer 3 tiered pricing. For that short of a flight I should have bought the economy but the mid-level only cost like 40 more and I thought, what the hell, I'll get to pick my own seat, get tv, etc. But when I finished buying the ticket and it was time to choose the seat, the website kept crashing and would not let me pick my seat no matter what I did.

So, I wrote to customer service immediately about it saying that if I couldn't book my seat I wanted my money back and would fly the economy tier.

6 DAYS LATER, I get an email response. I'll post it here:
Dear Lauren Drabble,

Thank you for contacting Frontier Airlines Online Customer Service.

Please note: New or existing reservations, ticket or schedule changes, flight information or general travel questions must be handled by telephone: 800-432-1359 (24 hours a day / 7 days a week). We do not provide Reservations support via e-mail at this time.

We look forward to welcoming you aboard your future Frontier Airlines flights.

Sincerely,

Customer Service
Frontier Airlines

Well, I promptly wrote back and said "I wish I knew that 6 days ago!"

Everyday since that email came in I've called the number listed and everyday "call volume exceeded normal call levels" and my wait time was a minimum of 9 minutes all the way up to 29 mins.

DUH--your website crashes and your email customer service doesn't do anything so of course your call volume is high.

Since I travel so much I thought I'd just see if the ticket agent could help me. Time in line: 2 mins
Time for her to get me my seat, less than 2 mins

So, in person Frontier rocks but don't expect anything more than cavemen in customer service and the decision makers/ "visionaries" of the company.

Sweaty sardine--Delta flight 2016 5/14/10 --and what fun you can have in air with your laptop.

So, I'm stuck in coach as I always am, especially in Delta as you are lucky to be #62 on the upgrade list for the measly 2 open seats in Business nowadays.

The crew is actually nice but everyone is so packed in that the gentleman next to me (and I don't use that term loosely, he really is a gentleman) can't help but sometimes having his leg touch my leg and I don't realize it till my leg feels all clammy.

EWWW.

And this is only May. It is going to get a lot worse with the heat/humidity in ATL. Denver is luckily still anywhere from 50-70 degrees most days.
And we had snow this week. Snow in May! wow.

Well, this plane pretty much stinks as in the seats are too close, you can hardly use your laptop because there is almost not enough room (if the guy in front of me reclines I'll have to put away laptop) and they have the old fashioned tvs that fall from the overhead. As far as amenities go, it is pretty lame but I actually prefer it that way. As I can ignore it better and get some things done.

Going back to the gentleman: he offered to sit in the middle because my kind of rude neighbor who was in the middle seat sort of bullied him into switching with her so she could work. Now she's sitting there cackling watching the New Adventures of Old Christine and not working at all.

Makes me realize that I bet I act like her a lot and it is ugly, nasty and negative. :( I am going to try to remember her and not act like that, to anyone, ever.

A bit later in the journey, the gentleman next to me wanted to get up to go to the bathroom. I am working on this computer so I just grab the computer while open and grab my ipod and headphones and pull them to my sizable chest, stand up, and let him by.

Well, unbeknownst to me, and no idea how I did it, I somehow turned the screen sideways.

You know how you can rotate the screen on your phone and then rotate it back just by turning it (and I guess the new IPad too??) Well, this is NOT an IPad and it did not rotate back no matter what I did.
Mr. Gentleman tried to help but to no avail.
I had a couple of co-workers on the flight so took my laptop to the nearest. Well, this certainly was a new puzzle to him too. Luckily for me, the man behind him could see my screen, hear the story and knew how to fix it. It was hidden in the advanced settings of the display of the computer. Again, I have no idea how anyone could have done this by accident, but if it can happen, it can happen to me. It is ironic really as I'm supposed to work with computers and all I can really do is freak them out, always unintentionally.

If anyone ever needs a computer or whole network to act like a monstrous solar flare just zapped it from less than 10 feet away, give me a call. I am definitely for rent!

Connections

I've seen or at least talked to far too many people who don't know enough to schedule a lot of time when making connections. Let me make this perfectly clear: unless you are going to a podunk airport with only 4 gates, you need to schedule a LOT of time between flights. In ATL the bare minimum is 2 hrs.

I know it is sad but it is the way of this world.

All things are designed to make you give up your time and money at the airport. If I could think of another way around this I promise to share it. In the meantime, it is what it is.

Another thing you can do to help make your connections is to look at the airport map and study it. If you aren't scrambling around in your connecting airport you'll save yourself a lot of frustrations.
Most airports have a train or shuttle of some sort go get between terminals and usually that really is the easiest way to connect.

Another idea is to talk to your seat neighbors and make it clear that you are late for a connection and be so bold as to tell them you need to get out of the plane pronto. You can also switch seats with people upfront too.

Another idea is this, but I warn you it only works if you get a nice and helpful employee: ask them if they can call ahead to your gate and tell them you are coming and to hold the plane. This most often will not work, but it is worth a shot.

In case you are wondering why it is a minimum of 2 hrs in ATL it is this: flights are often very delayed to get in and often change gates. If even one of these happen and you are sure to be at least running through the airport like a bad movie and be super stressed or miss your flight. Flights in ATL are never on schedule. ;-)