I found Seoul Incheon airport to be equally inconvenient. The inbound flight landed at one terminal with 60 minutes allowed for a connection at another terminal. The transit included using the people mover during rush hour and going through security. The security check-point required unpacking and re-packing the carry-on. The doors were about to close by the time required transit activities were completed.
In defense of Delta and Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson, the carry-on was force checked in Panama City, but didn't require retrieval in Atlanta before continuing onto another international flight. The immigration episode as a transit passenger was much simpler more seamless than the normal entry when coming home to Atlanta as the final destination.
A "polar" route was taken from Detroit to Hong Kong last November. I believe that the flight went fairly close to magnetic north. I began feeling bad after arriving in HKG that was later determined to be related to an ICD [defibrillator] program being washed and the device being reset to factory delivered condition. The manufacturer said that it was nearly impossible that the flight over the magnetic north would affect the device at 5 to 7 seven miles up. What happens to the instruments in the plane when flying in this area?
