Hi:
I have heard horror stories about connecting through US Air's PHL hub ; does anyone have a recent experience good or bad? We plan to travel in December from BOS-PHL-LGW return (Business Class FF). Is it that bad, would it be advisable to connect through Charlotte istead? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks! Noel. V.

We've done it (DCA-PHL-LGW) and had no problems whatsoever. We gave ourselves a couple of hours between flights to be on the safe side.

I have never connected in PHL, but I think as long as you know on your way back, after getting out of customs and dropping off your bags, you CAN get out of the international terminal first and then walk outside to your departing terminal. The "horror" seem to imply only to the security screening posts that most international arrivals use to connect to domestic flights.

Thanks emc and rkwan. I appreciate your insight and the tip about exiting international to make connections.

I came through PHL returning from Rome last week. There is a new international wing since the last time I made a nightmare connection through there (in 2003) and it is much improved, though it seemed a longer distance to walk to the domestic gates.
My flight was late, so there were no other planes arriving at the same time (all international arrivals are scheduled for around 3 p.m.) and the trip through immigration and customs was very quick. The walk from the arrivals hall to the other terminals was really long, but the security screening area was much improved over the old bottleneck arrangement and there was no line at all. That could be a result of my flight's late arrival, but the set-up seemed better (more screening gates, better line management) than what I remember from 3 years ago.
It was under 40 minutes from getting off the Rome flight to arriving at my next gate in Terminal C.
In short, PHL is not as bad as it used to be, so choose Charlotte only if it offers better price or schedule.