has anyone returned from Europe through Philly recently? Is the security backup still ugly? thanks!

It's also a long way from terminal F, where my flight gets in, to termainal A. Is there some sort of shuttle available in the airport?

My mother recently flew to Belfast, and had to connect in Philadelphia. Her connecting flight to Philly was cancelled because, as she was told, "there are too many flights booked into Philadelphia and air traffic control can't handle them all." She lost a day of her trip.

Hello Julies,
I'm sorry you had such a bad experience connecting in Philadelphia. I have flown three times from Tampa to London, Paris, and Rome and haven't had any problems. Maybe it has to do with the connection from and to Tampa; or the fact that I usually allow at least 2-3 hrs. for the connection.

In August 2003 I flew out of and into Phil on US Air going to and from Frankfurt. I was NOT connecting on my return. Immigration and customs was a nightmare. Several people missed flights. No airport staff to help w/ very little information. It was like a 4 walled holding cell w/ hot tempers and tired people just plain stuck and knowing nothing about what was happening or NOT happening. The announcement said their computers were down. Maybe they're always down?

BWI is wonderful!

Ann41: Ugh. Sorry to hear that about your mother's trip. That's my fear exactly. Now I'm wondering if I should switch to an earlier flight, which would get me to Philly 4 hours before my flight to Rome. A long wait, but it might alleviate some anxiety.

I agree w/ mdmom,

If you can go through BWI, it is much better than PHL.

((I))

sera - 1hr50 is plenty of time. Thousands of people make shorter connections each day flying to Europe. No need to worry this much.

<i>Author: Travelnut
Date: 07/05/2004, 12:09 pm
Regarding this advice from above:
Author: LarryJ
Date: 06/25/2004, 10:06 pm
Message:
&quot;When returning from Europe and connecting through PHL you need to do this:
Go outside the terminal building, walk about 1/4 mile and re-enter the main terminal as though you were not connecting but just starting out. Much much quicker than using the international security facility.&quot;

Is the point Larry is making that going through security by coming in from outside the terminal is faster/easier/less congested that going through security between passport/customs and next gate? and there are no repurcussions for handling it this way? (passing thru here in October).</i>

We did indeed use this tip on our return trip last October. I think we still didn't re-enter the terminal at the right place, though - we went downstairs, walked outside/alongside the terminal - there were 'hallways' overhead every so often - we went to the 2nd one, went up a stairwell and into what was probably just a different hall with connecting passengers going thru security. There was still quite a line but I'm sure it wasn't anywhere near as long as the one from our flight that we abandoned.
I think perhaps we should have stayed at ground level to go into the terminal in the manner LarryJ is describing.

I had a connecting flight in Philadelphia coming back from Paris just two days ago and nothing has improved at all. The line for security was very long and many people missed their connections. I have been through a lot of airports over the years and have never had this much trouble going through customs and getting my bags rechecked for the connecting flight. Atlanta, JFK, Dallas and all of the nightmare cities, including CDG were better than this. We just barely made our connecting flight and we started out with 2 1/2 hours to make the connection and our incoming flight was ten minutes early getting in. The lines, the poor signage and the rude employees who refuse to answer a question or provide directions made this a nightmare. I was able to keep my temper in check in spite of everything but it was still a nightmare and I will do everything possible to avoid US Airways and Philly in the future. I wish I had known about the tip to just go outside and check in at the domestic terminal as it would have saved a lot of stress and a mad sprint to make the connecting flight. Good luck to all of you who are already booked for a connecting flight through the internatiional terminal in Philadelphia as you will need all of the stamina and patience you possess to make it through.

I started this thread a year ago, and believe it or not I once again booked through Philadelphia on USAir. The fare was just too good to pass up and we had a voucher from the airline after I had written them last year to complain about our experience.

We just returned from Barcelona 3 days ago and actually our experience was quite a bit better this time.

There are still only 2 security machines to go through and passengers are still clueless about what is happening in this long hallway where you have to queue up to go through the screening. There are no signs up and really no employees helping out to direct passengers. If you go through this, stay to the left and don't think about walking around to the right to get ahead or bypass the line. That's the only time there is any evidence of airline employees. They shoo all the people who try this tactic back to the very end of the line. At least this time our wait was only 15 minutes or so. Perhaps we were lucky and happened to hit it at a slow time. Good luck to you. We only did it agin because I am cheap and USAir had a fare we couldn't touch elsewhere.

I will be coming through Philadelphia from Canada (Toronto) to transfer to a flight to Portland Maine in July. I will have an hour to make the transfer. Is this going to be a problem?
Many thanks,
sj
Should this also be on the US or Canada Board?

topping

sj - You will clear US immigration and customs in Toronto, so your flight into PHL is just like other domestic flights. What's being discussed in this thread does not apply to you.

I have a question. Is Newark airport an evil little airport like Philadelphia sounds like? I usually fly from Heathrow to Atlanta and then to Chicago or Omaha, depending on who I'm visiting, if not fly straight to Chicago. This time, though, I fly through Newark, and all this talk about Philadelphia has made me begin to worry about Newark.

Newark is okay. If you're flying Continental inbound on an international flight, you'll go through immigration and customs at Terminal C. After exiting customs, you can drop off bags. The closest security checkpoint is for gates 120-139, and it can be busy. But you can walk straight and there are further checkpoints that are often not as busy.

The bottom line is that it's not like PHL. Once you've cleared customs, you are already at the same spot as other passengers originating from EWR.

rkkwan-

Thank you so much! You have aleviated (sp?) so many fears!

Mat

Unfortunately I didn't see this post until after our return from Budapest, via Frankfurt to Philly. It's still a chaotic situation-the lines are long and at times, stood still. Of course it was impossible to find out why the line had stalled or when it would start to move again. Yes, our luggage did spend an extra night in Philly without us as it missed our connection which we probably would have too if our flight hadn't been delayed. IMHO, the Philadelphia airport should be avoided if at all possible when returning back to the US.

I connected in Philadelphia to Pittsburgh after a flight from Glasgow on USAir and didn't have any of the problems described above. Granted, the distances between terminals is a bit overwhelming, but Philly was nothing compared to when I landed in London Gatwick two weeks earlier. Talk about l-o-n-g lines! It took us more than an hour to get through passport control, and since it took us so long, they had taken our baggage claim number off the screen, so we had to go find our luggage. In Philadelphia, we were lucky, too, in that two of my traveling companions needed to connect to a commuter flight to State College and thought they had a 9-hour layover, but we landed an hour early and they were helped by the USAir people in getting through the lines and on the flight leaving an 1 1/2 after we landed. They made it home by 4 p.m., which was much better than the 12:30 a.m. they were anticipating, plus USAir didn't charge them for changning to an early flight.

I wonder if anyone has thought of sending a link to this thread to the Philadelphia newspaper. They always are on the lookout for an easy &quot;investigative&quot; report.
It would make good reading in Philadelphia...maybe better in BMI.

OK..so you had a less than happy experience in Philadelphia and because of that you now have decided that everyone else who connects through there will have the same experience????

&quot;several planes from Europe arrive at the same time...&quot; like this is some sort of unique international airport phenomenon that only happens in Philadelphia?

When you've traveled a little more perhaps you'll realize that your experience was hardly &quot;unique&quot; and is hardly a reason to tell everyone else to &quot;be ready.&quot;

And besides, if this really is the system in place at that aiprot how can you be even more ready for it than you were?

rkkwan: I guess I'm just a world-class worrier. My biggest fear is a weather delay in my originating airport or &quot;traffic congestion&quot; in Philly and I'll end up missing my flight to Rome.

How hard is it to get on an earlier flight the day of departure?

Auntlda - The long lines at the security for those arriving on an international flight, and connecting to a domestic one at PHL is well known and well documented. It's a systemic problem that's unique to PHL.

If there's not such persistent problem, people won't have to walk outside the terminal, out to the regular domestic security points. No such &quot;tips&quot; or &quot;tricks&quot; would be necessary if there is no specific problem with this airport.

twina and sera - All US airlines will let you standby for an earlier flight on the same day, for free. Standby means they'll let you on if there's room in the flight after everybody else has boarded. But to change to a different flight, then you have to pay change fee, often extremely high.

So, sera, you may try to get to the airport early and see if they can let you standby.

Question about &quot;standby&quot; status:
in order to go as 'standby' for an earlier flight, does that in essence cancel your reservations for the original flight?

Travelnut - If your standby clears, you get on the earlier flight. If not, then you go on your scheduled flight.

One can also standby for a latter flight on the same day. But if all seats are filled on flights before midlight, then you're stuck, on your own.

rkkwan: Thanks for the info!

One other thing about standby is luggage. If you have checked luggage, then it's &quot;messy&quot;. They need to find your bags, retag it, etc... Meaning good chance they won't get on the same flight as you or being lost altogether.

Topping this because there is some good info here.

Regarding standby, in my experience with USAir it's worked everytime I've attempted to use it. Be persistent, be friendly, dress appropriately and have carry-on baggage ONLY.

I just caught up to this thread again.. wanted to say 'thanks' to rkkwan for explaining about going 'standby'..

We might end up doing the standby route too. Been checking US Air's site this week to see when our flight to Philly has been arriving, and yesterday it was delayed and arrived 10 mins. before the plane to Rome was scheduled to take off. Just don't feel like taking a chance on losing a day in Italy!

Sera, I'm not an expert on this, but I think that if your trip to PHL and then on to FCO are on 1 ticket, they'd try very hard to get you on another plane that same day to FCO if you'd missed your flight b/c of them.

And it seems that the big jams are returning from Europe through PHL, not leaving US.

We came back through Philadelphia a couple weeks ago and the line wnet much smoother. Then, because I'd purchased the cheaper flight, we had a very long wait until our connecting flight. I asked if they could put us on an earlier flight home. They told me there would be room but that my luggage would be going on our original flight because it was rechecked through after we cleared customs. We were told to go to the gate and ask the agent there to make sure we could get on because that is the way they operate rather than having other agents book you ahead of time. We decided to go for the earlier flight despite the fact that our luggage would be on the original flight. Lo and behold as we were waiting to board (we did have to wait until all the other passengers were on board) my husband saw our luggage being loaded on the plane. Apparently their people assumed that we'd be on the first flight out to MSP despite the fact that our luggage was tagged for the later flight. So, if there is room, standby can work. it would not have worked for us on the way to Europe however because every seat on out flight to Philly was full.

We recently returned from Amsterdam via Dulles and it wasn't much better. I kept thinking, 'what do people from other countries think of this chaos'? It was a long, grueling, unorganized mess and didn't even seem that secure, either. We had over two hours till our next flight and barely made it.

MaureenB--

I couldn't agree more about what a horrible first impression this must make. Plus, we speak English. Think how intimidating this would be if youdidn't speak English.

When trying to fly standby, how long before flight departure should you get to the airport?

Wow - I'm worried now. We too are travelling via PHL and want to know how long it will take to go from Concourse A East to Concourse A West? Due to US Air changing our flight time, our 2 hour layover is now only 75 minutes. Also, we are considering trying to fly standby on our originating flight but there are six of us in our party. Any helpful suggestions would be welcomed. Thanks!

I think those concourses are not that far from each other. I have to go from concourse F to A: the entire length of the airport! And was just talking to someone who did the same trip who had to run fast as she could to make the plane to Rome. Ugh.

So, any tips on when to get to the airport to fly standby?

To fly standby, you need to be on the standby list at the gate. Gate agents usually don't show up at the gate until about 1 hour (sometimes 45 minutes) before flight time. That's when you want to be there.

rkkwan: Thanks! That's what I needed to know.

Just wamted to add that I called US AIr and they very graciously changed our originating flight -- free of charge-- so that we will arrive in PHL with about a 3 hour layover before our flight to London. I am so relieved -- now, I just hope there are no more new developments and that our plane and connections are on time. You all have me worried about flying US Air. Although PHL sounds chaotic, we had a time in Houston too.