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????

"several planes from Europe arrive at the same time..." 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 "unique" and is hardly a reason to tell everyone else to "be ready."

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 "traffic congestion" 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 "tips" or "tricks" 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 "standby" 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 "messy". 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.