a young friend of mine is flying from bangor through philly to atlanta on usair. he has never flown or traveled out of maine before.
his plane lands at phl at 8:47am at terminal F. he departs from terminal B at 9:35am. is there some/any chance that he can make this connection??
i have looked at terminal maps and see that he'll need to get on the train. yes?
any suggestions? any at all? this seems like a very fast connection in what i recall is a very large airport...
tia

I would say his odds a fair. It is a good distance, but if the planes are on time he should be in good shape.

I fly often, especially through Philly, and can say it is the worst airport I have ever experienced. I have probably flown through PHL 30-40 times in the last few years and my flights have been on time perhaps 7 or 8 times. Sometimes I am delayed for hours, even when the weather is decent.

So... with the problems they have... anything can happen.

PHL is also notorious for LONG waits at security and between F and B you can easily get stuck having to go through screening again. However, just recently they opened up a new screening system that seems MUCH quicker so perhaps this is a concern of the past.

Having a morning flight helps. The delays tend to build up as the day moves along. I, unfortunately, usually need to travel in the afternoon or night. When I can, however, I travel in the morning since they seem to be more on time then.

So... based on the early flight and some recent changes I think he has a fair shot. It is just really hard to say because it is such a poorly managed airport.

I'm always surprised to hear about how much people hate PHL. I've flown through there a bunch of times myself, probably 30 times in last 10 years, and I've rarely ever had a problem there - though I admit I've never connected through PHL. It's always an arrival/departure. I've never had a long security line that I can recall. I greatly prefer PHL to, say, EWR, which I find almost overwhelming.

I do think, virginia, that your friend will need to go back through security, because as I recall F is not connected to the other main concourses, unless they recently changed that. I would check with USAir to see if they have any sort of "security" shuttle between concourses, as some airports do (SFO for example does), that allows you to get from place to place without re-screening. Since PHL is a major hub for USAir, they ought to know the answer to this question easily.

thanks shandy and andrew. yes from the map F is disconnected. i will phone usair and see what they have to say about any "security" shuttle.

I do believe that terminal F is now connected to the rest of the terminals. They opened the new section in December and added many more security checkpoint also.
No more need to go outside to get from F to the other terminals and certainly no train is involved.

well i've phoned phl. i'm told he is not to exit securtiy area, but go to information desk where he will be put on a bus to B.
thanks for all the advice.

They opened up the connection, but rather than walking, if he goes to the desk in F, he can get on a bus that will go to B/C.

Terminal F is like a "Y"... whichever side he comes in he will want to go to the spot where the split happens... the road forks... you get it. There is an information desk there. There are doors leading outside and decently sized signs about the shuttle to the other terminals.

I don't remember exactly where it lets out (B or C?), but it is by the "Au Bon Pain" so if you find that on the airport map, that is where the bus lets you out.

This is my least favorite connection in Philly and I unfortunately have to do this about 6 times per month.

Some misinformation in your responses...there is no train and you do not exit security.

He needs to sit as close to the front as he can on the flight out of Maine. He should not "gate check" bags in Maine as he will have to wait for these to be delivered to the plane.

As soon as possible, head for F 10 which is the connection bus to terminals B and C. This choice keeps you in the secure area and you do not have to go through security again. The bus leaves every 10 minutes or so and takes about 5 minutes.
Get a seat or stand near the door on the bus. Exit the bus and go up the escalator to terminal C - you will be right next to Au Bon Pain. Take a quick look at the departure board to make sure that your next flight is at the correct gate (or use your Blackberry to check this when you land) that you have been told...this changes very frequently in Philly. The board is right there before you get on the moving walkway to Terminal B.Then take the moving walkway to terminal B...

Good luck...your friend can also check if he can standby on an earlier flight out of Bangor. I would say he has a 50 - 50 chance. I did a connection like this on Friday and I had a flight that got in at 10:54 and the next flight took off at 11:30. I did it with about 5 minutes to spare...I also knew exactly where to go.
If he memorizes these steps and doesn't stop at any information desk, he will make better time.

Andrew - Philly airport stinks!!!

I've never connected through PHL (I live here), but from what I understand, that is a very tight connection.

The key is to take the bus between terminals. Do not try to walk between F and other terminals. It may be tempting to think that you could hustle and avoid any wait, but it is a very long walk.

He can probably make it himself, but his checked bags might not make it... On my last two semi short connections through PHL on US Air with a terminal change my bags didn't make it. I'd recommend he bring a change of clothes or any essentials also in a carry-on.

We took that flight from BGR with a similar window and missed the connector by minutes, held up because of a delay in landing despite great weather *and* because we couldn't carry on - the bags had to be checked on the tarmac and just didn't uncheck in time. We sat at the front of the plane and the pilot indicated that this was doable before we started to circle Philly. I would consider trying to schedule to Atlanta. Hope this helps and that the flight is uneventful.

oops...should read reschedule to Atlanta.

really appreciate all this advice especially emilyC for her details. i'll post back friday night and let you know if he made the connection or not.
if he misses it and has to rebook where is the usair desk closest to terminal B?

I think he has a decent chance if he follows all of the steps that I have outlined. However, he has no control over the landing time of the first flight. Knowing the closest service desk doesn't help because they are not all routinely manned 24/7.
He should have the next Atlanta flight info (time and flight number) with him. They will often automatically put you on the next flight....if there is space. Look online and see if you see space on the next flight.
He should go to the gate in the B terminal if the timing is close and hope that the flight is still sitting there. Don't assume that the flight is gone if it's 9:35...it may not be...the boards are notoriously not updated in Philly.If he did miss it, he can get help at the desk there at the gate.

Good Luck!!!

thanks again emilyc.

make sure he has the correct phone number, the next flight number and his cell is charged.

It is not uncommon to wait for an agent and it would be much faster to pick up the phone and call customer service on the phone. Seems backwards, doesn't it ? But it is one of the tricks veteran travelers use.

They should have a separate phone line called "I'm stuck in Philly and no one is working here"

While it is true that it may be better to call on the phone, if you are not calling the gold, platinum or chairman's desk, you may be on hold for over 45 minutes on days with lots of delays/cancellations.

I wonder if Virginia's friend made it??

YEAH. all good news to report. thanks to all your helpful tips he now thinks philly is no big deal. it helped that his connecting flt to atlanta was delayed 20 mins. but he found the bus easily and said au bain pan tip was helpful.
he tried walking to baggage claim in atlanta but figured out to get on the train.
and his suitcase was first off.
again thanks to all who helped make nick's first excursion a successful one.