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T O P I C R E V I E W
babs
Posted - 11/05/2009 : 14:06:03 We are wondering about our Philly connection with Us Air. We have the first flight out from Hartford arrive Phl 8:45 and connect at 9:40 onto SXM. Coming home we arrive Phl 7:06 and depart 8:35 back to Bdl. Only carry-ons. Never been thru Philly before. What do all of you think?? We have heard that Philly can be BAD!!! Our ticket prices were good ones when we bought them........ changing them could be bad also?
11 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First)
ronandcarla
Posted - 11/11/2009 : 12:19:17 We have been flying USAir out of PHL and back for at least the past l0 years more or less, at least 2 times a year, during the winter months and also the summer months and each and every trip, whether there was a storm, wind and everything between we made in time for connections or non-stops: We feel that we are going on vacation, have nothing else to do and as long as we get there safely, nothing else matters. Our vote is that PHL is a wonderful airport serving our area for us and others to go anywhere in the world. t.y. ron and carla
Buffboater
Posted - 11/06/2009 : 16:57:57 OMG...ain't that the truth!! Been there, done that!! AA thru Miami.....nightmares.
babyhuey7
Posted - 11/06/2009 : 13:47:00 Philly via U.S. Air is fine. The real nightmare is AA through Miami.
StorOlaf
Posted - 11/06/2009 : 01:25:40 Motorguy,
Been like forever since I was in JFK, limped a wounded airplane back from Zurich, in what ended up being a Zurich-Shannon-Gander-Bangor-JFK-Detroit-Milw filght that took over 3 days, it crash landed in JFK, spent 26 hours in JFK without any money or access to food save a backpack filled with 15 pounds of chocolate. I get flashbacks from this youthful trauma. Just typing the code gives me the shakes.
San Juan used to be a nightmare, but AA has largely abandoned the place and it has a lot less traffic. Although the walk can be a pain and the food is bad, the Admirals lounge also sort of sucks for food, it isn't that bad thru customs on recent trips. I even once had to go to the special room for further questioning but I still caught my flight, it was late, I had a suitcase full of food and no clothing. "How could you be in St Martin for a week without any clothing?" I provided evidence and they let me pass sans two kilos of processed meat. Was better a few weeks ago.
In Miami in September has lots of lines. They are currently rebuilding the immig/customs area, so what the final product will be like I cannot comment. It is a mess right now with mazes and questions of where the hell to I go now. Once you get out of the customs and trying to follow the lines to recheck your luggage, very easy to get lost. When you finally find the resecurity line it is mixed up with the regular fliers and can be 40 minutes or more itself sometimes the line is so long, there is a line to get to the line.
I don't really like AA all that well, I am an SAS, NWA/DELTA/ AIR FRANCE FFlier and as such prefer Delta or USAir, but I fly AA once or twice a year to SXM or back due to midweek flights, but they beat United which I shall never ever fly, food poisoning going to St Thomas and three times lost luggage twice for business meetings, never did get a Visual presentation case back. Cost me a contract....losers.
Olaf
Bruce
Posted - 11/05/2009 : 22:34:03 Please .........Phl has one of the largest custom area i have ever seen now , no problem with just carry-on ... relax
motorguy
Posted - 11/05/2009 : 22:13:32
quote:Originally posted by StorOlaf
It all depends, last time I was thru Philly from the door to the plane thru immigrations, customs, and back thru security was exactly 9 minutes and I went to the bathroom.
I did it in Atlanta on Sunday in 8 minutes (but I was in Business class), but the last time I was in Atlanta it took 35, and coming in from Europe last summer in Philly took 55 minutes. This was actually pleasant since somewhere over the Azores one of the toilets overflowed. Anything and anywhere that smelled better was good, gosh I hate 767s
I never ever check luggage and usually I am good at picking the correct line.
I find Miami as the worst airport to clear customs in the North America with Toronto a close second. Remember EWR being bad too but been a while since I flew Continental
Olaf
Olof: Just for info, since we haven't done Immigration and Customs for a while in these places, can you compare Miami with San Juan and/or JFK? It is easy to agree that Miami is a lot more of a hassle than, say, Boston, but we have heard nasty things about New York (JFK), which I cleared last in about 1994. (And it was the pits then). We used to do San Juan quite a lot, but since AA stopped making reasonable connections we have been stuck with MIA, and we really don't like it. Jim
stashu11
Posted - 11/05/2009 : 21:00:30 We've taken US Air/ways for the last 17 years and never had a major problems. Yes, we've been delayed a couple trips several times and been inconvenienced a little, but we've always made it there the same night and always got home the same night we planed too. To be safe, I'd pick flights that have at least an hour layover time. Again, that's to be safe. Yes, StorOlaf has a pointed too in not carrying any luggage. We don't, and it makes a big difference getting through Customs
Best of luck...
StorOlaf
Posted - 11/05/2009 : 16:22:36 It all depends, last time I was thru Philly from the door to the plane thru immigrations, customs, and back thru security was exactly 9 minutes and I went to the bathroom.
I did it in Atlanta on Sunday in 8 minutes (but I was in Business class), but the last time I was in Atlanta it took 35, and coming in from Europe last summer in Philly took 55 minutes. This was actually pleasant since somewhere over the Azores one of the toilets overflowed. Anything and anywhere that smelled better was good, gosh I hate 767s
I never ever check luggage and usually I am good at picking the correct line.
I find Miami as the worst airport to clear customs in the North America with Toronto a close second. Remember EWR being bad too but been a while since I flew Continental
Olaf
das
Posted - 11/05/2009 : 16:02:12 Babs--all we can say is "GOOD LUCK." Being a US Air hub, we most always flew with them. Even with the pilots and flight attendants it's the same story--we hate Philly. Worst airport we ever dealt with. Now, going to SXM, we always book thru Charlotte. Everything is much better. Your consolation is--time on beautiful St. Martin--ENJOY!!!
Funbob
Posted - 11/05/2009 : 16:00:34 On the return flight, if Philly is your first point of entry back into the U.S., clearing customs can take a while if the international inbound flights are busy...
Buffboater
Posted - 11/05/2009 : 15:27:13 OMG.......We're going thru Philly too on Sat morning (also with US SCARE). We're just hopeful that its not bad as we don't have much of a layover either!! My only hope is that the flights are early enough that we can avoid the crowds. We've only had 1 experience thru Philly and it wasn't all that bad (or were we just in a coma after being up for 24 hours straight?). I hope that it all goes smooth for you, but am also waiting to see some responses to this thread. Even if its bad....you will be in SMX shortly there after, with drink in hand. How bad can that be??
