Winging It

It response to your request for comments about what is good about PHL, I think that the new USAIR management has improved baggage service wait time. It is still not great but has improved significantly. I also feel that security waiting time at terminals B/C and A seem shorter than at many other airports. Finally, I rate the food outlet as above average

What is good about PHL? YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW.. WELL HERE IT IS FROM 10 TO 1
10- I'm thinking.........Well, you can still buy the Inquirer at .50 per copy.
9- The candy still tastes good
8- Yes the checked baggage is faster
7- The waiting time on the tarmac to take-off is much shorter (o.k. you got me)
YHS

Interesting how Charlotte is now planning on building a new 25 gate international terminal to open in 2011. It's just another chapter in the US AIrways - PHL saga. I wonder if Nutter will do something about the airport's (PHL) poor infrastructure when compared to other international hubs, or just ignore it, except for it's Revenue, as did his predecessor. It's beyond my comprehension how any politician, who really cares about the impression the principal gateway into the city leaves with business and international travelers, could ignore it's very poor worldwide reputation, Other than crime, the airport is the region's biggest blight on an otherwise achievable world class city goal. I'm afraid the only solution to an new airport is for the city to sell it to a private consortium or to convince the FAA to fund or float a long term loan for a substantial portion of the CEP proposal because the current facility is "unsafe" for the general public, or is a major contributor to NE air corridor delays.
http://charlotte.bizjournals.com/charlotte/stories/2007/11/05/story1.html

I have been mostly flying from Terminal D of late, but have noticed that there are no recycling containers there for newspapers or cans/bottles. As I have been in Chicago and Minneapolis quite frequently, they have recycling containers throughout the airport by almost every trash can. Surprising and disappointing that PHL is not in line with the recycling that is going on around the country.

I regularly drive 50% further to get to EWR to avoid PHL. Security lines are worse here, connections often broken, and waiting for bags on USAir is the worst -- often they're delivered to a different carousel than announced, and the waits are the longest I've encountered anywhere. Signage is abysmal, and driving in/out is horribly confusing. TSA people are routinely grouchy and officious, especially in C.

Bus to/from plane is annoying in bad weather and seems slow until you have to schlepp bags to/from the end of a terminal. They do it in Europe regularly, and on commuter flights here, and there isn't much to choose from. Who cares if the bus you stand on for 5 minutes is dirty or decrepit? The whole airport experience is full of such moments.

On the status of PHL, how can USAIR or any other airline request more gates for more flights when the airport can't handle the current volume? I travel a lot, and no other airport (except many NY and Newark) have situations where there can be 20 to 30 or more planes waiting to depart. Maybe it just makes too much sense, but why isn't there a limit on how many flights can be scheduled each hour?
If that issue was resolved, I give PHL a favorable rating.

I love all things nostalgic and I, for one, cast my vote for dusting off and polishing up those old Budd airport 'Lounges' for a ride into the days of airline yore.

You know, those halcyon days of airline travel when one waited, literally, at the chain link gate before walking across the flight deck behind the flight attendant and stepped carefully onto the no-skid stair treads to board the Super Constellation. Or the YS-11 if you were flying from podunk, my usual departure venue.

The first time I stepped into the Mobile Lounge at Dulles Airport in the 'sixties I felt catapaulted into the future of flight. In a few years, the telescoping jetway would become the design standard at most airports rendering to us, as it's legacy, the logistics mess which we experience to this day. Process flow engineers will recognize a 'deadhead' when they see 'em.

But, Saarinen's concept of moving the passenger load directly to and from the plane was a breakthrough in it's time. Larger planes with larger passenger complements maxed out the Budd buses and even Dulles had to build a mid-field terminal to justify their continued use. Note to the reader: if that sounds like convoluted logic, you've never lived in Washington, DC.

I say: bring on the buses! Perhaps feeling a bit like Cary Grant in 'North by Northwest' for a day will do us some good.

Just thought of one more item about PHL....You can't get to terminal E from anywhere... YOu can get from A to B , from B to C from C to D and from D to F, but you can't get to terminal E unless you stand in line at terminal E Great Planning....

What's good? Guys that check baggage OUTSIDE of the US Air terminals...usually very nice, accomodating and my bags always seem to get where I'm going (must be some secret mojo out there). Food court is acceptable, except for the tables that rock.

BAD? Super aggressive police that live to shoo people away from dropoff and pickup, usually with a miserable attitude. TSA lines in B/C..chaos theory in practice, then you get the surly TSA attendants. No doubt caused by the seemingly clueless people that act like they have never been in an airport before in the lines. Speakers at gates that don't work or the attendants that go into whisper mode when making announcements. Waiting for luggage, still a major issue at US Air, especially if coming from A terminal, then it's a game of find Waldo with your bags (walk to terminal C baggage, you kidding me?). Finally the directions for the cell lots (otherwise known as the witness protection parking lots). Could they be any more obscure? And a tip of the hat to the (again) ultra aggressive & nasty police that chase and ticket those pulled over on shoulder waiting for the flights that never arrive on time.

How much fun can a person stand?

I was appalled to see your headline this morning. Those buses are horrid. Let's face it, US Airways international flights are a mixed blessing at best. It's convenient to have direct flights from your hometown, that's the good part.

Service on those flights has deteriorated dramatically. For my $700 or $800 ticket I discover whole banks of seats with coats on them marked off for "crew." The seats are so close together you cannot possibly eat because the person in front of you has his head in your tray. They delay takeoff until after 10 pm and then thrown the food and drink at you in a hurry instead of their once leisurely dinner service. At least when you get to Amsterdam there is a nice moving walkway taking you to Immigration where nice friendly people smile and welcome you.

At PHL after too many hours in the air you then circle another hour waiting to land, then sit on the tarmac waiting for a gate, then you have to walk a gauntlet of cops and dogs, then travel a great distance to Immigration where a very rude person makes you wait a very long time and then questions you like a prosecutor about why you left the US. Then you wait an hour or more for your luggage and walk another great distance to a cab where a very rude driver screams into his cell phone all the way to your house, if he doesn't get lost.

The new gates in A-West are pretty pleasant, in fact that terminal is pretty pleasant, but the gates in A-East are badly in need of upgrading.

Getting on those wretched buses crammed in with too many people and sitting and waiting to get to a terminal is just too much to add after one of those flights. Let Delta use them for domestic travel!

By the way, recently I passed through the gleaming new terminal in Detroit and thought to myself "look what a city can do when they care."

isn't this really a problem with scheduling? why does us airways schedule nearly all of its transatlantic flights to arrive between noon and 4pm? and why do they only want one flight per gate each day? isn't that just a way to eliminate competition? the ptv's are smokescreen by us airways. the big boy just wants its way.

This is nothing more than my own personal opinion, and everyone has one.

Why don't they just relocate the whole airport to another location, and here's why I say this. The present location is condense by the Delaware river to the south and I-95 to the north. Personally I would say expand the airfield over 95 and run it (I-95)under the airfield or a runway. But then you still have Tinicum township to the west and the naval shipyard to the east.

Now while a new airport would cost big bucks, but it would elimate the problem of airfield expansion for good. Now there are 3 airfield proposals that are currectly being considered for the airport. What if after all of these environmental studies for each proposal the city chooses one, it is construsted and 10 to 15 years later it is rendered out dated?

Can you imagine, all the money, time, and effort spent on this thing only to have it go south like that? That's what happened with that 4th runway down there 8-26. Once it was completed it was rendered inadequate because because the runway is only 5,000 feet long the airlines began using regional jets which require longer runways instead of turbo props.

Spend the money now for a new airport else where in the Delaware valley rather than get stong again although Philly is notorious for it's short sightedness

As for the rude police officers and TSA? The city and airport officals will have to work on that.