How's PHL Been Lately?

[PSUGuy]

We fly out of there yearly, lately in Oct., Southwest the last 3 years. Any construction or other pesky stuff going on there now.

Thanks,

Bill From PA

 

[tjmw2727]

Its actually pretty quiet IMO - we most recently flew in mid August, again the Thurs prior to Labor Day and then I picked up a friend of my daughters last week. We come from the south and there were no construction issues and access is easy.

Security was pretty quiet both times we went through - we have TSA pre and there was no line there but I always make sure to check the other lines and they were very short. Both our outbound flights were in the morning 6/7 am. Heading out again soon xx fingers it stays this way.

There is some construction by the gates but its minimal - seems to be new restaurants/shops going in and some of the restrooms are closed but it was a short walk to the next closest one.

 

[richmo]

It hasn't been bad in my experience. I'll be flying out of there at the end of next week. Ever since they built the new security area near the Southwest gates (for terminals D and E, I believe), when I've gone the lines have been quite short. Coming back into PHL, the luggage seems to come back slower than average, especially at American, but no major problems.

Only other thing, which isn't really new (maybe a couple years?), is that for economy parking, you're better off getting off I-95 at exit 13 going north or 15 going south...that way you don't have to deal with passing thru the terminal areas to get to parking.

 

[PSUGuy]

Thanks for the replies, good news. As for parking, we've done the sleep 'n fly thing out of the Sheraton Four Points the last 4 trips, highly recommend this place, very prompt and frequent shuttles, we reserve via buyreservations.com or hotelnparking.com.

Bill From PA

 

[PatMcDuck]

We use Winner parking at PHL (not overnight of course), love the White Glove treatment where they pick you up in your own car upon your return. We love just taking off for home from the airport and not returning to the rental office.

I prefer PHL, but lately EWR has been cheaper on SW so we have been using EWR. (it is closer to us anyway, just hate Terminal A at Newark)

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

No problems at PHL when we flew in late August. We like PreFlight Parking, though we have tried Winner's White Glove. I prefer to lock my car myself and keep my keys, esp on the last couple trips when ds19 did not come with us. Maybe I'm a worry wart but I don't like that someone could see my address on my registration and know we're not home. Also they were speeding way over the limit when they drove our car to take us to the terminal. I was ready to say something but I figured I didn't want to start off our vacation with an argument and don't want to piss off the guy that will be "watching over" my car for a week or more.
PreFlight circles the terminals every 5-8 mins and their shuttle picks us up right at our car, helps us load our bags on the shuttle, then drops us off right at our car again. Once, the driver even put our bags right into our trunk for us. . They only charge around $9day plus tax and they have a frequent parker program so every time we park there we earn points that can be redeemed for free days. I think it works out to approximately 1 free day for every 7 days of paid parking. And we earn 250 American Airline miles (previously USAirways) so it was not a lot but enough to keep activity on my account to prevent my miles from expiring. They also have an indoor garage that is slightly more $. If you've ever been plowed in at the Economy lot you would be willing to pay the extra in the winter months. If we make a reservation and prepay, we automatically get the coupon price.
Really, I don't work for them or have any connections with them other than being a happily returning customer.

 

[jtopp]

I am currently on the 9R-27L runway project at PHL. We have several long term taxiway closures, but ATC has diverted ground traffic to alternate taxiways with no delay. There may be some delays starting June 2017, as there are several runway closures scheduled, but most are at night shift or non critical times. There are a few backups everyday, usually during the morning or afternoon push, but no more then a nominal delay, and the tower keeps air traffic moving.

 

[richmo]

Back from PHL just two days ago...

Leaving last Thursday night (9/29) had a 3.5 hour delay due to bad weather in PHL, bad weather in PHX and a mechanical problem in Chicago. Was supposed to arrive at MCO at 9:30...instead 1:00 and in room about 2:30. Southwest gave everyone on the flight a $200 voucher good for a year, which I think was above and beyond...but I'll be happy to use it. Security line for Terminal E was very short at about 6:30 PM (arrived a little later since we knew about most of the delay) and we randomly had PreCheck. Even the regular line was short, though.

Returned to PHL Monday night on American. Flight was a little early, but luggage return still what I would call longer than average. Then US Airways spent all that money several years ago on supposedly improving baggage return in Terminal B/C, but its still not great. One plus though: they didn't switch the luggage return location like they always seemed to do.

Return to PHL economy parking was hectic, as usual. Packed into bus like sardines with big bags, driver yelling at people, etc. I'm going to need to learn my lesson and go with an offsite parking place. Saw, for example, 4 PreFlight buses before one PHL parking bus.