Philadelphia airport connecting

[chmurf]

This is a follow up thread to the one I posted on DISabilities. and I realised that I'm connecting with the MAN-MCO flight at PHL

So I ask some feedback from the Mancunians who've flown this route.

we'll be on US Airways 755, landing at PHL just a few minutes before or after (depending on the weather) US Airways 735 (from Manchester)
We'll then have to do all the immigration and customs stuff (we won't have checked bags) and then join our British friends on the second leg of 735 down to Orlando

So if you've flown that route (or flown through PHL) how bad are the lines at immigration ? (especially around 1:30/2pm)
For those who flew on US Airways 735, how managable was the connection ? Chances are you've gotten the same lines and wait times as the flight from Paris since arrival times are quite similar. (735 is scheduled at the gate at 1:50pm, 755 is scheduled at the gate at 2pm, chances are Paris passengers line up juste behind Manchester passengers at immigration)


I need any advice as I can get, because as you may have seen on the disability board, I have 2 choices : face the lines (if any) or ask for wheelchair assistance which would require more time and possibly a missed connection.

 

[paulh]

have flown to phily before and was a good airport to go through , think its easy to go from international terminal /immigration to internal terminal,
Were flying the same route this thursday at around the times your looking at.So will let you know how it went.
Paul

 

[juliebro]

We've done MAN - MCO via PHL with US Airways several times. Mostly the queues have been fine. Immigration queues much much shorter than the horrendous ones at MCO we encountered back in April.

On one trip I do recall there being a backlog getting through Security but we still made the connection.

It is a long trek from the arrival gate to the deaprture gate - different terminals - but they do have motorised carts that take the less-mobile passengers around. I'd consider requesting it, if you can.

A couple of years our flight from MAN to PHL was delayed and we missed the connection. US Airways arranged a hotel for us, gave us food vouchers, amenity kits and put us on the first flight down to MCO the following morning.

 

[paulh]

just done our per flight checks and the flight number from manchester is the US Airways 735.
I have seen the motorised carts as well forgot about those
Paul

 

[dixonsontour]

We did this route in October.

Our flight from Manchester was delayed a couple of hours. There was no wait at immigration and getting our cases was smooth at Philly.

Security had a line and they wouldn't expedite anyone running for connections.

We ran for the connection but as it transpired no need as they held the connection due to 80 plus Manchester people on the connection.

On the way back we were delayed leaving MCO and they held the connection.

Was very impressed with the staff and no complaints at all re the flight.

 

[stevefox]

Hi,

I am in the process of booking a trip to Europe and will be transferring from a domestic flight to an international flight in Philadelphia. I will be most likely be arriving from Boston on US Air and leaving from Philly also on US Air. Most of the connections we have found only allow 1 .25 hours for the transfer. Is this sufficient?????

 

[chmurf]

Hi,

I am in the process of booking a trip to Europe and will be transferring from a domestic flight to an international flight in Philadelphia. I will be most likely be arriving from Boston on US Air and leaving from Philly also on US Air. Most of the connections we have found only allow 1 .25 hours for the transfer. Is this sufficient?????

you *should* be fine, granted that everything goes according to plan

It depends on the Terminal you land at in PHL.
Some US Airways will get you to terminal B, you'll then have a relatively short walk to terminal A to catch your TATL flight.
But you might also be offered a flight operated by US Airways Express and this will get you to Terminal F, and that's a fairly long transfer to Terminal A

US Airways had me on a 61 minutes layover at PHL on our journey back (MCO-PHL-CDG) and I considered this to be insufficient.
I made a big fuss about that and harassed my TA for weeks and now I have 2h15 min for that connection.
(it's the 1h45min on the way in that I still find tight)

BUT I'm a paranoid guy.
anyway I had my flights moved when we went through newark, we ended up getting bored to death waiting for our connection ...

Flyertalk advise a minimum connection time of 60 minutes for domestic to international if your domestic flight comes in at Terminal A, B or C. and 75 minutes if you come in at Terminal F

 

[paulh]

Hi,

I am in the process of booking a trip to Europe and will be transferring from a domestic flight to an international flight in Philadelphia. I will be most likely be arriving from Boston on US Air and leaving from Philly also on US Air. Most of the connections we have found only allow 1 .25 hours for the transfer. Is this sufficient?????

should have no problem
Paul

 

[hogwartsdropout]

We did this route in October.

Our flight from Manchester was delayed a couple of hours. There was no wait at immigration and getting our cases was smooth at Philly.

Security had a line and they wouldn't expedite anyone running for connections.

We ran for the connection but as it transpired no need as they held the connection due to 80 plus Manchester people on the connection.

On the way back we were delayed leaving MCO and they held the connection.

Was very impressed with the staff and no complaints at all re the flight.

This sounds like my flight last October! I was flying alone and our flight was delayed getting into Philidelphia from Manchester. There was quite a large line at security and the immigration woman kept asking me questions while the whole time I was panicking about my connection. I ended up running from one terminal to the next and made it to the Orlando flight for the final boarding call. I believe I had originally had about 1-1.5 hours of a connection time.

 

[paulh]

We landed early by 1/2 an hour,we were seated at back of plane. So took a while to get off. There was a flight from europe in before us, so hall was full. And being a weekday not all positions open,got through customs and was at next gate.this took us 1hour and 25min in total.
Hope tis rests your mind
Paul

 

[chmurf]

thanks for the report.

Unless they move us around, we're seated in row 10 of the A330 so we should get off the plane more rapidly, and that should give us a bit more time. We also won't have checked luggage, so we will be able to skip the baggage claim wait.

how long the walk really is from A-west to B/ how much time does it take ? (I mean, from the point you exit the sterile area at customs, to the security line and then to the gate in terminal B (asking to know if I shall request that annoying motorized airport terminal madmax vehicle from US Airways, or if I'll make it on foot)