Philadelphia International Airport ???

[mkkim]

Has anyone left from Philadelphia International Airport within the last few weeks? I am leaving for WDW next Tuesday and wanted to know how the check in lines were flowing and any other tips that you have to offer. We usually fly out of Newark so I am unfamiliar with Phila. We are flying USAIR... (yeah.... I know, what was I thinking!!) and I am very nervous about cancellations. We plan on being at the airport about 2 hours before the flight. Is that enough time or should we plan on being there even earlier than that? Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated! Thanks!

 

[ducklite]

I live about halfway between EWR and PHL. I MUCH prefer to fly out of PHL. At EWR, the staff are generally miserable, nasty people. The airport is crowded, dirty, and miserably in need of an update. At PHL, you generally find nice people. The airport is much larger (at least it feels that way) and no where near as crowded. Additionally, even though it is an International airport, unlike EWR you don't get the typical stuff, like 18 family membres crowded around the security checkpoint waiting for someone who is still sitting on a plane overseas, making passing through to get to your flight or bags almost impossible.

PHL is much cleaner, and the airport amenities are definitely better.

Parking is cheaper as well, you can find it for as low as about $5 per day!

I can't tell you if two hours is enough time, I haven't flown out of PHL since before 9-11. But I can tell you that in my experience PHL is a far superior airport over EWR. Which has got to be the worst, except for LGA.

I've also had pretty good overall experiences with USAir. No carrier is perfect. And I've had problems with US here and there. But they've always been responsive and sincerely apologetic, and done whatever they could to make it right, without an attitude.

Anne

 

[mkkim]

Ducklite,

Thanks for your response. I also live right between the two airports, but for some reason we always seem to head north toward Newark and Continental Air. This will be the first flight to WDW using USair and Phila. I am glad to hear that it is a friendly and clean airport. I checked the flight and so far it's confirmed without any problems. Hope it stays that way! Thanks again.

 

[Sheree]

we also live halfway between ewr and phl!!

we try to do us air out of Phl but the last few times we've been out of Newark. Phl is definitely easier to get around.

This week coming up, teacher's convention is a zoo at either! We got bumped from us air the last 2 times this same week. We volunteered!

We're leaving Sat out of Newark on Continental, not looking forward to it!

 

[mkkim]

Hi Sheree,

When you say it's a zoo, is it really that bad!!! I am traveling with 10 people including a 1yr, 2yr, and 6yr. Should I really prepare myself for the worst???? We are leaving the 6th which is a Tuesday. Do you think Saturday is more chaotic than Tuesday. I really don't want to get bumped. How have the crowds been in WDW during Jersey week? Thanks for all the info!! I want to be prepared for anything!

 

[ducklite]

Originally posted by mkkim
Hi Sheree,

When you say it's a zoo, is it really that bad!!! I am traveling with 10 people including a 1yr, 2yr, and 6yr. Should I really prepare myself for the worst???? We are leaving the 6th which is a Tuesday. Do you think Saturday is more chaotic than Tuesday. I really don't want to get bumped. How have the crowds been in WDW during Jersey week? Thanks for all the info!! I want to be prepared for anything!

It's really a zoo at the airports for that week. And yes, WDW is pretty crowded too!

Anne

 

[mkkim]

I am a worrier, so this just adds to my stress!!!! I guess I just need to take this trip one step at a time. My husband thinks I am nuts to worry about every aspect of the trip. He is very calm about almost everything in life. I am driving him crazy right now! I'll just hope for the best...

Thanks for input!

 

[Sheree]

It probably won't be as bad on Tuesday. Most seem to go on the weekend.

All flights were full both times we did this. our flight this weekend out of newark is sold out.

US air had several flights to mco within a 2 hr span. they were asing for volunteers on all of hem. now this was last year so who knows how it will be this year

Disney is definitely more crowded jersey week than normal for oct/nov. but compared to summer it's still a breeze!

of course everywhere you go, it'll be people form jersey!

we were on a cruise last year and I think half the ship was from jersey!

 

[ducklite]

Last year we flew EWR to MCO on Tuesday night of Jersey week. Flights were oversold, they were asking for volunteers. Same thing on our Sunday evening flight back. They bumped about 20 people off that one. Many had kids. There were a lot of solo adult fliers, business people on their way to Monday meetings I would assume. My guess is that either they paid top dollar for the tickets or they had a FF status, which is why they weren't bumped. (I think we weren't bumped only because of our FF status, I had only bought the tickets about a month prior, and they were fairly inexpensive, and paid for with vouchers.)

Anne

 

[mkkim]

Ok.. I am gearing myself up for this airport scene! Our flight leaves at 9:35am and the limo is picking us up at 6:00 am. I figure it should take an hour to get there. Is this enought time (2 1/2 hrs??). Do you think we will be standing in security and check in lines forever??

Thank you both for all of the great info. Sheree .. Hope you have a great trip!

 

[ducklite]

Originally posted by mkkim
Ok.. I am gearing myself up for this airport scene! Our flight leaves at 9:35am and the limo is picking us up at 6:00 am. I figure it should take an hour to get there. Is this enought time (2 1/2 hrs??). Do you think we will be standing in security and check in lines forever??

Thank you both for all of the great info. Sheree .. Hope you have a great trip!

Where in NJ are you? I think you might be cutting it waaaay to close. Traffic to PHL in the am during rush hour (which starts at about 6:00am just like NYC!) is BRUTAL. I'm in North Brunswick. I take Route 1 into PA, then hop on 95. I always allow 2 hours to get to PHL during rush hour, and 90 minutes during slow times. I'm hearing the lines for PHL have been some of the worst, but I haven't seen it for myself, so I don't know for sure. To be safe I would definitely add an hour.

Anne

 

[Sheree]

From mercer county i would leave 1.5 hrs to get to the airport on Tues am. 2.5 hrs at the airport should be fine.

We're flying out of Newark, in the am. they told us to be there 2-2.5 hrs early. we're leaving here at 4:30am for an 8am flight, need to long term park too!

Coming home I usually volunteer to bump, this time we're going on a cruise so I can't bump on the way down!

Last time going to MCO we le them bump us and only arrived an hr later, but with 3 free tickets!

Have a great trip!

 

[mkkim]

We live in Plumsted Township, right outside Cream Ridge. I guess we would take 295 into Phila. I am worried more about the lines inside the airport than the traffic. I really haven't heard anything about the lines. I guess we'll find out. Have a safe trip.


ps. Sheree, where are you staying?

 

[Sheree]

we're not heading to disney this time, we'e doing a cruise!

Sheree

Have a great week!

 

[mkkim]

Thought you might be doing the Disney Cruise and a stay in the World!

Have a safe and fun trip!

 

[nancyj_pa]

We flew out of Philadelphia International to WDW on September 30. Our flight was at 6:20. We got to the airport at 4 A.M. which was much too early. The ticket counters didn't even open until 5. If you have paper tickets, they have curbside checkin which really cuts down on the lines. Those arriving at 5 A.M. had plenty of time. This was a Saturday, however, Tuesday might be busier. With the extra security now, they randomly select luggage to Xray.

A word of warning with U.S. Air...our flight was cancelled and we didn't even know it. My son found out his U.S. Air flight was cancelled from BWI by logging onto their website and pretending to buy a ticket for his flight. It said flight cancelled. He called me, and I did the same thing a few days later and it happened to me too. Our flight was cancelled and no one called me. I bought my tickets online from the U.S. Air website. Their customer service person rebooked our party on a late flight with a layover. I was totally upset!! I was so angry I called the main customer service number (not the internet one), and talked to a supervisor who got us on that early direct flight.

I had been calling once every few days after Sept. 11 just to be sure my flight wasn't cancelled. My last call was about 4 days before we were to leave, and everything was still O.K. Thank goodness I checked online or they wouldn't have had any decent flights left.

Don't worry about being paranoid. If you check these message boards for the last week or two, you'll see all the complaints about the airlines and cancelled flights. Our flight home went smoothly, but my son's was switched to a later one (he was glad). Our eight days in WDW was magical and well worth the airline aggravation. I would do it again in a minute!

 

[mkkim]

The funny thing is that I actually checked on our flight a few days ago on the usair site. It stated that the flight was Sold out. I checked again the next day and it said that one of the flights were unconfirmed. By that time I was totally confused and called the 800 #. The Rep. said that both flights were actually confirmed and couldn't tell me why the web site said differently. So.. the next day I checked the web site again (like I need to be doing this all day!) and the sold out status was gone. Figure that out. Would you say that calling the 800 # is better info than the web site? I can't believe they never called you to say the your flight was cancelled. Looks like I'll be calling up to the minute we leave!

thanks for the info!

 

[nancyj_pa]

I see you're going crazy like I did. The 800 number should be more up-to-date, but I would keep checking the website. The sooner you know of a flight cancellation, the better able you'll be to get another flight at a time that's not too inconvenient. We had an 8-year-old with us and didn't want to have delays and/or layovers. I originally selected a 9:30 flight so that we wouldn't have to be at the airport so early. I paid more for this flight. The 6:20 was cheaper, and I wound up on it anyway at the higher price. Customer Service wouldn't upgrade or talk about a partial refund. I still plan to write to them to see if they'll do something. It looks like when they're going to cancel, they cancel the 2nd flight out and combine it with the 1st if it's not full, and put everyone else on later. I tried to get one of the next two flights out (after the 9:30 one) but they were already sold out.

When are you leaving? Maybe by the time you go, the flights will be fuller and won't get cancelled. Good luck.

By the way, if you do get an early flight, the Disney Resorts will store your luggage for you and your room will probably be ready much earlier than the regular check-in time. We were in our rooms by 1 P.M.

 

[mkkim]

Wow, I thought that they would cancel the first flight out and not the second. Thinking that more people would be on the 2nd because of the later time. I don't mind too much about the earlier flight, I just want to know in enough time to make it. I'll have a 6yr old, 2 1/2 yr old and a 1 1/2 yr old (6 & 2 are my kids) with us so stop overs would be brutal! We are traveling in a group of 10. As long as we have the little ones, we try to get non-stop flights. But I guess that won't make a difference when the flight is cancelled. I guess they would put you on anything they had at that point. I won't be happy paying a higher price for an earlier flight with stop -overs!!! Hoping for the best! Thanks again for the info.

 

[nancyj_pa]

If your flight hasn't been cancelled yet, you should be O.K. now. Just be sure to check with the airport a couple of days before your return flight to check on its status. Have a great time!