Southwest Terminal PHL

[JandD Mom]

Hi Everyone,

Has anyone flown on Southwest out of PHL since they opened up the renovated Terminal E connector? I know one of the things that they were working on was improving the baggage check in area, both curbside and inside the terminal. Has this been done?

My prior experienced with SW is that it took forever to check luggage prior to a flight at times, mostly because the terminal equipment was antiquated. I was wondering if this has been fixed yet.

Thanks!

 

[3darlings]

As of a week ago it was not yet updated. The baggage check in was terrible -I have never seen it that bad (and it was 10 a.m). We ended up along with many others outside at curbside check in. There we had the slowest baggage handler EVER! Needless to say, I didn't tip him much. The good news was the security check in line. That area is completely new and it went very fast. Because of that, we were fine on time.

 

[emilymad]

It is still a mess! I was there in the beginning of July at 6am and there were huge lines inside and out. Our shuttle from the parking lot couldn't even drop us off at the Southwest part because there were so many people.

Getting your bags at baggage claim isn't any better either. If the new security area is any indication hopefully it will be improved sometime in the future.

 

[JandD Mom]

Hi,

Just out of curiousity, what day of the week did you travel? We are traveling early on a Thursday, and we are wondering if it makes a big difference traveling mid-week, vs. on a weekend.

Also, did you notice whether they have more counter area inside? Their customer service counter area is so ridiculously small, and their conveyer belt system so antiquated, I heard those are the main reasons for the problem checking in.

Thanks!

 

[carolina_yankee]

Has there been a recent surge? The last time I flew Southwest (about 9 months ago), the inside counter has usually moved pretty quickly (certainly faster than MCO).

We're flying on 9/23 - planning on checking around 7:15 am for a 9:00 flight. Hope my happy, little Southwest bubble isn't about to burst!

Dirk

 

[JandD Mom]

Has there been a recent surge? The last time I flew Southwest (about 9 months ago), the inside counter has usually moved pretty quickly (certainly faster than MCO).

We're flying on 9/23 - planning on checking around 7:15 am for a 9:00 flight. Hope my happy, little Southwest bubble isn't about to burst!

Dirk

I have found it is not very consistent. Sometimes, there is no one there. Sometimes, you wait forever. There is no rhyme nor reason for it.

 

[carolina_yankee]

Mumble. Mumble. Grumble. Southwest was the one bright spot in PHL.

Oh, well. If there's a bit of a delay, at least we'll be there plenty early and they now board by check-in number rather than cattle call. Well, you stand in line by your number, but you know what I mean.

Dirk

 

[2infinityandbeyond]

FWIW, our last flight out of PHL on SWA was a 7 AM Friday flight. We got to the terminal around 5:20. The line inside was crazy long. The curbside line wasn't too bad. The line to get through TSA was also crazy long, all the way back to the top of the escalator. That caused a mess because the people coming up and off of the escalator couldn't move.

 

[DonnaL]

We've flown SWA from PHL twice since January, when the new security screening area opened, and found the bag check area to be very uncrowded inside when we traveled on January 2nd, but, very crowded outside......go figure......then, when we traveled again on May 10th ......the inside line was extremely long and the outside line was also long.....not as bad as inside, but, still long. However, both times the TSA line upstairs was a breeze.......lots of TSA screeners working and we were thru in less than 5 minutes.

 

[pamjb]

I have flown from PHL on SW three times since the new terminal opened (Feb 09, June 09 and July 09). The Feb flight was a 7 am flight, but we had 10 pieces of luggage and a skycap magically whisked us to the front to the checkin luggage line. The June and July flights were 8 pm, so we arrived at PHL about 6 Pm. The curbside checkin line had 3 families in front of us. I peeked inside, and the inside lines were much longer. I have always found that the curbside is the best bet. While I have encountered lines at curbside, I always tend to factor that into my departure time from home. We live about an hour away from PHL, on a good traffic day. Is there really such a thing as a good traffic day in Philly?

The new TSA area is great. In Feb, the lines were long, but it appeared that all the lanes were open and it moved very, very quickly.

 

[Nohal]

Wow! Dropped DS at terminal F at PHL, could not believe the line to check in luggage at SW. The line was outside and snake chained at 8am. I'm thinking if it was like this outside what did the inside look like. We will be flying SW in about 1 month and I hope the situation clears up as I am getting to the airport at 5:30am and will be a little cranking due to not having coffee first. It wasn't like this when we flew last year. Is the line outside just for curbside check in and what is it like inside?

 

[Flyerfan]

Hi Everyone,

Has anyone flown on Southwest out of PHL since they opened up the renovated Terminal E connector? I know one of the things that they were working on was improving the baggage check in area, both curbside and inside the terminal. Has this been done?

My prior experienced with SW is that it took forever to check luggage prior to a flight at times, mostly because the terminal equipment was antiquated. I was wondering if this has been fixed yet.

Thanks!

The bright side is....if your bag wants to bring one of it's little bag friends, there's no charge (Sorry, I just love that commercial)

 

[EPCOT is a verb]

We flew on a Saturday morning, August 15, with a 8:30 a.m. flight. The line outside for bag check in and the line inside were both very long. We happily skipped right past, as we packed in all carry-ons and had printed out our passes at home! Gotta love that feeling of freedom with packing all carry-on.

 

[Coconuts]

I am soooooo not happy to hear all of these responses. Our Sat 9/19 flight leaves at 9:25 am and I am sure that lines will be crazy. I can't imagine what my 17 mos old will be like. She never sits still so I guess DH will have to wait in line while we run around the check in area.