nrr

There are times when one might need to route xxx-phl and then connect phl-nyc, particularly if your non-stop xxx-nyc were cancelled (or delayed by several hours).
[I can, I guess, get to phl and take a GREYHOUND bus to nyc]

nutwpinut

Why not get routed through CLT, ORD, or DFW instead? I'm guessing there isn't much PHL->NYC flight traffic because it is so close to each other. When I lived in Philly and wanted to go to NYC, I took the Chinese Bus or drove. It was quicker than having to go to the airport, through security, fly, and from the airport get to downtown NYC.

bse118

One word: Amtrak.

On a random weekday in October Amtrak has 48 trains from Philadelphia to New York with a journey time of 1 hour to 1.5 hours

If you ask me, there should be zero flights between NYC and PHL. Connections can be served over other cities/routes that don't clutter up an already crowded and inefficient airspace.

(and I say that even though I'm booked on a PHL-LGA flight later this year)

rickg523

This

brewdog11

+1. The NE Regional is just too easy.

aztimm

I think Amtrak has a station at EWR. I'm not aware of an Amtrak station at either LGA or JFK, but perhaps I'm mistaken.

If someone wanted to travel PHL-JFK then onwards (say GIG, which isn't available from PHL), true they can take Amtrak, but that only drops them in Manhattan. They then have to cab/Uber/public transit out to JFK, which could take as long as the train from PHL.

So it makes sense to have at least a few flights from PHL to JFK for onward connections.

AANYC1981

Last time I checked the only way to get to LIS, ATH, VCE, MUC etc on AA metal is via PHL.

sagechan

Looking at tomorrow there are 5x EWR and 3X LGA, no JFK. Now that the ewr slot squatting is over the schedule makes sense, mostly Eagle (1 E190) among the 8 flights and seem to be timed to allow connections from NYC to the PHL-only Eagle cities and the internationals, or the reverse to NYC.

Most good reasons for limited capacity have already been stated above.

Often1

Not to mention heading south to BWI which has an Amtrak stop only slightly less convenient than EWR's.

There is likely close to zero O&D to LGA/JFK and little call for connections. Given that the micro-hops are the first flights cancelled/delayed, I would likely take a train + Uber anyway.

ty97

You are correct, no Amtrak stations at LGA or JFK (full disclosure, while I know the Amtrak trains go through Newark Airport Station, I'm not sure how often, if ever, they stop. I've certainly watched them fly by me while waiting on my NJ Transit train there before).

But the answer to the OP's question, I think, is that the PHL-JFK market has limited flights because the local traffic traveling between NYC and PHL will take the train or bus, meaning PHL only needs enough NYC service to support connections that can only be served to/from PHL, which is not too many. The European cities can be supported via connection with AA's JV partners in Europe (yes, I know we all want to use AA metal for our eVIPs but I' not so sure AA is too worried about making that a priority ). That leaves some interior PA/northeast cities only served via PHL. And many of those markets are also served decently by train or bus.

bse118

Except for: AA doesn't fly JFK-PHL (DL does), so it's obviously not focusing on connecting passengers from PHL over JFK.

If I were flying from PHL to GIG - MIA makes much more sense as connection point, for the passenger, the airline, and the airspace system as a whole.

For those limited destinations where PHL is the only connection point on AA metal:

If I'm a NYC based AA passenger travelling to those destinations, I'd be giving serious consideration to looking for BA (or IB or AB) operated AA-coded flights out of JFK, as I bet (without any data to support it) the LHR connection is more reliable than the Eagle flights from LGA or EWR. Edit: Or fly AA from JFK to MAD, BCN, or LHR and connect onward on partner metal from there.

dls25

Personally, I much prefer flying directly from US to my European destination. I hate intra-europe flights. I'll take a domestic AA flight over BA and their generous 30-inch seat pitch in BUSINESS class or paying for water and 28 in seat pitch on IB any day...

CPRich

Amtrak, 81 minutes downtown to downtown, $55 purchased today for travel tomorrow.

SeatOfMyPants

Amtrak, NJT, Mega Bus, Bolt Bus, heck even Uber can get you to NYC

nrr

In my post #1, I noted xxx-phl since AA has only one flight ZRH-JFK and a ZRH-PHL, both of these depart around 10:30 AM (the inbounds get turned around). If the ZRH-JFK should be significantly delayed, it would be nice to fly ZRH-PHL AND connect to LGA or JFK AND still get to NYC not too far off from the n/s.
There is a 7:00 AM: ZRH-LHR connecting to LHR-JFK getting to NYC at about the same time as the n/s ZRH-JFK, but ZRH-LHR is usually at 100% capacity.