US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - CLT - Paris

I'm looking to plan a trip to Paris sometime in June. Right now, the fares look like they're around $800. My gut tells me they are coming down, but I'm not sure when they'll drop. Anyone have any experience w/ this route and time of year?

Also, I've read that going through Philly is not a good international connection. I read this on another board and the poster offered no explanation. Would there be something problematic w/ connecting through there?

Here are some problems with Philly and connections:

1) Your arriving flight into Philly is normally late... due to the fact that they only use one runway there is always a backlog... and if you're lucky enough to land on-time, there's always a plane in the way of your gate.

2) If you arrive on a small plane, you go into terminal F... which is like two miles from where the large planes leave from. They have a shuttle, but it still requires a long walk... which isn't a problem for young people, but I know my dad wouldn't want it. Plus, if you've got little kids the nightmare gets worse... Going from terminal F to terminal A (and it will get worse when the new international terminal comes into play) could be a daunting task for someone whose not used to flying...

3) I'm from Philly and I'll admit that most people there are not very friendly... Rarely do you see the US employees smiling there...

I recommend connecting PIT if you're using US Airways.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by bfunkjeep:

2) If you arrive on a small plane, you go into terminal F... which is like two miles from where the large planes leave from. They have a shuttle, but it still requires a long walk... which isn't a problem for young people, but I know my dad wouldn't want it. Plus, if you've got little kids the nightmare gets worse... Going from terminal F to terminal A (and it will get worse when the new international terminal comes into play) could be a daunting task for someone whose not used to flying...
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The new Intl. terminal opening has been pushed to March 2003. It will be a long walk from the F shuttle arrival point in C to get all the way down to A, which is why you can certainly request a cart to give you a lift. There may even be an extension of that shuttle down to A. Hindsight now shows that they should have planned a tram or subway to run the length of the terminals. It's got to be well over a mile to walk from one end to the other.

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3) I'm from Philly and I'll admit that most people there are not very friendly... Rarely do you see the US employees smiling there...
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As a Philly resident for 14 years, I can somewhat concur with that in terms of the gate agents. The check-in folks and club staff are outstanding, IMHO. And, the TSA has recently gotten a thumbs up in my book....As I passed through the metal detector, the nice gentleman in the sharp new TSA shirt gave me a pleasant "Have a nice flight, sir". I almost fell over. At 6:30am, no less!

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I recommend connecting PIT if you're using US Airways.</font>

I don't. The PIT-CDG service may or may not come back. Yeah - they said it's seasonal, but June is a long way away. Who knows if the A330's will even still be in the fleet, which means the 767's(current and new acquisitions) may be jockeyed around to serve the routes. PHL would likely get priority over PIT and CLT.. You can at least be somewhat certain that if USAirways is still around, you'll be near-guarnateed a flight out of PHL.

True... the special duty US employees are an exception.

One great thing about Philly is that they know BS when they see it... Security has always been good there because despite the low-paid workers that compete with McDonald's --- they know BS when they see it and used to stop suspicious people... You wouldn't argue with them - not because they had any sort of magical powers, but because they'd cuss your a** out faster than a NY second if you started acting dumb.

Now TSA uses the politically correct approach and inconveniences everyone in what I dub as "assembly line security"...


[This message has been edited by bfunkjeep (edited 11-12-2002).]

TSA in PHL (and elsewhere) has been outstanding IMHO. Polite and extremely efficient.

don't mean to beat a dead horse about connections through PHL, but just to clarify....

I will be arriving at PHL at 7:01PM from LAX at terminal B, and need to get to terminal A to go to CDG on a flight that departs at 8:10PM, will I make the flight? Should I think about rescheduling? Would CP desk accommodate a change to an earlier flight out of LAX without charging me a $200 change fee?

Thanks!

you should be OK, hiya. generally short-haul flights are more suseptible to significant delays, ie. ground holds. the worst you would get on a transcon is a spin or two in the pattern. also, if a bank of flights are delayed, they will generally hold the international departure for the connecting passengers.

My Eastbound transcons have usually arrived early. Especially in the Winter. My recent LAX-PHL was just 4hrs 10min in the air.

An hour + is plenty of time to make a connection from B to A. You'll already have your boarding pass, so it's really like any other connection.

Good luck with a 1 hour connection in PHL, particularly if it rains.

I've been burned coming from PIT on hub-hub trunk flights, and been standing there when over 100 people misconnect. Connect thru PHL at your own peril.

I've got a 2.5 hour connection PIT-PHL-LGW next month, and that's about the minimum I'd be willing to risk. If the weather is bad, I'll be at PIT begging to get on an earlier flight.

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Saving the world, one clue at a time.

I've done 4 international PHL connections this year and all went perfectly. This was even true on a Friday evening!

The walk from B to A is not very long (5-10 minutes).

Although I'm SURE that PHL connections can and do go badly sometimes, my 4 went great!

And even though many have been critical regarding the PHL Envoy departure lounge, I like it and found it not full even on a Friday evening.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by PHL:
I don't. The PIT-CDG service may or may not come back. Yeah - they said it's seasonal, but June is a long way away. Who knows if the A330's will even still be in the fleet, which means the 767's(current and new acquisitions) may be jockeyed around to serve the routes. PHL would likely get priority over PIT and CLT.. You can at least be somewhat certain that if USAirways is still around, you'll be near-guarnateed a flight out of PHL.
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I don't think you have to worry about the Airbuses going anywhere. From what I understand, Airbus is the only one that is being paid for their 'planes.