OK, OK PHL is not the worst place in the world. I fly out of there and connect there and have had less trouble than at other less used (by me) airports like DFW, LAX, MIA and SFO. and yes I fly at lot, I made CP for next year in January and CP for 2007 this week (assuming rollover continues).
So I'm starting a thread for GOOD things that have happened in PHL.
I'll start...
US Airways has never lost my bags there. I've never missed a connection there.
I've never missed a flight because of long TSA lines (which are better now BTW)
I've watched tired Gate Agents smile at 5 loud abusive jerks in a row during a weather cancellation.
I watched several GAs go out of their way to help some half drunk, wacky Italian teens who were well out of line. They were kind, gentle and got things back on keel without calling the cops.
EnvoyBoy
Jul 17, 05, 2:08 pm
On two occasions I have been witness to and part of GA's going to remarkable lengths to turn a plane around get us out before the crew went illegal on the last flight out at night. My favorite GA is Heather. She's not the least bit particularly friendly but is incredibly efficient and manages to board and manage an oversold 321 with speed. She's a no nonsense kind of gal and I respect her for it.
PSUhorty
Jul 17, 05, 2:57 pm
~cricket chirp, cricket chirp~
BF263533
Jul 17, 05, 3:00 pm
Flights were running on time, then after a 20 minute thunder storm things fell apart at PHL. The delays to actual take off were hitting 5 hours. The flight I was on to Denver after 1 1/2 hours late pushing back, and then after another 1 hour on the taxi way went back to the gate because the pilot would exceed the legal flying time limit by the time he arrived in Denver. Could not get another captain for the A321 so the flight cancelled. All hotels within 5 miles were sold out. Everyone had to sleep in the dirty airport.
The next day all flights PHL-DEN on all airlines were full. After US Air refused to put on a special section to Denver the next day, the agents went out of their way to accommodate everyone the next day to Denver. Many had to fly to LAX or SFO to get to DEN, but these 3 or 4 agents accommodated everyone from the full A321.
It looked like a US Air employee from operations came over to the area. The one US Air special services counter agent pulled him over to the side and she read him the riot act for 10 minutes. You could see these special services agents had a true concern for the customers. She was clearly upset about all the inconvenience the passengers were going through. They were able to send me back home to Florida and my gate was next to the special services counter so I could watch everyone being re-accommodated. Because of the dedicated attitude of these few US Air agents, most people were happy to be re-accommodated, even though they had to sleep in the airport.
Even though I never made it to Denver, I was back home in FLorida by 4:15AM, and in bed by 5:15AM. So one good thing about PHL were these dedicated and fantastic agents who showed showed a true concern for the customer.
I have always found the city itself a fun city that has greatly improved over the years, and the airport very easy to get to.
kudzu
Jul 17, 05, 3:07 pm
Where I live I prefer CLT, but I connect in PHL several times each year for transAtlantic flights.
The PHL Clubs are pleasant, the Club ladies helpful, and I've yet to miss a flight or face a loss/delay of my checked luggage (I try not to check luggage, though)
cedric
Jul 17, 05, 3:47 pm
The Gate Agents at PHL are absolutely no-holds-barred the best in any hub for any airline that I've ever encountered.
1) I've never had to pay a standby fee if my inbound was early or an earlier flight to my destination was delayed.
2) There are some shining examples of great customer service that I have experienced. Most notably (and this was pre-status for me), I arrived one day from Madrid with a scheduled connection to Toronto about 5 hours later. Normally, I would take my bags down the Express terminal rather than put them on the connecting baggage belt in A if I knew chances were good to make an earlier flight. On that particular day, however, I knew I wouldn't have time to make it/obtain new boarding passes/clear security etc to make the earlier flight, so I put them on the reconnect belt. By the time I had recleared security, I noticed that the earlier flight had been delayed, so I made my way airside to terminal F'd and spoke with the GA about getting on the flight. She said sure, I inquired about my bags, and she proceeded to spend the next 20 minutes on the phone calling every possible place the bags might be... terminal A sort room, a hold room for long connections, the gate my originally scheduled flight was supposed to depart from, etc. Even though she couldn't locate them, she offered to let me fly on the flight and just return to the airport in Toronto once they arrived on the later flight.
Since I don't live anywhere near the airport, I opted to wait for my original flight while the agent apologized profusely. (continued)
What I like about PHL 3) Cibo Bistro and Wine Bar. Compared to most offerings at airports, this place is 1000% better. I had a very leisurely dinner, browsed the shops, etc. and eventually went over to my gate.
...Eventually the gate agent showed up and since this was a lightly loaded flight, we started talking about a bunch of stuff, namely US' entry into Star Alliance which was to happen the next day. We decided to have some fun and see how good the training at US is, and we tested each other on the IATA codes for the Star carriers. She got more than I did. Right in the middle of that, two guys walked over to the gate with a huge Star Alliance sign (the ones at each gate listing all the member airlines) which was nothing short of a picture-perfect moment. At some point, she commented on how long my connection was, so I told her my story about trying to catch the earlier flight. Without prompting, she started calling the baggage holdrooms to see if my bag had turned up. Since it was late in the evening, she couldn't get ahold of any of them so she decided that an upgrade was in order "for not being able to provide you with the status of your bags" which was fine by me! Myself and the other 9 passengers had a quick flight up to YYZ - and my bags were just coming onto the belt when I cleared immigration.
Altogether, a great effort by the PHL team to turn an unpleasant situation into a fantastic one. Six months later, I became US Gold.
pitflyer
Jul 17, 05, 4:09 pm
Another great thing, With so many flights from PHL, there's always a plane leaving PHL!