My most frequent flight on US Airways is the quick 1-hour Albany to Philly flight. I'm working & in school in Albany but the family is in northern Delaware.
Since I fly home approx two times per month, this leaves me plenty of time in Philly to talk to CSRs, etc.
Overall, the Philly staff is great - just like the majority of US Airways front-line staff. They are usually courteous and professional (key word being professional) in an often chaotic work environment.
The situation is worsened by the frequent bad weather, delays, poor runway layout, ground issues, etc. Most of these issues cannot be changed by a CSR and therefore add lots of stress to an already stressful job.
I would say that its important to not cast a bad shadow over all employees @ PHL simply because they work @ PHL. Each employee should have their chance to shine and shouldn't be generalized as poor employees.
Regarding differences between the Philly culture and say CLT's, the area is simply different. Philly is a bit more loud and life moves at a fast pace. Try flying out of ALB (slow, everyone knows each other, overly-friendly) to PHL (fast, tons of people). Give the staff a break - and they'll take care of you just like they do for me!
[edited for spelling]
[This message has been edited by chrislacey (edited 12-20-2002).]