Lessons in the Philly "F" terminal

I love Piedmont airlines as much as any carrier, especially any regional, but flying into the Philly "F" terminal, aka "The Dump" has taught me many life lessons.

- If at all possible, hold it
I am yet to use the urinal at the dump without coming out with sticky shoes... enough said

- Don't expect anything of the gate agents or the "special services" agents
I've had many interesting experiences, but I'll share this one. On a recent connection, I arrived early (yay Piedmont!) and decided to see if I could "move up" to the earlier connecting flight. I went to special services as there was no gate agent. The special services agent proceeded to tell me that the flight had already left... I then double checked the gate (wisdom for any FTer) and found that the incoming plane's jetway was just extending to the plane to greet the plane. I then went back to special services agent #2. She proceeded to call the gate (literally 20 ft from her) where there was no gate agent still. She told me she could not do anything and I had to talk to the gate agent (who was mia). I went and stood by the gate until the incoming plane had fully deplaned and only then did a gate agent show up who tried to talk me out of moving up (it's going to be really expensive) until I calmed her down and told her it was ok, I'm a US Preferred. Lesson - don't expect anything... you will receive wrong information frequently and must use your FT common sense

- Don't expect correct gate information
My gate information always says I'm departing to Harrisburg/York (a throw back to the Capital City days when Harrisburg's airport was in York county). They manually update the destinations and departure times. They are frequently incorrect and/or missing digits (flight numbers, departure times, etc). It's kind of like Wrigley Field's scoreboard but without the nostalgia.

- Lack of quality eatery
Don't arrive hungry here. Your choices are bad, worse, and inedible. There is a bar that serves 32 oz beers. You may need this.

- The "Dump Truck"
In order to connect to "the other airport" you must either walk and reclear security or take "the dump truck." The "Dump Truck" (passed off as a shuttle) rarely has climate control, runs infrequently enough that those with close connections will be wishing they had made the long walk/run, and often has to stop for planes enroute to the "other airport". The staff's job is to run this like a prison bus.

- Signage
A number of points here. Throughout the terminal they only sign F term flights. Many passengers become confused when they don't see their flight listed (is in cancelled? gasp! or worse yet if it is similar, but not exact they go to the wrong gate for the wrong, later flight. The only board that shows all US flights is next to the Dump Truck gate. Oddly enough, all throughout the main corridor, Amtrak is the key advertiser offering to "lower your CO2 footprint". Very interesting in a terminal filled with connections to those cities on Amtrak's NEC. Maybe they are trying to tell you something.

I've said enough. Now let's hear your lessons learned.