Originally Posted by
wendyg
I've made it in under an hour - by sitting at the front of the plane, sprinting through the airport, having no checked baggage, not getting stopped at customs, and having the plane arrive on time or a little early.
30th Street Station is indeed a very comfortable place to spend an hour or several - there's a Costa and an Au Bon Pain (with soup, which is always nice), and a bunch of other food sources (Chinese, salads, smoothies), a post office, free wi-fi throughout the station, and plenty of places to sit.
Personally, because US Airways *can* on occasion go haywire (I've been on a couple of flights that were diverted for refuelling when asked to hold), I prefer not to buy my onward train ticket until I arrive at 30th Street. That also means that if I get there earlier than expected I can get an earlier train. But I'm usually going to NYC or Harrisburg, and there are many trains to both of those. You may not be so lucky.
wg
Because AMTRAK fare buckets are fairly simple, the earlier you buy your ticket, the cheaper it is. As long as you dont pick it up, you can fully refund it, and even after picking it up, you can apply its value to another ticket. There is one glitch where you can get hit with a 10% fee or soemthing, other FT threads will give more detail. I'd buy your ticket asap and not pick it up till you reach the station. Wrost comes to worst, if you're delayed, ccall fromt he airport and reticket on a later train -- the worst hting that happens is you have to pay the difference between your fare and the walk up fare, which is the fare you'd pay if you ... walked up... anyway.