OK, how about this easy alternative?
You friend will arrive @ PHX T4, ask him to retrieve his luggage(s) and instead of heading straight out to the curb to join a crowd of others arriving passengers, following the sign to ticketing - Departure (one floor up from the luggage area). Ask him to inform you whether his preference is on the North or South Side of the Departure level - barring anything happen, either side will be so sparsely populated as comparing to the arrival level. You would then following the sign (from 44th St) to the airport to T4 and meet him on either North or South curb without barely seeing any other souls! Once you have picked your friend up, then it's just simply a case of exitting the airport toward the I-10 W, which then connects to the I-17 N toward Sedona etc...
Yes, I very often look at the choke-a-block traffic at the arrival level while whizzing passed it (on the perimeter road) after having been picked on the departure level!