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Earlier Transatlantic Departure Times from PHL

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Old Jan 30, 2018, 9:42 am
  #1  
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Earlier Transatlantic Departure Times from PHL

Hi all,

Anyone else noticed that for the summer, a few TATL departure times from PHL seem rather early?

ATH - 16:30
MUC - 16:30
MAD - 17:10

MUC is really the one I've noticed as it makes connecting from DCA quite annoying (only a 08:24 flight connects). Is this due to the new BUD and PRG flights?
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Old Jan 30, 2018, 10:39 am
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Originally Posted by iadisgreat
Hi all,

Anyone else noticed that for the summer, a few TATL departure times from PHL seem rather early?

ATH - 16:30
MUC - 16:30
MAD - 17:10

MUC is really the one I've noticed as it makes connecting from DCA quite annoying (only a 08:24 flight connects). Is this due to the new BUD and PRG flights?
I noticed MUC too, 4:30pm departure is awful.
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Old Jan 30, 2018, 11:13 am
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I believe ATH has always been relatively early. I did not realize MUC and MAD were that early. The current winter timing for PHL-MAD is a 6:50pm departure and PHL-MUC a 6:45pm departure. The 6pm hour during the summer is packed with TA departures so they might need to space some flights out.
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Old Jan 30, 2018, 2:42 pm
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Agreed. This is why I like going to LHR. Leave at 9PM which is much better.

My flight to MAD this summer leaves at 5:05PM. Ugh!
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Old Jan 30, 2018, 4:21 pm
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ATH has always been an early flight. 4:30 is actually a little later, as a couple summers ago when I took it, it was at 4:10. Since the flight is longer, you land in ATH at around 9:00a local, which isn't too bad. But I agree that for MUC and MAD, those times seem ridiculously early. As others have said, it could be due to scheduling restrictions, however this summer's TATL schedule isn't the busiest it's been (as in years past flights have also operated to TLV, BRU, OSL, MXP, EDI, BHX, and ARN during the summer season and PHL has accommodated them just fine).

Last edited by GotCalcio4; Jan 31, 2018 at 4:54 pm
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Old Jan 30, 2018, 4:36 pm
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Originally Posted by GotCalcio4
ATH has always been an early flight. 4:30 is actually a little later, as a couple summers ago when I took it, it was at 4:10. Since the flight is longer, you land in ATH at around 9:00a local, which isn't too bad. But I agree that for MUC and MAD, those times seem ridiculously early. As others have said, it could be due to scheduling restrictions, however this summer's TATL schedule isn't the busiest it's been (as in years past flights have also operated to TLV, BRU, SNN, OSL, MXP, EDI, BHX, and ARN during the summer season and PHL has accommodated them just fine).
I actually didn't check when ATH usually left, it just seemed early and has the same problem for me from DCA connection wise. 😁
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Old Jan 30, 2018, 7:06 pm
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There always used to be a 4pm hour bank of flights to Europe in the summertime. IIRC, when US flew PHL-MXP, it also used to depart around that time of day.
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Old Jan 30, 2018, 7:34 pm
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Originally Posted by GotCalcio4
ATH has always been an early flight. 4:30 is actually a little later, as a couple summers ago when I took it, it was at 4:10. Since the flight is longer, you land in ATH at around 9:00a local, which isn't too bad. But I agree that for MUC and MAD, those times seem ridiculously early. As others have said, it could be due to scheduling restrictions, however this summer's TATL schedule isn't the busiest it's been (as in years past flights have also operated to TLV, BRU, SNN, OSL, MXP, EDI, BHX, and ARN during the summer season and PHL has accommodated them just fine).
PHL-TLV departed at like 9:30pm and SNN still operates so they don’t really factor into any congestion.
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Old Jan 31, 2018, 5:07 am
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I have a flight to ATH in late May originating from DCA. I did not want to take that early flight to PHL from DCA so I am taking a 10:50 am flight to CLT and a flight from CLT to PHL to connect. It is a mini-mileage run. I hoping that schedule changes including a later added flight to PHL (around noon would be great) will allow me at some point to avoid a mini-mileage run.
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Old Jan 31, 2018, 8:16 am
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6/25 TA departures by hour
4:00 - 5:00
ATH, MUC

5:00 - 6:00
MAD, DUB (EI), FRA (LH)

6:00 - 7:00
FRA, FCO, ZRH, VCE, BCN, LHR (BA), AMS, PRG, BUD

7:00 - 8:00
LHR (AA), GLA

8:00 - 9:00
LHR (AA), DOH (QR)

9:00 - 10:00
CDG, LHR (BA), DUB, SNN, LIS

So there is a bit of a log jam in the 6pm hour.
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Old Jan 31, 2018, 9:19 am
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These early departure times are awful. I flew AA 100 from JFK-LHR over Christmas. I think it left at 1800. We pulled into the gate at 5 am way too early and your day is shot because it's too early. I will now take the late 10 pm flight if possible.
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Old Jan 31, 2018, 11:29 am
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Somewhat off-topic, but I wonder how long AA and BA can sustain so much capacity to LHR - 3 daily flights, and another 3x weekly BA flight coming this May? Here's the seat map for AA 736 yesterday (1/30), about 30 min prior to departure - so pretty much everyone booked on that flight should have had seat assignments already.



The late AA flight to LHR wasn't much better, and today's flight load is also pretty light.

J is mostly full, with only a few seats unassigned (J2 R1 D1 I0 today).. Does J cabin actually pay for the entire flight?
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Old Jan 31, 2018, 11:43 am
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Originally Posted by legalalien
Does J cabin actually pay for the entire flight?
+ cargo yes.
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Old Jan 31, 2018, 12:03 pm
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Originally Posted by legalalien
Somewhat off-topic, but I wonder how long AA and BA can sustain so much capacity to LHR - 3 daily flights, and another 3x weekly BA flight coming this May? Here's the seat map for AA 736 yesterday (1/30), about 30 min prior to departure - so pretty much everyone booked on that flight should have had seat assignments already.

The late AA flight to LHR wasn't much better, and today's flight load is also pretty light.

J is mostly full, with only a few seats unassigned (J2 R1 D1 I0 today).. Does J cabin actually pay for the entire flight?
A Tuesday departure in late January is about as off-peak as you can get for transatlantic flights. I wouldn't put any weight into spot checking a few seatmaps at this time of year, outside of a few moderately busy weekends around New Years and the Europe to FL/CA/Caribbean holiday traffic, January and February are complete dead zones for coach transatlantic travel. I'd be willing to bet a majority of AA's TATL flights were as equally lightly loaded yesterday, not just PHL-LHR.

I'm flying JFK-HEL tomorrow, at this time there's maybe 30 seats tops taken in the back of the AY A330.
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Old Jan 31, 2018, 12:18 pm
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I would say that's a pretty good load for a midweek TATL flight in January.
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