PHL Airport Time Question
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 11
PHL Airport Time Question
Hello. Next month I’ll be flying to Philadelphia for the first time and I had a question about my flight leaving Philadelphia. My Delta flight leaves at 6:10 am going to Detroit and I was planning an taking the SEPTA train from Jefferson Station to the airport, but the earliest train arrives at 4:50 am to the Delta terminal. I do have TSA Precheck, but I do have to check in a bag. Since I have no familiarity with this airport, I thought I’d ask here to see if people think that 80 minutes is enough time or if I should consider getting an Uber/Lyft? I’m someone who arrives early by nature and I hate the feeling of being late, but since I’m not dealing with traffic or parking, I think 80 minutes is doable for most airports I’ve been to in the past. Thanks for any help.
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 11
Thanks for the reply. If I was flying out of a familiar airport, I probably wouldn’t think anything of it, but I just don’t know what things are usually like there. I’ve flown that early out of MCO in Orlando and I wouldn’t think twice about 80 minutes.
#6
Join Date: Jul 2017
Programs: AA Plat Pro
Posts: 49
Bumping this thread to see if anyone has more recent data points. I'm traveling mid-week at 3pm on AA from PHL. Will have two small kids with me, and masks are still a struggle for them at times - they'll be fine with an iPad to distract them on the plane, but we're trying to minimize the amount of time we have to wait around in the terminal with masks on and nothing to do. Trying to figure out how close we can cut it if we need to check bags. I am Gold, so hopefully the check-in line will be shorter, but we can't do precheck with the kids so will need to wait in the security line. Obviously, there's personal taste involved and everyone's comfort with cutting things close may be different, but it would help to get a sense of how long the checkin and security lines tend to be mid-day on a weekday. Likely flying out of F given our destination (SDF) so if anyone has insight into how things are over there I'd be especially grateful.
#7
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Trenton NJ
Programs: UA Gold MM, Honors Diamond, Marriott Gold, Hertz President’s Circle
Posts: 3,662
Bumping this thread to see if anyone has more recent data points. I'm traveling mid-week at 3pm on AA from PHL. Will have two small kids with me, and masks are still a struggle for them at times - they'll be fine with an iPad to distract them on the plane, but we're trying to minimize the amount of time we have to wait around in the terminal with masks on and nothing to do. Trying to figure out how close we can cut it if we need to check bags. I am Gold, so hopefully the check-in line will be shorter, but we can't do precheck with the kids so will need to wait in the security line. Obviously, there's personal taste involved and everyone's comfort with cutting things close may be different, but it would help to get a sense of how long the checkin and security lines tend to be mid-day on a weekday. Likely flying out of F given our destination (SDF) so if anyone has insight into how things are over there I'd be especially grateful.
#8
Join Date: Jan 2011
Programs: UA S, Marriott P
Posts: 1,154
We have a trip scheduled end of December, starting the track in central jersey (1.5-2h) to parking, then PHL (AA).
I was planning to book a hotel the night before, but every "reasonably" priced one nighter in airport vicinity is a terrible dumpster dump according to reviews.. So I am back to thinking of starting the track at 5am directly to parking lot.
Is this unwise?
everyone is GE/precheck in the party, no bags checked most likely
I was planning to book a hotel the night before, but every "reasonably" priced one nighter in airport vicinity is a terrible dumpster dump according to reviews.. So I am back to thinking of starting the track at 5am directly to parking lot.
Is this unwise?
everyone is GE/precheck in the party, no bags checked most likely
Last edited by dsauch; May 18, 2021 at 3:18 pm
#9
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: WAS
Programs: enjoyed being warm spit for a few years on CO/UA but now nothing :(
Posts: 2,503
We have a trip scheduled end of December, starting the track in central jersey (1.5-2h) to parking, then PHL (AA).
I was planning to book a hotel the night before, but every "reasonably" priced one nighter in airport vicinity is a terrible dumpster dump according to reviews.. So I am back to thinking of starting the track at 5am directly to parking lot.
Is this unwise?
everyone is GE/precheck in the party, no bags checked most likely
I was planning to book a hotel the night before, but every "reasonably" priced one nighter in airport vicinity is a terrible dumpster dump according to reviews.. So I am back to thinking of starting the track at 5am directly to parking lot.
Is this unwise?
everyone is GE/precheck in the party, no bags checked most likely
My experience with stay/park & fly was not at PHL but BWI: what I discovered is that depending upon the time of the flight it's simply not worth the effort. For an 8am Sat intl flight we decided to stay overnight at hotel next to airport. To avoid rush hour delays we left about 8pm, arrived at hotel at 9pm. To be at airport at 6am meant catching 5:30am airport shuttle which meant waking everyone up at 4:45am. On the return we had to wait about 45 minutes for the hotel shuttle to bring us back to our car. We could have stayed home and left for the airport at 5:15 to be there at 6, and caught the ever present long-term parking lot shuttle bus on the return and overall been more comfortable and still spent the same amount of time/money on parking.
So, yeah, depending upon the time of your flight, I recommend taking the mass transit the morning of.
#10
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Trenton NJ
Programs: UA Gold MM, Honors Diamond, Marriott Gold, Hertz President’s Circle
Posts: 3,662
My experience with stay/park & fly was not at PHL but BWI: what I discovered is that depending upon the time of the flight it's simply not worth the effort. For an 8am Sat intl flight we decided to stay overnight at hotel next to airport. To avoid rush hour delays we left about 8pm, arrived at hotel at 9pm. To be at airport at 6am meant catching 5:30am airport shuttle which meant waking everyone up at 4:45am. On the return we had to wait about 45 minutes for the hotel shuttle to bring us back to our car. We could have stayed home and left for the airport at 5:15 to be there at 6, and caught the ever present long-term parking lot shuttle bus on the return and overall been more comfortable and still spent the same amount of time/money on parking.
So, yeah, depending upon the time of your flight, I recommend taking the mass transit the morning of.
So, yeah, depending upon the time of your flight, I recommend taking the mass transit the morning of.
#11
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: NYC
Programs: AA GLD, AC
Posts: 4,212
We have a trip scheduled end of December, starting the track in central jersey (1.5-2h) to parking, then PHL (AA).
I was planning to book a hotel the night before, but every "reasonably" priced one nighter in airport vicinity is a terrible dumpster dump according to reviews.. So I am back to thinking of starting the track at 5am directly to parking lot.
Is this unwise?
everyone is GE/precheck in the party, no bags checked most likely
I was planning to book a hotel the night before, but every "reasonably" priced one nighter in airport vicinity is a terrible dumpster dump according to reviews.. So I am back to thinking of starting the track at 5am directly to parking lot.
Is this unwise?
everyone is GE/precheck in the party, no bags checked most likely
#13
Join Date: Jan 2010
Programs: AA BA CO DL UA US
Posts: 814
We have a trip scheduled end of December, starting the track in central jersey (1.5-2h) to parking, then PHL (AA).
I was planning to book a hotel the night before, but every "reasonably" priced one nighter in airport vicinity is a terrible dumpster dump according to reviews.. So I am back to thinking of starting the track at 5am directly to parking lot.
Is this unwise?
everyone is GE/precheck in the party, no bags checked most likely
I was planning to book a hotel the night before, but every "reasonably" priced one nighter in airport vicinity is a terrible dumpster dump according to reviews.. So I am back to thinking of starting the track at 5am directly to parking lot.
Is this unwise?
everyone is GE/precheck in the party, no bags checked most likely
#14
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Berkeley, CA USA
Programs: Piggly Wiggly "Shop the Pig!" Preferred Shopper
Posts: 57,039
Greetings, Philadelphians, young and old. I’ve got a challenging connection via PHL later today. My flight from Venice is very delayed, and it currently looks like I’ll arrive an hour even before my connecting flight to SFO. I have a checked bag which I’ll need to re-check. On the plus side, I have Global Entry, Clear and PreCheck.
Think I’ll make it? Any tips? Thanks.
Think I’ll make it? Any tips? Thanks.
#15
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: MSY
Programs: BA GfL
Posts: 5,925
Here are the things that will be required for you to make this connection (it is possible, but challenging):
- you’re sitting in the front of the inbound plane
- you have nothing to declare at customs
- there is no/minimal line at the airport counter to re-check your bag
- there is no/minimal line at Pre-Check security
- you are a brisk walker
If even one or two of these things isn’t true, I don’t think you want to stick with this connection. I’m assuming your connection is on a single ticket, so it would probably be a good idea to check now on what the options are (later flights, other routings to your destination city) in the event that you miss it and have to work quickly with an agent to change it.
- you’re sitting in the front of the inbound plane
- you have nothing to declare at customs
- there is no/minimal line at the airport counter to re-check your bag
- there is no/minimal line at Pre-Check security
- you are a brisk walker
If even one or two of these things isn’t true, I don’t think you want to stick with this connection. I’m assuming your connection is on a single ticket, so it would probably be a good idea to check now on what the options are (later flights, other routings to your destination city) in the event that you miss it and have to work quickly with an agent to change it.