Help with connection in Phili (PHL)
 

Hi guys. I'm wondering if any of you have suggestions or knowledge to help me make a decision for what my options are for the trip below.

I'm flying from HVN (Tweed-New Haven) and connecting in Philadelphia before continuing on to Paris (CDG) on US Airways. I am being presented with two realistic options.

1) Fly into Phili around 5:10 pm and have a 1 hr 5 min connection time for my international flight (which departs at 6:15 pm). I'm a bit leery on this one. This is the only flight US offers through their site.

2) Travelocity, Orbitz, and Cheapoair also offer one where I fly in and arrive at PHL at 10:24 am and take the same flight into Paris which leaves in the evening.

I don't mind a long layover, but in emailing US Airways, they will not allow me to check my bag to its final destination for itinerary 2 due to the length of time between flights and say I will need to retrieve my bag and recheck it in PHL.

This concerns me as I don't know how bad check in at PHL is, plus I don't know if I then need to wait a number of hours before I can check my bag, and if they will give me both boarding passes at HVN or if that will have to be done as well. (Their response was very vague with regards to this)

If that is indeed the case, I imagine I would not be able to reenter the terminal post-security until I can check the bag. Is there much in the way of places to sit, eat, and perhaps get a paper before that point? And lastly, how complicated would it be to go from baggage claim to the check in counters for US?

After all this, would it just be better to take the later flight? I'm concerned a delay would cause me to miss my connection. HVN->PHL aircraft is a Dash-8 100 operated by Piedmont.

Comments? Suggestions?

Thanks again!

[QUOTE=cyboex19;9747041]Hi guys. I'm wondering if any of you have suggestions or knowledge to help me make a decision for what my options are for the trip below.



2) Travelocity, Orbitz, and Cheapoair also offer one where I fly in and arrive at PHL at 10:24 am and take the same flight into Paris which leaves in the evening.

I don't mind a long layover, but in emailing US Airways, they will not allow me to check my bag to its final destination for itinerary 2 due to the length of time between flights and say I will need to retrieve my bag and recheck it in PHL.

QUOTE]

I'd have to check my times, but I flew from MHT to VCE on US last fall, and I think my layover was longer. I don't remember having to recheck my bags in Philly on the way there. On the way back , I did have to claim them returning from Europe and immediately recheck them; the process was smooth at PHL. EDIT: I flew US from MHT down, arriving in Philily 12:47 for a 6:30 flight to Venice. A bit shorter than your layover.


New Haven is pretty close to Philly -- any thought of driving down rather than the hassle of the connection? I'm 40 mins outisde Boston (west) and Philly is just a bit better to fly than drive. For you, it's close....

Train is likely easy to get in New Haven, but it runs to 30th Street in Philly -- you'd have ot connect to regional rail to the airport. Not bad, but not great, depending on your bags.

I would be leery about option 1 also. The one hour connection is ok only if you arrive in PHL on time and get into your gate right away. You then need to take the shuttle from terminal F over to terminal A.

Did you try calling US to see if you can get on an early HVN-PHL flight? I see that the only connecting flight you are offered via the website is the 3:49pm flight. Maybe others here can tell you how to manipulate the US website into offering other choices.

If you go with option 2, don't check your bag in HVN. If it isn't too big, see if you can gate check it...then retrieve it plane-side in PHL. I don't think check-in for the international terminal opens until mid- to late-afternoon. You'd have to lug your bag through the terminal, but at least you'd be airside and could then take the airport shuttle from F to A (where your flight leaves from) or B (where there is a mini-mall)...but now you have options while your wait. If this all works out...then once international check in opens, you can just go downstairs and check your bag.

(Also, ask a moderator to get this moved to the US forum...you'll have better success there than here in Travel Buzz)

I would be worried about a 65 minute connection especially into PHL which can have lots of delay problems, obviously compunded later in the day. I think minimum connection time for international travel is 60 minutes so that's pretty close but obviously still legal. A quick look shows a HVN-PHL flight that gets in at 12:35 so it would be a little less time wondering around PHL and maybe they'll be able to check bags all the way through.

Getting to ticketing from baggage claim is not bad, just up the escalator and down the other side. Since you're coming from HVN you would likely be arriving in either B or C terminal which is where you would have to collect your bags and then go over to A for the CDG flight. You can go through security at B/C and then walk inside to A. Not too bad especially since you'll have lots of time if you decide to go that route. I would assume you can get your BP in HVN for the PHL-CDG flight since I know you are able to check in online for international flights (which is what I would recommend).

Unfortunately there isn't anything outside security by way of shops, places to eat, etc.

Hope this helps and enjoy your trip! :)

Being that you're flying a turboprop from Tweed-New Haven into Philly, be aware that those are likely to be the first flights delayed or cancelled when the weather turns bad. You'll come into Terminal F and have to go to Terminal A by taking the bus to Gate C16 then walking.

I would think that you could get your bag tagged and checked in all the way through from HVN to CDG if you take the earlier flight. If not, you've got hours to spend so taking the bag yourself wouldn't be too big a deal. Your bag coming in from HVN is going to be coming out in Terminal F. I'm not all that familiar with Terminal A, but there are places to eat and relax outside of security in most of the other terminals.

If you didn't want to wait on the connection there (which you might be able to book on the US site using a multi-city search), depending on what side to New Haven you live on would Providence, Hartford, or Stewart be a better choice?

[QUOTE=ludocdoc;9747137]I appreciate the reply. I would prefer to fly out of HVN, and part of that is because I have yet to... and the other part is that I am being dropped off and picked up by family. HVN is an easy drive from my house. Realistically though, if I couldn't fly out of HVN, I would probably end up in BDL since it's an easy drive. I myself don't enjoy the drive to NYC airports and further and thus I'm willing to wait it out. Plus as I said, I've yet to fly from HVN (wow that looks like a tiny terminal!)

I forgot to add, the return connection would be 3 hours. Is this enough time to get through immigration/customs/rechecking the bag (since I'm positive on the return this will be needed)? Thanks again!

No way that I'd do an international connection at PHL in 65 minutes. No less than 120 minutes in my book.

Are you *certain* that you can't check your luggage at HVN? It's a same-day flight, I don't see what's the big deal in that.

JP

There are places to eat and relax outside security for Terminals D and E. I had forgotten that there really isn't for B and C though one could walk across to the Marriott at B to eat and relax there.

Certainly there are seats in the baggage areas, but I know this isn't what you're looking for. You might only have two options:
1) The international arrivals lounge in terminal A has a news/snack stand.
2) The airport Marriott in terminal B.

I don't know that there is a shuttle that moves people terminal to terminal in PHL. I think you'd have to walk. If you do, you're best bet is to go to the parking garage and just cut through.

[QUOTE=cyboex19;9747202]3hours on the return : no problem, as long as your hop across the pond goes ok. Clearing Customs in Philly is very easy early in the AM. PVD is pretty easy to fly out of, and the US connection is likely cheaper than BDL. I also see a midday flight from US that would make the layover better. I actually fudged a longer layover to take my sisters out for lunch in Philly.

[QUOTE=ludocdoc;9747250]
The big thing is that on the way back I need to take an afternoon departure from CDG (as I need to take the TGV from Poiters, France in the morning to get to CDG) - United I believe has a 12:30 pm one and US a 1:30 pm flight. Continental has one too but I seem to have horrid luck connecting in EWR, plus it arrives in BDL on the late side. I appreciate the alternate ideas for PVD, which is cheaper, and Stewart, which this time appears not to be (though domesticly it almost always seems to be when I've flown). Really I have it narrowed to BDL and HVN, and I would really like to fly out of HVN, but I am realistic this might not be the time to do it. Perhaps this should be more... "Should I fly United out of BDL and connect in IAD, or connect in PHL with US Airways?"

Thanks guys for your help...

To be brutal, if I had any option of avoiding a late-afternoon flight on a US RJ, plus a TATL red-eye on US, I would take it. As others have said above, the 5:10 arrival into Philly would be very dangerous--I haven't been on an on-time flight on US in years, late afternoon/evening is the worst time of day for on-time performance, and RJs are the first to get knocked out of the schedule.

If you are traveling from New Haven then I would seriously consider taking Amtrak to Philadelphia, instead of a US connection. The train trip to Philly is really quite pleasant, and the SEPTA connection from Amtrak's station to PHL is very simple.

Otherwise I would pick the UA trip. The long-haul part of the trip would be much more pleasant on UA, and if the connection is more reasonable through IAD, that clinches it.

Round 2 Questions for Paris trip
 

Alright people, I have a few more questions but I think it's better to put them here rather than open a new thread.

1) As I said above, would it be better to connect via IAD and fly on United originating in BDL (Hartford), or to connect in PHL? Which is more prone to ATC or congestion delays? Which is more prone to weather delays in July?

2) If you think IAD is better, I am being offered shorter connection times...
example, 90 minutes between the landing time of the flight from BDL to the flight to CDG, and 2.5 hours on the return trip from CDG connecting back to BDL. This is as I said, all on United metal. There is also a 5.5 hr connection option for the BDL->IAD->CDG segments, but only the 2.5 hr one for the return trip. Is this enough in IAD? Or should I be looking back at the PHL flights to BDL or HVN?

United
Flight 1199 Departs: 2:27p
Bradley Intl (BDL) Arrives: 3:57p
Dulles Intl (IAD)
Coach | Aircraft: Boeing 737-500 | 1h 30m
[ Layover in Washington, DC (IAD) for 1h 32m ]
Lufthansa
Flight 9377
Operated by United Departs: 5:29p
Dulles Intl (IAD) Arrives: 6:55a
Ch. De Gaulle (CDG)
Coach | Aircraft: Boeing 777 | 7h 26m

Return – Sat 19 Jul 2008
Lufthansa
Flight 9376
Operated by United Departs: 12:25p
Ch. De Gaulle (CDG) Arrives: 2:49p
Dulles Intl (IAD)
Coach | Aircraft: Boeing 777 | 8h 24m
[ Layover in Washington, DC (IAD) for 2h 36m ]
United
Flight 312 Departs: 5:25p
Dulles Intl (IAD) Arrives: 6:54p
Bradley Intl (BDL)
Coach | Aircraft: 735 | 1h 29m

+1. Amtrak doesn't lose bags like US does, and your connection odds at PHL are slim to none. If you don't care between US and UA, take the train. 30th Street to SEPTA R1 beats the pants off using PHL.

You will need EVERY SINGLE MINUTE of that connection in IAD coming home. The airport is the seventh circle of hell when it comes to making it through Customs & Immigration.

By July, the weather shouldn't be too bad in Philly. IAD is less prone to flight delays since it's further away from the coast and has more runways operational in bad weather.