Long ish connection in Philadelphia

[gpullan]

Hi all

We are travelling home Tampa-Philadelphia-Manchester with 6 hours in Philly.

Does anyoe have any experience of Philadelphia airport and in particular lounges there?

We are 2 adults and 4 kids and we think that paying for a lounge might be a good idea to have somewhere to go to sit comfortably and get refreshments. We think we will eat at a retaurant out of the lounge and use it as a base.

Any thoughts?

I believe we fly out of Terminal A and we are flying with American Airlines through BA.

Many thanks

Garry

[Dads_Taxi]

We've had a couple of trips via Philadelphia with similar length of stop over. The time literally flew by. Free wifi everywhere so the kids were just on their gizmos, well OK, we all were, and a great selection of food in the food court. It really wasn't a problem.

[Katys Grandad]

AA have their Admirals Club at PHL which can be accessed on payment. Nothing special though. Have a look on the AA website.

Don't know how old your kids are but if you are on the return leg and straight off the connecting flight without luggage that's plenty of time to jump on the train which is literally within the terminal and go downtown to have a look around and grab a Philly cheesesteak. Philadelphia is a great city.

[gpullan]

We've had a couple of trips via Philadelphia with similar length of stop over. The time literally flew by. Free wifi everywhere so the kids were just on their gizmos, well OK, we all were, and a great selection of food in the food court. It really wasn't a problem.

That's great, thanks for the advice. So you wouldn't even bother with the lounge?

[gpullan]

AA have their Admirals Club at PHL which can be accessed on payment. Nothing special though. Have a look on the AA website.

Don't know how old your kids are but if you are on the return leg and straight off the connecting flight without luggage that's plenty of time to jump on the train which is literally within the terminal and go downtown to have a look around and grab a Philly cheesesteak. Philadelphia is a great city.

My wife was looking yesterday at going into Philadelphia but having never used a connecting flight we weren't sure if a) we will need to collect our bags, b) if we are allowed to leave the airport and c) with having a 6 hour connection, how long before the flight we would need to be back at the airport for the onward flight??

If we have plenty of time and it's not that far then we would definitely like to go into the city for a meal as long as we are ok to do the above?

Thanks.

[Katys Grandad]

I've assumed from your original post that you're talking about the return home journey.

Firstly, you'll will check your bags at TPA and be issued with boarding passes for both flights. You won't see your bags again until you're at the carousel back in Manchester.

No problem whatsoever leaving the airport between legs so you just walk through the exit to go land-side and follow the signs for the SEPTA train which will take you no more than a couple of minutes. Go down the steps to the platform. The trains are very frequent and you don't have to buy a ticket before boarding. The trip takes less than 25 minutes. It isn't expensive but as I can get the Senior $1 return fare, I'm not sure just how much it will cost you. The SEPTA website will probably have the fares.

I'd suggest being back at the airport at least 90 minutes before the flight because you'll have to go through security again using your boarding passes. That will give you about 4 hours downtown.

If you're looking for a food recommendation I'd go to Reading Terminal Market which is a converted railroad station and has stalls selling just about every kind of food you can imagine. Otherwise you'll have plenty of choice all over the downtown area.

[gpullan]

That sounds like a fantastic idea!!...and 4 hours is much more than we could have expected.

We can have a meal in Philly for the same price as the lounge and lunch in the airport.

Thanks very much for the tip, can taste the cheesesteak already!!

[ujpest doza]

We're flying home from TPA via Philly next month and have 1hr 45 minutes between flights.

I assume we just follow signs for flight connections and stay airside but will have to run?

[gpullan]

We're flying home from TPA via Philly next month and have 1hr 45 minutes between flights.

I assume we just follow signs for flight connections and stay airside but will have to run?

We did this route yesterday. If you are flying with American then the gates will be in the same terminal and not too far away. We arrive in B21 and flew out of A6 and they are about a 10 minute walk between.

There are lots of shops and bars in each section so you won't have a problem as long as the flight isn't delayed.

[ujpest doza]

We did this route yesterday. If you are flying with American then the gates will be in the same terminal and not too far away. We arrive in B21 and flew out of A6 and they are about a 10 minute walk between.

There are lots of shops and bars in each section so you won't have a problem as long as the flight isn't delayed.

yes we are flying BA but the flight from Tampa is an American Airlines flight. Arrives Philly at 1636 and we depart for Heathrow at 1820.