A Seemingly Naive, Perhaps Even Inane Question

[matika]

I'm sure this has been broached before. It's a simple question, with myriad answers (maybe).

Why does the company continue to focus on PHL when most everyone, pax and crew alike, seems to hate it? Of the many complaints I've heard:

* The baggage system is severely inefficient. (I can confirm this complaint without qualification. I work in PIT and I've had pax beg me not to reroute them or their bags through PHL.)

* PHL is highly congested. Misconnects are old hat. And yet it's almost to be expected that your flight will be delayed.

* The airport has a "difficult" layout. Hard to get from point A to point B at times.

Many more, but those are the ones that come to mind as I'm typing this.

Answers? Feedback? Thoughts?

 

[Walmartgreeter]

Why does the company continue to focus on PHL when most everyone, pax and crew alike, seems to hate it?

PHL, as I understand it, is one of the larger population centers in the USA that is not tapped out with air service....in other words, there is a large amount originating air travel market to be had. It is a terrible airport, and a badly run airport..but the potential IS there. Best. Greeter. (hoping U can get it act together and clean up in PHL)

 

[robbedagain]

i believe that phl has a higher O&D traffic plus the locals are a lot higher and we have all european runs are done thru phl as well as the carribbean. I dont know much more but phl is probably in all honesty a money making hub but i dont really know for sure

 

[matika]

It is a terrible airport, and a badly run airport..but the potential IS there.

I guess I'd have to agree with that. PHL is definitely a large population center. Now if something could just be done about that airport...

 

[FLYUSAIRWAYS]

Every afternoon its the same ol thing. Both PHL flights have ground stops due to the Philly factor. Its a no win situation. Can't get the misconnects home to save our lives. We don't play the game anymore, we just go down and talk to the captain, and remind him that he gets paid to leave the gate and take the delay out on the runway. We board up on time, and push back from the gate , and then they sit out on the runway for a couple hours until they get released. Of course most of the passengers misconnect once they arrive in PHL, but since this is getting old hat, let the PHL agents deal with it. We have had enough. Until this company can realize that there is a major problem in PHL, we are tired of taking the brunt of it. There is a new moto for all PHL flights "Board up and leave the gate no matter what".. This is not my idea to do this, but my supervisors'. Can't question the supervisors actions while on the job, if I did, it would just make more headaches for everyone. Maybe once the rolling hub starts, all will be fine.

 

[mweiss]

In terms of O&D, PHL is the #22 airport in the country, with 6 million passengers per year. Compare this to PIT, #42 with 3 million passengers, and CLT, #53 with 2.5 million passengers. BOS has more O&D (it's #12 with 8M pax), but it's not well-placed as a connecting hub.

 

[RowUnderDCA]

I guess I'd have to agree with that. PHL is definitely a large population center. Now if something could just be done about that airport...

Go here:

http://www.phl.org/master_plan.html

I believe that the PDF's at the bottom of the page will show possiblities for improving PHL. It's a priority project. Of course, some people will say it's controversial in the local area. Others will say it's obviously needed.

If you have an opinion and live in the area, I'd bet there's a mechanism to give input.

 

[USHenry]

I'm sure this has been broached before. It's a simple question, with myriad answers (maybe).

Why does the company continue to focus on PHL when most everyone, pax and crew alike, seems to hate it? Of the many complaints I've heard:

* The baggage system is severely inefficient. (I can confirm this complaint without qualification. I work in PIT and I've had pax beg me not to reroute them or their bags through PHL.)

* PHL is highly congested. Misconnects are old hat. And yet it's almost to be expected that your flight will be delayed.

* The airport has a "difficult" layout. Hard to get from point A to point B at times.

Many more, but those are the ones that come to mind as I'm typing this.

Answers? Feedback? Thoughts?

COST. It's just flat out "cheaper" on the balance sheet and the Microsoft Excel spreadsheets that rule corporate America to connect passengers through PHL because of the large population as documented earlier.

Now, whether it's TRULY, completely cheaper is a matter for some debate. Excel spreadsheets don't show the effects of customer dissatisfaction or word of mouth.

That having been said, I am a Chairman's Preferred for my third year in a row. About 280 segments so far. I suppose I'm incredibly lucky and I hate to jinx myself, but I have missed two connections on USAirways total - once when there was freezing rain all over the East Coast one miserable night in March. And yes, I do connect through PHL almost exclusively now. And, yes, I have had some real close calls.