Philadelphia Airport

My wife and I returned from Italy through Philadelphia airport. The airport itself was fine enough but the security was ridiculous. We got through customs in about 45 minutes despite long lines. This was surprising since we ended up in a line with a trainee. Then we went to get our luggage for screening. Well we didn't put them anywhere for screening we just took them to US Air's counter to re-check them. Nonetheless we re-check the bags and then we get in an inexplicably long line. This line was to get through TSA and it was slow! Luckily we had a 3 hour layover because it took over 2 to get through it. The blame was multiple international flights landing at the same time. I've been to many airports and if your flight was leaving very soon they'd politely bring you to the front of the line. My wife and I captured several frantic passengers some crying and had them step in front of us asking those behind if they minded. How hard is it to be courteous? Apparently extremely if you are a Philadelphia TSA agent whose job is a mere redundancy for security. What a terrible impression these people leave upon our international friends visiting our country for business and/or pleasure.

Very poor resource through immigration here! It's as if they can not count how many visitors are passing through the airport. They know how many are scheduled on the planes landing but have not a clue when it comes to efficiently moving them through immigration. Whoever controls this area of operations wants to get a proper job and stand in line for 3 hours and then miss your connection. You would think that Americans know how to do this quickly but it's like watching paint dry! Very poor service keep clear!

I've lived here for quite some time (10+ years) and I've noticed the steady decline in the performance of this airport. I got to the terminal at about 6am for a 7.44am flight. 7.30am rolls around and I along with about 300 other people are still waiting in line. The TSA staff members seemed to not really care that half their clients were about to miss their flight. When I asked a staff member standing to the side he told me "Talk to someone with a vest". Needless to say I had to speak to a supervisor to move anywhere in the line. My flight leaving Philadelphia resulted in my having to sprint to my gate (A24 from the A terminal about a mile) and narrowly getting on-board my flight (having to talk to you gate agent to re-open the doors). The restaurants and kiosks are out-dated the staff seem to not really care about their presentation or their product. The most aggravating thing about this airport? Its seemingly un-necessarily spread out. PHL doesn't see the type of traffic that warrants having that many terminals that many gates and having such a huge distance between terminals. Additionally this airport is horrendously dirty the bathrooms are somewhat disgusting and the gate area's are a mess. Next time I will drive the hour and a half south and depart out of BWI. I will not fly out of Philadelphia again.

Without a doubt the worst airport I have experienced as a transit passenger. Long Immigration queues unhelpful airport staff in the immigration arrivals hall security staff that are rude and hostile toward travellers looking to make their connections. I will never use this airport again. US Airways use this airport as one of their hubs and they should not allow the management of this airport to continue in this style.

Worst on-time arrival airport in the country. Constant "flow control" issues. Leave yourself at least 2 hours for a connection. Terrible air traffic management.

I was flying yesterday from Manchester to Boston via Philadelphia. The queues at passport control were horrendous there was a distinct lack of staff. I eventually found someone and explained to them that I had a connection to make and as the queue was taking so long to move that I would more than likely miss my flight. They were rude and totally disinterested and told me that there is one queue. After eventually getting through passport control the luggage had not arrived as there were electrical problems getting it off the plane this was announced via at annoy system. Again no staff around to advise passengers who were all travelling onwards and panicking about missing their connecting flights. I did miss my connection. Never ever again would I travel through Philadelphia airport. I regularly travel from Manchester to Boston and will stick with Aer Lingus who use Shannon and Dublin airports where they value and look after their customers. I would suggest that representatives of Philadelphia airport travel to Shannon to learn about Customer Service.

Was a bit worried after reading some of the reviews for the airport but needn't have been. Arrived from UK at terminal A and had to transfer to terminal C for domestic flight to Miami. Had to clear immigration and collect bags to take through customs after arriving and then re-check bags with US airways onto domestic flight. All very straight forward. Queued at immigration for about 20 minutes. Lots of desks open and airport staff allowed non US residents to use the US residents desks when there was no-one using those so that even more desks available. Bags were already waiting at the side of the carousel once cleared immigration. Plenty of signs to let you know where to take your bags for checking in again onto the next flight. Ground staff helpful and cheerful. You have to go through security again before you get onto your transfer flight but this was quick and efficient - only took 5 minutes. Quite a walk from terminal A to C but there are moving walkways and staff to guide you if you need help. There are enough shops and places to eat to spend an hour or so between flights and then plenty of seats to wait if you need to. All in all a good experience.

Delta terminals are filthy hair all over the floor. Could use a deep cleaning and carpet could be replaced. Typical PHL experience.

Utterly chaotic with long queues and inaccurate flight information displays (although there were hardly any in Terminal F which is the worst terminal I've ever transited through). Staff dreadful slow and unhelpful.

Dirty and worn out facilities with the most hostile airport staff I've experienced. Wireless does not work and if it does is extremely slow. Monitors do not have same information as gate agent and gate agent makes the excuse that the city not herself controls the monitor and so can't take accountability for any of the information either on the monitors or that she provides. I've unfortunately been stuck with this airport for years been extremely frustrated and seen no genuine effort at improving the travel experience at this airport.