Philly Road Warrior | Traveling in holiday rush and crush
Cope with the crush: Arrive early, know the rules, and travel light.
The holiday season is upon us, and you know what that means: The highways and trains will be jammed, and airlines will fill more than 90 percent of their available seats. Roughly 27 million people are expected to fly worldwide on U.S. airlines between last Friday and the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, the Air Transport Association trade group estimates.
This is also when airlines and travel organizations issue news releases about how to cope with the madness. Most of the messages sound as if the same person wrote them: Allow extra time at airports; check in for your flight online from home; use curbside check-in where available; know what you can bring through security; take food and water with you onboard; and never, ever put prescription medication, your reading glasses or anything else you must have in checked bags.
If you want to review all the tips, look on airline Web sites (links are on the Road Warrior blog, http://go.philly.com/roadwarrior).
You will also notice if you check the Web sites that some airlines have issued news releases outlining what they are doing to improve service and their contingency plans for keeping you happy in case of delays. These follow guidelines issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation inspector general in response to last winter's runway-stranding horror stories.
We do have a few Philadelphia-specific ideas to help you get through the holidays:
Check online for wait times at security.
The Transportation Security Administration Web site has a handy feature that reports how long it takes travelers to clear security at every U.S. airport with commercial flights. You find it under "Resource Center" on the www.tsa.gov home page.
To gauge what it may be like on the busiest days of the Thanksgiving or Christmas periods at PHL, we looked at the average and maximum times on Mondays between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m., one of the most congested times at PHL year-round. The longest waits - more than 30 minutes - are at Terminal E, where Southwest and Northwest have gates. Then comes Terminal D, used by AirTran, Continental and United. But US Airways' B and C concourses and Terminal A-East, where American and Delta are, are not much better.
One happy note from Philadelphia airport officials about Terminal E that may not be reflected yet in the TSA numbers: Once Delta made its move last week from Terminal E to A-East, the waiting times at E went down. Fortunately, the A-East checkpoint is the airport's newest, and should be able to handle the increase in Delta passengers.
If ever there were a time to heed the airlines' advice and get to the terminal itself with at least 90 minutes to spare, this is it.
Learn how to park safely and legally while waiting to pick up passengers.
Any time of the day or night, dozens of vehicles continue to line the interstate ramps leading into the airport as drivers wait for cell-phone calls from those arriving. Anyone with common sense knows this is unsafe and illegal. But what are the alternatives?
You could always pay a few dollars and use short-term parking. The airport has a cell-phone waiting lot on Bartram Avenue, with directions at www.phl.org. Unfortunately, signage to find it from the highways or the airport itself is lousy, and many of you have told us you can't locate it.
Another possibility is using a nearby parking area that belongs to a hotel, restaurant, shopping center or office building. Bartram Avenue, Route 291 southwest of the airport, and Island Avenue have many of them. Yes, we know the lots are private property, but the odds are great you won't be depriving a paying customer or employee of a parking spot, especially during the holidays. And it only takes a minute or two more to reach the terminal than if you parked on the Interstate 95 shoulder.
The smartest choice is for travelers to use SEPTA's R-1 line and have rides meet them at a train station.
Don't take so much stuff, no matter when you fly.
On every flight we take, we watch passengers struggle on and off cramped cabins with bulky carry-on bags that take extra time and effort to heft into overhead bins. We understand not wanting to risk checked bags being lost, delayed or pilfered - serious considerations for the PHL traveler. But unless you're headed to a formal wedding or will be away a couple of weeks, couldn't you get by with a little less?
Whatever you experience traveling into or out of Philadelphia by air, road or rail this week, we welcome your feedback.