Problems at PHL

I would say that I fly quite a bit, maybe a bit more than a normal person. Not nearly as much as some other people I know, but enough to know that the Philadelphia Airport (PHL) has some serious issues. Now to give credit where credit is due, PHL has done a nice job of making the actual airport and terminals much more comfortable and convenient (except trading in PNC ATMs for Bank of America ones).

BUT, air traffic continues to be a problem. It appears from the outside that the airport makes random, arbitrary decisions whether or not to let planes land/take off or to delay starts. Not to mention there's usually a decent wait in line to take off anyway.

Yesterday coming home from AL, I had a bit of an unpleasant experience. After getting off my plane in DC, I decided to make a run for the earlier flight to PHL and try to get on, especially seeing as how my original flight was delayed by 45 minutes. I managed to get a seat on the earlier flight without having to pay the $50 change (they don't let you do standby anymore!). All was well and I was excited I would be getting home at 5:15pm rather than 7pm.

Of course I should have known that was too good to be true. We taxi out to the runway and then are informed the PHL has issued a "ground stop." Whatever that is. And we wouldn't be taking off until 5pm. No worries, still early.

Then the announcement came that the ground stop was extended until 6:30pm. This is when people started to get cabin fever. I was sure a fight would break out, kind of hoping for it, actually. We went back to the gate and anybody who had connections or international flights were encouraged to get off (not sure why). There were no fights, but some heated words, mostly aimed at the flight crew.

Long story short, we finally took off around 6:15pm and I got home 10 minutes before my original flight landed. Still not sure why the ground stop was issued. Apparently the weather wasn't terribly bad in Philly. Who knows. I'm just hoping I don't have the same experience on the way out to and home from Little Rock this weekend!