Connecting flights in America

andrew71

Me and five others are due to fly out soon to Orlando for a week holiday. We are having to go from Manchester to Orlando via Philadelphia with American Airlines. As anyone taken a similar type of flight ( doesn't have to be flights to Philly or Orlando)? Do you have to collect your luggage from the first plane? Or do they put luggage directly onto the next plane?

bagand96

In the USA you have to clear Immigration and customs at your first port of entry. 

So on arrival at Philadelphia you will clear immigration with your passport etc (make sure you've done your ESTAs!). Then you go to baggage reclaim and get your suitcases. Follow signs for connections and drop your bags off. You also have to re-clear security and back to the departure lounge.

I can't speak for Philadelphia, but where I've done it once you get your bags, you just follow signs for commections and drop the bags back off and clear security at a dedicated connections area.

Can be a bit of a faff especially with a tight connection. That said at Orlando, you're a domestic passenger so no passport etc... Just grab the bags and walk out. 

Westin

Spot on bagand96.

andrew71

Thank you for the advice. Our flight arrives in Philadelphia 1:40pm and our Orlando flight departs at 3:45pm (both local times). So I'm hoping two hours is adequate time. Saying that there's seven in our party and also taking a wheelchair.

Caz3121

andrew71 said:

 I'm hoping two hours is adequate time.

maybe, maybe not. It will depend if your inbound flight is on time, how many other international flights arriving at similar time etc. Should you miss the Orlando flight the airline should transfer you to their next available flight with seats (this may not be the next flight)

Westin

A little longer connection time would in my eyes have been preferred but thankfully PHL is a fairly easy airport to navigate through and hopefully immigration will not be too busy from international arrivals.  1h55m with an on-time arrival and a non-congested immigration hall should be OK.

The family member in the wheelchair might be a slight problem.  Ideally you want to be off the MAN PHL aircraft toot-sweet to get to the head of the immigration lines.  Passengers with special requirements requiring assistance are normally asked to wait to deplane until the initial rush has passed and the ground teams to get the wheelchairs down the jetty to the aircraft door.

bradders1983

Westin said:

A little longer connection time would in my eyes have been preferred but thankfully PHL is a fairly easy airport to navigate through and hopefully immigration will not be too busy from international arrivals.  1h55m with an on-time arrival and a non-congested immigration hall should be OK.

The family member in the wheelchair might be a slight problem.  Ideally you want to be off the MAN PHL aircraft toot-sweet to get to the head of the immigration lines.  Passengers with special requirements requiring assistance are normally asked to wait to deplane until the initial rush has passed and the ground teams to get the wheelchairs down the jetty to the aircraft door.

My three visits to the States, admittedly to the same airport (LAS) has seen wheelchair customers + entourage use the "Crew" line, so maybe they dont have to hang around behind everyone else at Philly either.

NoodleDoodleMan

We flew to Las Vegas via Newark NJ a few years ago with United Airlines, later onwards to join a cruise out of San Francisco - if memory serves the security checks were done at the UK airport and we didn't see the cases again until we arrived at McCarran in Nevada.

I would check direct with AA on their procedures.

Murphy_The_Cat

NoodleDoodleMan said:

We flew to Las Vegas via Newark NJ a few years ago with United Airlines, later onwards to join a cruise out of San Francisco - if memory serves the security checks were done at the UK airport and we didn't see the cases again until we arrived at McCarran in Nevada.

I would check direct with AA on their procedures.

I think that your memory may be playing tricks on you.  Arriving into the States, you need to collect your bags then go through Customs etc and then recheck them.  Coming home, your bags will get checked all the way through.

NoodleDoodleMan

I do remeber security check here and the stick on tags assigned to the luggage - may have been pre 9/11.

Sharon87

2 hours at most airports is tight, Philadelphia is a bit smaller than say Atlanta or New York airports.

You will also avoid the horrible immigration at Orlando - been there twice and it was incredibly slow both times! 3 international flights arrived within 10 minutes of each other... you have to go to machines, complete the customs info on screen, get a slip with your photo on and then you have to queue for the desks! Took me almost an hour just to use the machines. By the time I cleared immigration everyone's bags were taken off the belt and it was almost impossible to find bags!