TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Philadelphia Airport

I am considering a flight home through Phil. I have never been there before. Is it possible in 1 hour and 42 minutes to go through customs, immigration, and get from terminal A to F?

Yes,
PHL not our favorite but that should be enough time IF you get out of SXM without a long delay and IF there are not a zillion flights arriving at the same time. PHL always seemed to be under construction and a shuttle was required to get to connection terminal gates. Maybe that has changed by now.

Yes, i have done that same time frame twice through PHL. Once with checked luggage was close, and last time with just carry on's and had plenty of time.

My last trip home through Philly was stressful. Took a long time to get my luggage and get through security. Had to go outside to take a bus to Concourse F I believe. Just made it.

We had a bad time the last time we went through Philly. The security people were almost universally rude and unpleasant and the whole operation just seemed like it was held together with chewing gum, by people who didn't want to be there. Very stressful getting to our connection on time.

I might ordinarily chalk this up to "just a bad day" but given the other replies, maybe it wasn't.

I'm not sure I would say I would never go through there again but if I have viable other choices, I will avoid it.

1st time through, we had to use the passport scanners, lines were long, and luggage took forever to come out. 2nd trip (April) the scanners were closed, we had carry on luggage and breezed straight though. Both trips were identical flights. We never encountered any rude workers, and they were actually very helpful in getting us through another security area to make our connection, this all on the return trip side. But like everyone, we have heard horror stories!

It was very easy last evening.

BTW. With the Global Entry kiosks, you can clear that step in about 60 second there. It was sweet. Of course, we are still waiting for our luggage at the carousel in the next room.
From off the plane to walking away towards transportation was less than 30 minutes.
Even without Global Entry, that wouldn't have added much or maybe nothing. Because you end up waiting for luggage anyway

I went through Philly last Friday, June 30th, for the first time (but not from SXM). I have gone through customs and immigration in the past in Charlotte, Miami, Atlanta, and San Juan. I had a tight connection (1 1/2 hours) with an incoming flight from Barcelona that was an hour late. I breezed through immigration, customs, luggage re-check and security and ran to the gate for the next flight. It may have been pure luck, but I've never had such a quick process re-entering the US.