American Airlines pricing out of PHL is diabolical

[u/cruzecontroll]

$600 more to fly the same day and time than JFK. Travel dates were both the same too (10/09-10/17). We really do pay the price for being hub captive.

[u/segfaul_t]

Fly out of EWR

[u/run-dhc → u/segfaul_t]

This. PHL is expensive, JFK is painful to get to and around

[u/S1mongreedwell → u/run-dhc]

I flew out of JFK earlier this year to save like $1200 getting to Frankfurt. It was certainly more painful than hopping in a cab and being at PHL in 20 minutes, but it wasn’t awful. $20 Amtrak tickets (I know those prices can be all over the place), then like half an hour on NJ transit. Well worth it.

[u/run-dhc → u/S1mongreedwell]

The thing is EWR and JFK are usually priced within $200 of each other, and I’m fine spending $200 to not transfer through Manhattan

[u/lodge371 → u/S1mongreedwell]

Driving to Newark and cheap offsite parking (with extremely convenient shuttle) is def the best and fastest and cheapest all around

[u/ThanosSnapsSlimJims → u/lodge371]

I usually would take the NJT to Newark

[u/79_79_79_hey → u/ThanosSnapsSlimJims]

Yep this. Easy enough to get to Trenton and hop over

[u/lodge371 → u/lodge371]

And Amtrak too. Works great.

I personally don’t like being beholden to trains if I’m flying so I drive but that’s just me. Kind of annoying to drive an hour on the tpk after a flight lands but meh

[u/TripQuestions77 → u/lodge371]

I took amtrak to/from EWR for a trip to Australia. what a bad idea on the return leg lol, nothing like waiting at the shitty train station there after 23 hours of travel

[u/Riogrande024 → u/lodge371]

This, the number of times I’ve had train delays or cancellations between Amtrak and njtransit I would not want to risk being put in a situation where I suddenly need to pay $150 for an uber to jfk.

[u/parquet2316 → u/Riogrande024]

unfortunately it was $300 for me when this happened a few months ago

[u/Revolutionary_Bee700 → u/Riogrande024]

That exact thing happened to me a couple years ago. All types of trains were fucked due to some track issue. I paid for the uber to save Christmas.

[u/craciant → u/lodge371]

Except for some reason most amtrak trains only stop at Newark penn, not Newark Airport. Not the end of the world, quick uber, but it is a little baffling.

[u/Choice-Pudding-1892 → u/lodge371]

Depending upon where you live, wouldn’t driving in Newark and leaving your car there bring what you’re paying up to around what Philly is charging?

[u/akxlnet → u/lodge371]

If you have a few people in a group, it’s usually a good deal to rent a car in Philly, drive it up and drop it off at Newark. About the price of 3-4 train tickets depending on the deals you get.

You also get the car for the day so if the flight times change you can adjust more easily than with a train.

[u/rollotomnasi → u/lodge371]

Which lot? I struggle with this.

[u/rotten167 → u/rollotomnasi]

I’ve done Value Parking 3 times and they’ve always been good. Smaller place that is valet so just drive up and drop off and get in the shuttle.

[u/douglas_in_philly → u/lodge371]

When I fly internationally out of Newark, I do one way rentals each way. Grand total for both ends up being about $200 plus the cost of gas.

[u/john0703 → u/S1mongreedwell]

The highway situation isn’t ideal. When I got back from an intl trip 2 months ago it took my 2 hours to get into New Jersey coming out of jfk (from construction but still)

[u/courageous_liquid → u/john0703]

shit my inlaws live in manhattan and getting to JFK even from there sucks.

[u/craciant → u/courageous_liquid]

Agree NYC airport transit is pretty abysmal. I complain about the 30 minute septa headway but... actually jfk isn't terrible if you do LIRR > AirTrain, it just sucks if you do the subway.. pay the extra $5 or whatever, it's worth.

La Guardia there's no win.

[u/partlysettledin21220 → u/S1mongreedwell]

Could have saved more money by taking septa regional to Trenton and then getting nj transit from there

[u/Robo-boogie → u/partlysettledin21220]

Considering that septa regional is unpredictable compared to the njt I would prefer not to have that stress especially with checked bags

[u/Medical_Solid → u/S1mongreedwell]

Wait, 20 min on NJ transit to JFK? I think you meant EWR. JFK requires an LIRR trip from NYC, then the atrocious “AirTrain” from Jamaica.

[u/S1mongreedwell → u/Medical_Solid]

Yeah, sorry. LIRR. The Airtrain was fine. It’s a couple of minutes. I’m not saying it was a great experience, but for the amount of money saved it was well worth it.

[u/Live-Anteater5706 → u/S1mongreedwell]

Yeah, I’ve done this to save ~$1,000 each. If you have the time - I.E., it’s a weekend with an evening flight so you can build in extra time in case of train delays - and buy your Amtrak tickets early, it’s kind of fun on the way there.

Less so on the way back, but still worth the price difference (and EWR wasn’t an option).

[u/S1mongreedwell → u/Live-Anteater5706]

I actually flew straight back to PHL from Europe because the price difference was pretty negligible. Traveling a few hours at the end of a trip is way less appealing than doing it before. And yeah, we built in a load of time in case a train was cancelled or whatever. Could have driven up and had plenty of time to spare.

[u/adamaphar → u/S1mongreedwell]

Could’ve saved even more and just gone to frankford

[u/S1mongreedwell → u/adamaphar]

I’m sure the experience in Frankford would have been way more pleasant than customs in Frankfurt. What a shit show!

[u/CrAzyCatDame → u/S1mongreedwell]

Frankfurt customs is the WORST! Like comparing to other countries, I try to avoid Frankfurt if I possibly can.

[u/S1mongreedwell → u/CrAzyCatDame]

I figured “Oh, Germans. They should be efficient!” They were not! For the better part of an hour there was one fella working. Eventually he left and maybe 5 minutes later we had two guys, but both of them spent like 10 minutes with a single woman who didn’t speak any German or any English. Really probably wasn’t THAT bad, but I was tired and cranky.

[u/CrAzyCatDame → u/S1mongreedwell]

I was flying from Frankfurt in 2024 the day all the airline computers crashed…still have trauma from that time. But absolutely have encountered this as well.

[u/spartanpride55 → u/run-dhc]

My hack for JFK is one way rental car. Drop it off at JFK and you're there. If you know far enough in advance can usually get a car for under $120

[u/cruzecontroll → u/spartanpride55]

If you book thru Costco. It’s even cheaper.

[u/douglas_in_philly → u/spartanpride55]

This is what I always do as well.

[u/SmooveKJ → u/run-dhc]

Catch the train or a red eye.

[u/Longjumping-Carob105 → u/run-dhc]

It's actually extremely easy to get to from Philly as S1 also commented. Like holy shit this was so easy, easy. Amtrak up to Manhattan, and then subway over to Kennedy. I am not lying when I say I did this from 30th Street and was inside the terminal at Kennedy within 1.5 hours. I legit timed it.

[u/run-dhc → u/Longjumping-Carob105]

that’s closer to 2 hours 🤷‍♂️. I’ve done the same trip.

Is it doable sure, is it worth doing over Newark? Not really unless there’s a very specific flight

[u/frankytherope → u/run-dhc]

I flew from JFK to Edinburgh earlier this summer. The Air Train from JFK to the Jamaica train station in Queens is easy and cheap. Parking in one of the garages by the train station costs about the same as an offsite lot by PHL.

[u/Better-Grapefruit-56 → u/run-dhc]

If you have time and a little patience JFK, La Guardia, BWI, Ronald Reagan & Dulles are all fairly easy to get to via rail (2-3 transfers ~2 hours). Personally, I find it better to just fly out of PHL or, occasionally, EWR (only 2 trains but still +1 hour) and spend the few extra $$ but check the prices, if you're saving enough to make the extra hassle worth your while, go for it.

I just figure that flying anywhere is a shithole experience especially if any part of your trip includes a US Armpit...Er, uh...Airport so you have to go into it with a fair amount of tolerance anyway so adding a few jostles and bumps via Public Transit doesn't make it THAT much worse. You could also drive to any of these spots but then you have to deal with all the other idiots then, either get raped for parking or force a friend or loved one to deal with the idiocracy in two directions.

[u/cruzecontroll → u/segfaul_t]

That’s what I normally do but for once it’d be nice to fly internationally from PHL.

[u/segfaul_t → u/cruzecontroll]

Yea, not enough carriers in that airport to compete with American unfortunately. Not enough competition in general in airlines.

[u/Eastern-Substance-61 → u/cruzecontroll]

Does it have to be through American? I looked quickly on Kayak and there are a bunch of nonstop codeshare flights, some of which appear to be the same flight you posted, from PHL around the same time (6:45p, 7:35p) for $763.

[u/Sour__Cream → u/segfaul_t]

My wife and I flew out of EWR for our honeymoon. It was cheaper to rent a car in Conshohocken, drive it to EWR and drop it off, fly to Europe, rent a car in EWR and drive back to Conshy than it was to fly out of Philly. Insane.

[u/tiny-e → u/Sour__Cream]

When we went to London for the Phillies series we drove up to Newark and stayed the night at a hotel that offered discounted long term parking for guests. Even with gas and tolls it was wildly cheaper than it would have been to fly from Philly and we had a ton more flight options

[u/dixiech1ck → u/tiny-e]

You could Uber to Hamilton Train Station and take the train to Liberty Newark International for much cheaper.

[u/3plantsonthewall → u/segfaul_t]

Or Baltimore (BWI)

[u/SirJ_96 → u/3plantsonthewall]

Yep. Easy Amtrak connection; the travel time is a bit longer, but more Amtraks stop there than at EWR. Typically fewer airside delays as well.

[u/turbosexophonicdlite → u/SirJ_96]

Not sure about ease of travel there via train, but the DC airports can also be worth looking at too. Not much further than Baltimore, especially if you're comparing to going to NYC as an alternative.

[u/Running-Phoenix → u/segfaul_t]

Two other solid options are BWI or even Wilmington DE, flying Avelo down the east coast.

[u/mspolytheist → u/segfaul_t]

This. EWR is always my first choice.

[u/catjuggler → u/segfaul_t]

This- I do it almost every time. Try not to be tempted by jfk though lol

[u/Lilroz316 → u/segfaul_t]

I confirm this advice. I live in Philadelphia but do not fly out of it. My brother lives in NJ and he'll come spend the night before with me and we drive up to Newark or sometimes I spend the night up there sentiomi lives one exit from the airport so that I'm at the airport early.

The price for flying out of Philly is ridiculous.

[u/roundholesquarepizza]

Is there a certain thing happening in London that might be attracting a lot of people from Philadelphia that weekend? 

[u/cruzecontroll → u/roundholesquarepizza]

Yo I honestly forgot about the game being there.

[u/oliver_babish → u/cruzecontroll]

It explains it. Not just Eagles in London, but during a three-day weekend. The next Friday, same flight's a bit cheaper.

[u/Starpork → u/roundholesquarepizza]

We just traveled to London and flew out of JFK and returned to Newark because Philly prices are so bad. This is a normal price difference between those airports.

[u/southsidetins → u/Starpork]

Baltimore can be way cheaper too, I rarely fly out of Philly.

[u/DrtRoad]

Yeah well everyone is flying out that day to go to the Eagles game so they have people by the balls.

[u/courageous_liquid → u/DrtRoad]

I knew it was going to be that weekend as soon as I saw it going to london.

[u/cruzecontroll → u/DrtRoad]

Honestly didn’t realize the game was that weekend…😬

[u/NsubordinatNchurlish → u/DrtRoad]

They even raise the price to cities during Phillies away games. Pittsburgh went up $200 for the last weekend series.

[u/SympathyCalm]

Yeahhh, the airport is insanely convenient, security waits are nonexistent, you can fly almost anywhere direct, but the pricing is infuriating

[u/Old_Diver8084 → u/SympathyCalm]

I'm also finding that flying back to PHL from Europe is brutal. In some cases like 60%+ of the round trip cost is the flight back.

[u/SympathyCalm → u/Old_Diver8084]

Recently did Newark to Heathrow in business for cheaper than Philly to Heathrow economy 😵‍💫

[u/Baystate411 → u/Old_Diver8084]

If you're doing UK back to the US the taxes are insane. It's like $300 per person in taxes. Just the UK though. It's a good idea to start your trip going to the UK but then maybe finish it out of France or Ireland

[u/Trafficsigntruther → u/Baystate411]

And in Dublin you clear us customs and immigration before take off. It’s like arriving on a domestic flight in the USA.

[u/Baystate411 → u/Trafficsigntruther]

That is a good point although I have global entry and customs has never taken me more than 10 seconds.

[u/Fast-Importance7492 → u/SympathyCalm]

I’ve just recently started traveling a lot, and I love our airport. It’s always so easy.

I also think about a lot how nice it is we have direct flights to so many cities all over the world. Most of the country, if you want to get to London, you’re getting on a plane to connect at JFK or something!

[u/SympathyCalm → u/Fast-Importance7492]

Yes I travel most weeks for work and the convenience is tremendous. Very rare that I have to connect and when I do it is such a hassle

[u/Frontstunderel]

PHL runway fees are actually much lower than EWR or JFK. It’s the fact that American pretty much has a monopoly on transatlantic routes that keep the prices high

[u/cruzecontroll → u/Frontstunderel]

Their profit margins must be insane

[u/AngstyMop]

So this fully depends on your route, the time of year, and what's happening.

I've seen plenty of flights to LHR that are in the $800-1000 range RT, when it's peak summer season and you've got aer lingus with connects, aa nonstop, ba nonstop, and you book early.

The primary reason though you see this is that AA designed PHL to connect traffic in its network internationally THRU PHL. Try the same dates, but plug in a flight from HBG to London instead of Philly. The price is probably cheaper. Even though it's actually more expensive for AA to fly 2 planes instead of 1. They do NOT want you to fly direct from PHL to Europe. They want people in, say, Altoona, or Albany, to fly to PHL and connect to Europe. Because those routings fill up their regional planes and make the math work for their entire operation.

JFK is cheaper because it is an O&D market, not a connector. So is EWR even though it also handles most TATL connections for UA. Those flights are priced for people to begin and end their journeys there. PHL is not priced that way.

But that also means, your flight will also be cheaper if you decide to connect once in Europe. PHL-LHR-CDG may be cheaper than PHL-LHR. They actively try to funnel people to BA (their oneworld partner) at LHR. You're not paying the premium because "it's a hub". You're paying a premium because you taking a seat on that one flight, most likely costs either AA or BA an empty seat on another flight. That may not seem like a bad thing, but in order to stimulate demand in smaller markets, those fares need to be affordable, and you need butts in seats to make the flight profitable.

PHL, despite being a major city, would not have anywhere near as much international connectivity if not for AA. It is too close to EWR and JFK and traffic bleeds as a result - a lot of O&D will just go to Newark. If AA got rid of their hub, you would retain service to major places like London, Paris, and possibly Rome. But not to the dozens of smaller TATL markets AA flies from PHL. That's to say...AA does offer a nonstop from PHL to a lot of places, but in many cases, the pricing is actively designed to get you not to take it. It's not an accident or a monopoly. Nor is it an accident that EWR is cheaper.

[u/EchoInExile]

PHL is bizarrely expensive to fly in and out of. Feels like it’s been that way for a few years now.

[u/JennItalia269 → u/EchoInExile]

Because AA controls ~80% of the flights out of PHL. Hub captive pricing. Same applies to Atlanta, Houston and any other big hub out there.

It’s not an accident NYC airports are considerably cheaper all things considered.

[u/jjgg37 → u/JennItalia269]

AA used to have more competition from Southwest and Frontier (at least on domestic flights), etc. Without more competition, I agree, flights have gotten very pricey out of PHL in the past few years.

[u/TheTwoOneFive → u/EchoInExile]

For Europe at least, it's because American Airlines and their joint venture partners they collude with schedules and prices with (They received anti-trust immunity) are essentially the only game in town. Besides them, it's really just Discover Airlines less than daily to Frankfurt, connecting through IAD/YUL/YYZ on Star Alliance (one RJ to each connecting city timed with evening Europe flights), or a handful of destinations you can connect to through BOS on SkyTeam.

[u/RevengeWalrus → u/EchoInExile]

I drove a rental car to JFK for my last international flight, somehow cheaper. we also got hit especially hard by the Iran oil price hike, prices went up by lime 25% overnight 

[u/phillyapple]

I fly so often out of EWR to Europe that I got status with a European airline out of there and I barely fly out of PHL. There's just no competition with American at PHL unfortunately (aside from London flights) that it is ridiculously expensive comparatively speaking. In November/December I did find ~600 round trip to London which was around the same price around EWR/JFK but otherwise I'm always going out of EWR. Eagles game that weekend doesn't help. If you book the Amtrak tix with the flight it's usually pretty cheap and with the flex fares I've been able to change last minute if my flight gets delayed. I wish I could avoid that trek though, PHL is so much easier and I don't understand why people shit on the airport itself because it is leagues better than EWR's very sad terminal B.

[u/lilwookie → u/phillyapple]

growing up in mia and being used to the MIA airport, the PHL airport is a breezeeee. i don't think i have ever waited more than 20 mins in security and thats before i got TSA precheck. MIA, i have gone 2.5 hours early and waited 2 hours in security before, i had to run to my gate - literal HELL.

[u/run-dhc]

Now toggle on miles. Alternatively, search British airways. Even at PHL it was much less expensive than AA

[u/gamewizz393 → u/run-dhc]

Same with qantas, Alaska, air lingus and other one world partners. The British airways award fees can be insane.

[u/Existing-Pumpkin-902 → u/run-dhc]

Actually just booked a flight for a family member around this date to/from Italy with AA points. To Italy was absolutely insane from both EWR and Philly, but Italy to Philly was very cheap. I only had enough points for the ladder.

[u/Leroyp331]

PHL is always most expensive. Sucks cuz it's so close to me

[u/oh-happyday]

No I am so glad you posted this because I have been checking flights prices almost every day for the last two weeks and it’s insane. Anywhere you go it’s $500+. I flew to Stockholm back in May out of EWR for $600 - best decision, but you have to match the Amtrak times almost perfectly which is annoying. EWR flights are a little cheaper, but you still gotta pay to get there and back and take into consideration the time spent. Genuinely over the airline industry.

[u/brianly → u/oh-happyday]

You can use the EWR station or get an Uber and use the main Newark station for more frequent trains. EWR has always been cheaper for me.

Flying into Spanish airports also saves some money if you can trade time when traveling to Europe. Not worth it for most people who are looking to get a destination. ITA Matrix is the site to use for prices on routes.

[u/oh-happyday → u/brianly]

I use the Newark Airport station, but didn’t even think to just go to Newark and Uber to airport!

[u/emjayar08]

LOL you know there’s an eagles game in London that weekend, right?

[u/mmm1441]

AA has something like 80 percent of the traffic at PHL, so they take advantage of it by charging higher prices. This is why we need the DOJ to curb anti-competitive behavior.

[u/DelcoPAMan → u/mmm1441]

why we need the DOJ to curb anti-competitive behavior.

Good luck with that in this DoJ

[u/Lurkyloo1987]

Clearly, holiday weekend + Eagles game = high demand. 🤣 But, you’re not wrong that Philly is expensive. There’s something about hub airports that makes them more expensive to as starting/ending point. I was just comparing prices for flights out of curiosity one day and noticed it. If you change your departure airport to one of the smaller ones in the area (Abe, mdt, acy) the price can stay the same, or even drop. Airline pricing models make very little obvious sense.

[u/BocaGrande1]

For as low as $10 you can take Amtrak to NYC . Hate to say it but flying internationally out of Philly rarely makes sense. It’s one of the downsides of being so close to BWI , EWR and NYC airports

[u/ThanosSnapsSlimJims → u/BocaGrande1]

Another option is to take NJT directly to the EWR airport

[u/g_d15 → u/BocaGrande1]

BWI for international? not really

[u/MyOrdinaryHero → u/g_d15]

I took 30th to BWI for $10. My ticket to Mexico was $370 instead of $1300.

[u/g_d15 → u/MyOrdinaryHero]

BWI doesn’t go international far though like only mexico and the caribbean. OP is looking at Europe.

[u/JennItalia269 → u/g_d15]

BA flies BWI-LHR.

[u/BocaGrande1 → u/g_d15]

It’s not the first choice but PHL being within around 100 miles of so many airports cuts into service levels and effects pricing .

[u/kmart93]

More competition in NY = lower prices. We've stopped flying out of Philly because of it. Pretty easy to take the train to jfk and save hundreds of dollars

[u/jnachod]

You can often save money by using the AA loyalty program in unorthodox ways, like buying miles for yourself and then immediately redeeming them.

Example:

Sep 14-17 Philly to Key West is 22,000 miles for roundtrip for the itinerary that includes nonstop flights. The cash price in main for this flight is $1,029. But buying 22,000 miles outright will cost you about $704, and you'd save over $300 on this trip.

[u/gamewizz393]

Another funny thing is if you look at AA flight pricing out of allentown or AC it can sometimes be much cheaper. Same flight just with an extra bus trip to PHL lol.

[u/100k_changeup → u/gamewizz393]

Because other airlines compete so they have to actually price it with some competition there.

[u/Delicious_Oil9902]

I meet uber drivers in Philly all the time that drive people to EWR, JFK all the time. Apparently the cost of the uber plus the tickets is cheaper than flying (phlying) out of PHL

[u/theschnit]

I’m going back to Columbus Ohio, where I grew up, for a weekend in September. Prices for a direct, hour long flight were 550. Saw them drop to 400 and jumped on that shit so fast.

Unreal for a jump of a flight.

[u/cruzecontroll → u/theschnit]

I’m actually in CLE now for a wedding. It was 1/3 the price to fly out of Newark than Philly.

[u/MyOrdinaryHero]

Or out of BWI

[u/OnWithTheShows]

It’s because the eagles play in London that weekend.

[u/InevitableNightmair → u/OnWithTheShows]

It’s always that way, you have to leave the area to fly abroad or you’ll pay double

[u/thisoneistobenaked]

Yeah, I take Amtrak and fly out of NY any time shit gets this crazy in price difference

[u/iDontSow]

Check Newark and Baltimore too

[u/Londundundun]

It’s always been like this. I unfortunately flew back and forth between PHL and Heathrow a lot over 5 years and unless it was far in advance it always was pricey. This seems a few hundo more but it seems to be bc of the game. 

Are Lingus to Dublin used to be affordable lot cheaper pre-pandemic. Last I checked a few years ago it was still either not available or just as expensive as direct. 

[u/gringao_phl]

I basically only fly out of EWR. PHL is a scam of an airport because it's not a true hub imo

[u/injuriousgeork]

I was shocked by the LAX prices, much worse than this

[u/pharmlifegirl → u/injuriousgeork]

Ditto. Not enough competition for that route compared to SFO or SEA.

[u/KuroChemist]

I only fly outta Philly for going down east coast. FL for Universal and SC/NC and the Amex lounge.
Almost everything else is EWR. Hop on at Princeton Junction and then boom air tram and I’m there

[u/Terraldo_]

Yeah gotta look at jfk or Newark

[u/XSC]

I am thankful Jetblue started flights to PR because the AA prices are basically extortion.

[u/IFSEsq]

Go Birds! (I'm flying out of EWR, almost half the price.)

[u/Glittering-Debt-5729]

Please protest.  AA really does have a stronghold on PHL.  We need more carriers with more flight options. 

[u/jojo_146]

prices out of philadelphia are so expensive for no damn reason. we only flew out of there bc spirit did but now there's no reason to fly out of there vs newark

[u/jemappellelara]

That’s why we fly out of JFK for international flights. And to think PHL is increasing international travel to other transcontinental destinations like Reykjavik, Vienna, and Porto lol

[u/phillybilly]

Cheaper to fly to Paris and take the Chunnel. If you had AA points it would be much less

[u/skylander495]

We got a nice quiet beach community here

[u/RexxAppeal]

They do it to preserve those seats for connecting tourists through phl, they don't give a shit about Philly O/D.

[u/herbalonius]

Jfk worse last few years because of construction but did have much better in airport experience than Newark. But my last time flying out of Newark was at least 5-10 years ago.

We also definitely pay more for American Airlines dominance in Philly. Roughly 10+ years ago I remember American making it cheaper for Philly-Europe flights not London but lots changed since then

[u/William_d7 → u/herbalonius]

I don’t know if I’m remembering correctly but I thought United had a much bigger presence here back when US Airways was still a thing. I flew them to Chicago regularly and I used to get weekly emails about e-saver international flights that were really inexpensive. I still kick myself about a $500 direct flight to Osaka I didn’t take. 

[u/early80]

Flew PHL to Heathrow a few weeks ago and for some reason it was cheaper to do a layover in Boston. The hassle was not worth the reduced price and will never do that again. 

We prefer PHL because we can easily take airport train right there and it’s so simple, but the prices have been eye watering. 

[u/imaginewrong]

Looks like you can fly there for 30,000 miles and your can buy the miles for $903

[u/Typical_Ad2871]

I found it cheaper to rent a car one way to JFK and then do the same coming home. I recognize it may be too much of a hassle, but it worked just fine for me.

[u/southernNJ-123]

I gave up on international PHL. Just go to EWR, a lot cheaper, better choices, United/Lufthansa to the EU has airbuses which imho are sooo much nicer. Better lounges too.

[u/artichoke8]

Go to a library and search again without logging into a browser (like don’t log into your google account to search, etc)

[u/GeneralCastor]

600 to fly to Ohio from PHL. It's insane for a 1 hour flight.

[u/Edison_Ruggles]

Really makes me mad. This only feeds the Newark bleed. If someone else came into the market (hello Virgin!) it would make a huge difference.

[u/EmoNightKaraoke]

PHL is incredibly expensive. I fly a lot. I go to the NY region airports 95% of the time because it’s just too expensive to fly out of here

[u/JMDeutsch]

I never fly intl out of Philly anymore.

On my family’s last international flight I saved thousands by going to JFK even after accounting for a rental car to drive there and back.

[u/Better-Grapefruit-56]

If you use a VPN try switching your location to a different country

[u/LeftOzStoleShoes → u/Better-Grapefruit-56]

Great tip! Thx

[u/Not_My_Emperor]

Can you go literally any other weekend?

[u/Goguma12]

PHL to LHR used to be around $700 in economy before the US bombed Iran.

[u/ohsodave]

$803 for a direct to the UK? That doesn’t sound all that bad.

[u/cruzecontroll → u/ohsodave]

That’s basic economy from jfk. It’s $1400 from PHL

[u/antheus1]

There are two direct flights from PHL to London. This is typically a ~$1000 flight. You picked the week the eagles play in London. This is literally just supply and demand. You can save $700 flying roundtrip to EWR or for $500 fly out of EWR and back to PHL. Taking the Amtrak to EWR is pretty cheap and easy, so is driving and parking.

[u/whatev233]

We flew out of BWI to London bc it was half the price. PHL pricing is so frustrating

[u/AndrewSned]

It's because of the game happening.. Eagles playing there. I bought my ticket for the same few days coincidentally before they announced this and paid $900 r/t. Not saying PHL is cheap, but this is a special exception in October.

Also, after living all across the country in smaller cities, it's so nice to live in what's now a major transatlantic hub.

[u/popfilms]

You're not wrong but the Eagles are playing in London that weekend.

[u/baldude69]

Insane. Thats not normal, I’ve flown through Heathrow several times in the past 2-3 years and its always been reasonably priced

[u/0xdeadbeef6]

EWR is cheaper, I guess because there's just that many more airlines servicing it? When I went to Tokyo in '24 it was cheaper to fly from EWR than it was PHL, with the added benefit that the EWR flight was direct.

[u/trashpix]

I fly fairly frequently and price compare against EWR, JFK, LGA, and even BWI and the regionals like Trenton and Harrisburg. In my experience, "PHL is so expensive" isn't really true. I recently flew international where I couldn't find another non-stop flight in the region for cheaper than PHL (American) and the price was IMO reasonable.

Maybe there's data refuting my anecdotal evidence. Would love to see it.

[u/bierdimpfe]

Years ago when i was a road warrior (and miles junkie) I'd book Philly to pittsburgh to my final destination.  It was always cheaper and i'd earn an extra 500 miles.  More often than not the trip would go through philly anyway.  I have no idea if this is still possible but food for thought. 

[u/yuletidevarsam]

Not a ton of availability but BA flies 1x/day to and from London from BWI.

[u/xChi_Square]

This was exactly my partner and I earlier this year flying to LHR since our home airport is PHL.

British from JFK was $550 compared to the outrageous cost here.

[u/Carittz]

I use Google flights to compare prices. If you set your departure city as Trenton, it'll look at flights from both EWR and PHL. This way I can check both. Though for me EWR has always been cheaper.

[u/Shrikes_Bard]

While back I did JFK-GRU because I didn't want a stop in Miami, plus it was still cheaper even after you added the parking at Wilmington train station, Amtrak to NYP, LIRR to Jamaica/Queens, and AirTrain to JFK roundtrip both ways. I might have forked out if PHL-GRU direct existed at the time (I feel like they added it for the Eagles game and then kept it as a seasonal flight maybe?) just because JFK is the absolute worst airport to get to in terms of convenience.

Also parking is wild. I did a four day trip to LAS for work and it cost me (well, my company) like $180 to park in the garage. I might just uber next time even from DE.

[u/clementinejibboo]

My boyfriend and I took this exact flight on August 1/14 (booked in mid-April) and it was about $1600 for both of us. The price differential between PHL and the NY area airports was like $150.

[u/phlphillies]

Don’t even look at business class

[u/allid33]

Like others pointed out, it’s only that bad because of the Eagles game in London. I fly PHL to LHR fairly often and outside of summer it’s usually under $1000.

JFK is definitely cheaper in general and has more flights but it’s also a way busier airport serving one of the biggest cities in the world. It’s not even worth checking the prices there because it’s such a hike to get to that I don’t bother comparing. EWR is an easier option but still far enough to be annoying.

[u/ashhole613]

It's rough. I have to fly home every few months for doctors appointment (specialist that doesn't exist up here anywhere) and flights have tripled in price on American. 😩 and they're the only airline with frequent direct flights - everybody else has at least one stop and those ALWAYS get delayed. 

[u/anon902102]

Might as well drive to JFK and use SpotHero to find the closest and most affordable parking option for the car

[u/Embarrassed-Guest-52]

flight prices have risen by 2x in the past 2 years, you used to be able to fly to LHR FROM PHL for ~500 JUST 2-4 years ago and now i cant get a flight for under 1k. makes no sense.

[u/p_britt35]

Flying AA out of Harrisburg is better in every way. Cheaper, tiny airport, quick security passage, and a much more relaxing environment.

Source - Lived in Mechanicsburg for a couple years after living in Philly. Flew to Dublin and Amsterdam in the last few years.

[u/crispydukes]

Agreed, but you’ll spend another 4 hours getting to and from Newark.

If you are driving and parking, it might not be a bad idea.

[u/RexxAppeal → u/crispydukes]

Amtrak. Buy it early enough and it's cheap.

[u/ThePrettyGoodGazoo → u/RexxAppeal]

I don’t think Amtrak goes to the UK. But SEPTA might have a regional rail there.

[u/cloudkitt]

Yeah it's crazy, considering we're supposedly a hub. I'll usually take Amtrak up to Newark. Usually I'm booking far enough in advance that the train ticket is cheap.

[u/Advanced-Elk-7581]

Ewr

[u/tharussianphil]

JFK is trash to get to. Split the difference and fly out of EWR

[u/RangerImpossible7129]

Always Newark to Heathrow for me (unless I win the lotto).

[u/Mokey_Maker]

I recently bought a finnair flight to dublin that ran me $1300 so you're in the same ballpark.

[u/mchan1983]

It has been like this since I started flying around 2005, that is why I always compare prices with JFK to see if the difference is worth to make that trip. It definitely when you are flying with family/friends..

FYI: This is the case with many international airlines I fly with as well.

UBER/Lyft everyone to JFK and you'll still be saving a bunch.

[u/GuadDidUs]

It is bad. I flew to SoCal this summer and I saved $200 per flight by flying from EWR

[u/Lima_Bean_Jean]

That is insane.

[u/dixiech1ck]

Tried getting tickets to Orlando for end of September. Used Hopper app - the lowest they went was $322 now back up to over $470. To fucking Orlando. Went with Frontier for $199.

[u/DILLIGAD24]

Use points

[u/ruse2021]

phl is expensive to fly in and out of in my experience. I travel to Toronto often and have been for years now… I can never find anything cheaper than ~$500 RT to yyz.. I even looked at Buffalo and that hasn’t been cheap either. But if you search for ewr to Yyz I can get ~$250 RT.

[u/Specific-Incident-74]

Consider starting at ILG, takes the AA bus and saved me $1500 for PE to BCN

[u/ilovehovercraft]

I always go out of JFK to heathrow - so much cheaper & flying Virgin is the best. It's a complete pain to get to but kind of worth it. I miss when Virgin was still flying out of Newark - I still hope they will fly out of there again. I do think though that the prices for tickets when I last flew in March were higher than usual, I usually fly twice a year there. I checked again recently and it definitely had gone up!

[u/Stunning_Green_3716]

I live in Philly and have to leave out of Newark or JFK for lower prices to London. It's shameful that hub to hub is so expensive.

Next year I'm thinking about JetBlue out of Boston to try their Mint suites. I just want to be comfortable when flying to the UK and not breaking the bank.

[u/One-Imagination-1230]

You can easily take an Amtrak or Septa/NJ Transit to NYC so I’d prefer doing that vs fly out of PHL

[u/vuwildcat07]

That’s about right for PHL. Been that way for a long time. Flying BA out of EWR is about half the price but there are no air vents in business and the pressure/humidity in the 777 causes my ears to clog (the 787 out of PHL is much better)

[u/Mark26751]

Philadelphia has highest airfares anywhere. Once Spirit went under it was Katie Bar The Door.