PHL Airport #1, PHL Airline Last

Yeah. So the Philadelphia International Airport was named number one in customer satisfaction. Yes, the horrible PHL airport, the one everyone complains about and hates, was rated the #1 airport in the country. If you ever need to know that surveys are stupid, you now have concrete evidence.

But, wait! says airport chief Charles Isdell: “We have been trying for several years now to turn the corner in terms of people’s perception of the airport. And a lot of their perception quite frankly has to do with the performance of US Airways. The performance of US Airways has gone up in the past year.”

Uh, this is a consumer perception survey from J.D. Power. If people’s perception is that the airport service sucks — I’ve never actually had a bad experience there, but I never fly anywhere — how, exactly, did the airport win this contest?

In related news, the University of Michigan ranked U.S. Airways the worst airline in America, based on consumer surveys. Argh, how the hell does all of this work again?

PHL Airport Gets #1 Ranking in Satisfaction Survey [KYW 1060]
Travelers pan service at U.S. Airways [Bizjournals.com]

Breaking: Homeless Sleep In Warm Place

NBC 10 ran another in a long line of important exposes by the NBC 10 Investigators™ last night; this time, the social ill was homeless people sleeping at the airport.

The real highlight of the story is the interview with the self-proclaimed “newest homeless person to arrive at the airport.” Take it away, Doug Ryan:

“I think they should worry about their own business,” said 18-year-old Doug Ryan, who believes he’s the newest homeless person to arrive at the airport. “It’s warm. It’s warm, they don’t kick you out, so it’s not the worst place,” Ryan said.

“What are you doing for food?” Cahn asked.

“Trash cans,” Ryan answered. “As you can see, there’s like a pretzel store right there. Some people throw away their food, and I’ll eat it.”

The airport pays $150,000 a year to deal with the homeless population there… you think somebody could quietly slip them food. But they do have homeless counselors come in, though, so, y’know.

Airport’s Unofficial Welcoming Party Upsets Frequent Fliers [NBC 10]

Delayed PHL Travelers Have Raging Hormones

Another new study, this one from AXE Deodorant Spray! Yes, CBS 3 informs us that the Philadelphia Airport is the #1 place to meet someone special (i.e. someone to sleep with).

So, yeah, the company that brought you deodorant aimed at fifth-graders says the best place to meet someone is at the airport. Ah, but the silver lining:

Philadelphia took top honors partially because they are one of the worst airports when it comes to on-time flights.

The large number of delayed or cancelled flights combined with the fact PHL has six times as many bars, coffee shops and social areas than other airports makes it the perfect place to meet fellow travelers according to the study.

Aw, how cute. Finding love through incompetent service.

Study: Phila. Airport #1 For Love Connections [CBS 3]

Hip Trendy Swamp Hotel Design Revealed!

Brad Maule at phillyskyline.com got a hold of a photo of the Aloft (or, rather, “aloft”) hotel, the fancy hip aimed-at-young-people hotel that’s inexplicably being built down by the airport. It reminded me of something:

Sweet, they put one of those giant slides you ride down in a potato sack on top! (Pictured above: Morey’s Surfside Pier’s Giant Slide.) That’s not an amenity I’d usually think of for a hotel, but it definitely makes me want to stay there.

Oh, and another aloft hotel is being built in Harrisburg, of course.

New aloft Hotels

Fly The Not-So-Friendly Skies

Yesterday, someone called in a bomb threat to a plane departing from the airport. After getting the call at 9:30 a.m., airport security found nothing suspicious on the plane, which was headed for the Virgin Islands. The flight ended up departing about three hours late.

Although the threat was called in from an airport courtesy phone, they can’t find out who made the call. Here’s why:

While there are surveillance cameras in the area surrounding the phone, sources said they were not monitored or recording at the time so there is no description of the suspect available.

It’s good to know our crack airport security team has really gotten everything in order since 9/11.

Caller Sought In Airport Bomb Threat [AP/CBS 3 via Phillybits]