American Airlines launches Edinburgh to Philadelphia flights

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

• Vit says:

  6 Sep6 September 03:56

  Return flight from PHL should be AA278, Rob?

  While I welcome more connections into EDI, the airport needs drastic improvement in terms of ground services and expansion.

  • Rhys says:

    6 Sep6 September 06:25

    My fault, typo!

  • BJ says:

    6 Sep6 September 07:29

    There has been a lot of drastic ‘improvement’ at EDI in recent years – a total shambles IMO, particularly in relation to the arrival experience and the ground transportation set-up. Once upon a time the latter was beautifully simple, now it makes no sense. The 100 bus still seems to be the most heavily-used means of arriving and departing the airport: it used to operate perfectly to and from the main door but now it looks like they have shifted it to be the furthest possible bus stop.

    • Froggee says:

      6 Sep6 September 09:52

      What BJ said. The passenger experience at Edinburgh is very much secondary. At every opportunity there is a money grab. The airport is constrained by too small a site but the way they manage this constraint seems to be done in a random piecemeal way rather than according to any sort of long term plan.

      • BJ says:

        6 Sep6 September 14:17

        That might just be another excuse. My understanding is that the site has enough room for another long runway and associated taxiways.

    • Numpty says:

      6 Sep6 September 13:09

      agree with all the comments on the experience at EDI. Add in to the mix that if flying QR Business class you don’t get fast track security (was told QR wouldn’t pay for it), or the jungle that is checking a bag in with Ryanair.

      The first time i walked to the new baggage reclaim area i thought i had taken a wrong turn, or was it just temporary while they still built it. Real low cost carrier feel to it, which just doesn’t fit with what it should be.

      • BJ says:

        6 Sep6 September 14:31

        @Numpty, I don’t know where you got that QR info. Both my partner and I used fast track flying Qatar J last Xmas and my partner went through it again on departing QR J in July. What we have had twice before though is clueless staff not understanding who can and cannot use fast track. Worse still I get the impression some make decisions based on appearance before even looking at your boarding pass. Then if you do get through they sometimes allow chaos to develop by not clearly informing passengers they don’t need to remove this and that causing frustration with those who know because it unnecessarily slows things down.

    • RyanC says:

      7 Sep7 September 10:43

      If you follow the signs to the exit instead of heading for the main door, you will find the 100 bus in front of you.

  • Duncan says:

    6 Sep6 September 18:24

    Indeed. New management required.
    They’ve turned a decent airport around, but not for the better for passenger experience.

• JayEmm says:

  6 Sep6 September 05:24

  That’s neither a 787 nor a 777, it’s a B737, which might be pushing it, depending on the model.

  • BJ says:

    6 Sep6 September 07:14

    Last time it was operated by a 787 so I’m sure it’ll be same again.

    • Bobby says:

      6 Sep6 September 07:37

      The point is the photo is of a 737 in the article.
      Just because the photo is a 737 doesn’t mean the EDI service will be, though.

  • jjoohhnn says:

    6 Sep6 September 09:24

    Yeah I thought that reading this that they should caveat the photo that it won’t be on a 737!

• Froggee says:

  6 Sep6 September 07:47

  I love the fact that EDI management is so poor that the CEO quote wasn’t even proofread. And yes, this is EDI’s error, not Rob’s.

  “all of our pre-Covid transatlantic routes, demonstrating the significant demand North American demand for Edinburgh and Scotland”

  • Erico1875 says:

    6 Sep6 September 08:04

    Is EDI management so poor? Passenger nos have soared year on year since Edi became independantly run.
    I remember years ago GLA was the dominant airport in Scotland.
    Now EDI is jogging alongside LUTON as UK 5th busiest

    • BJ says:

      6 Sep6 September 08:20

      @Erico, I always thought they’d have been better closing both EDI and GLA and building a new national airport someplace near Falkirk and using rail network around there to connect all Scottish cities to the airport. I’m sure we would get even more routes and capacity that way. Still, hopefully with Air India’s ambitious growth plan we might see them at EDI in future, and always hoping for a SE Asian route. Given Thai did well with CPH, ARN and OSL it should be feasible.

      • Andrew. says:

        6 Sep6 September 09:22

        Oh goodness no. Mixing weegies and refined Edinburgh people at the same airport? It would ruin the ambiance.

        Saying that, my next few domestic flights to Scotland have been booked to Paisley International. Eighty tier points for £180 versus ten tier points for £360 to EDI

        • barry cutters says:

          6 Sep6 September 09:49

          While we live just south of the border we take a lot of flights from both EDI and GLA
          From our experience the difference in passenger behaviour and levels of swearing loudly is huge.

        • NorthernLass says:

          6 Sep6 September 10:26

          Ditto – I’ve got a BAH booked to GLA later this month, partly to visit family in Perthshire, so either would have been fine but GLA was considerably cheaper!

        • Michael says:

          6 Sep6 September 11:52

          Edinburgh born and raised but been living in Glasgow (well technically Giffnock) the past few years. The experience between the two airports is night and day. I’m still amazed how many Rangers and Celtic tops you see worn all over the city by grown men and women, let alone GLA. EDI does feel almost like a scaled down LHR in terms of its shopping mall feel to the duty free offerings but at least there’s things to while away the time if you’re not in a lounge. Upper deck is just about ok in GLA while the Lomond is definitely not worth the money, regardless of if you’re paying the up charge with PP.

        • BJ says:

          6 Sep6 September 14:36

          At least they’re mostly sociable in direct congratulations to the mostly Rev. IM Jolly-like Dunediners.

    • CJD says:

      6 Sep6 September 09:30

      Passenger numbers have soared because of the routes available.

      Glasgow is the better airport IMO.

      • BJ says:

        6 Sep6 September 14:39

        No doubt GLA is by far the better airport terminal but much more opportunities from EDI.

• BJ says:

  6 Sep6 September 07:54

  AFAIK HfP photos have only ever been intended to be illustrative although they generally keep them as relevant as possible. Highlighting what was in the pic was a good point but I thought the implication of what the comment went on to say was that this might be aircraft operating the route, not just a comment about the picture.

  • BJ says:

    6 Sep6 September 07:55

    That was @Bobby

  • TGLoyalty says:

    6 Sep6 September 08:03

    Exactly it’s just a stock pic of an AA Plane.

• Andrew. says:

  6 Sep6 September 09:29

  It’s good to see this route back. I’ve flown it a few times as a connecting flight from LHR.

  The last time I did it, it was probably 2018. My Edinburgh mate came down on the train, and we flew out. The return HBO flight from EDI to PHL was around £800, LHR-EDI-PHL was £440. Obviously my mate bailed out at EDI on the return.

• NorthernLass says:

  6 Sep6 September 10:29

  MAN-PHL also disappeared during the pandemic. It would be nice to have another US route to add to the massive *5* (with one of those being seasonal) we currently enjoy 😂

  • SammyJ says:

    6 Sep6 September 12:28

    +1 – really miss this route!

    • Chrisasaurus says:

      7 Sep7 September 07:41

      Yes but me too but I don’t miss the 767!

  • Mikeact says:

    6 Sep6 September 13:54

    Manchester Airport (MAN) is the fourth largest airport in United Kingdom. You can fly to 186 destinations with 52 airlines in scheduled passenger traffic.

    Sounds pretty good to me….

    • BJ says:

      6 Sep6 September 14:44

      So all these stories we hear, are they just a cunning plan to keep ally the good stuff for yourselves or is MAN genuinely really bad?

      • NorthernLass says:

        6 Sep6 September 14:57

        @BJ, every word is true but feel free to come and try it for yourself 😂

        186 destinations and less than 3% of those to the US, which must be one of the most popular destinations for U.K. tourists!

      • AL says:

        6 Sep6 September 21:47

        MAN is a horror show. There is nothing good about the place. The billion pound investment went on Instagrammable crap in T2, and other similar wastes. And it remains the worst airport I have ever, ever had the misfortune to deal with.

        And, yet, it is still preferable to the WCML.

        Even the good airlines at MAN find it hard to provide a quality experience. VS at MAN use the only decent lounge there is and it’s an uphill battle getting service, decent food or drink and the chancers out.

        Absolute crap. MAN needs new management and a renewed interest in staff keeping passengers happy.

  • ChrisH says:

    8 Sep8 September 12:42

    Definitely need a One World flight to USA. AA had Chicago, Philadelphia and NYC at one stage.

• JamesH says:

  6 Sep6 September 10:51

  Great news for EDI, assuming all current season routes return that will make 13 Atlantic routes to USA/Canada next year.

  There are also plans in play for a significant gate extension, rumours on other forums is that ground work has already started (extension from the south east pier).

  • Andrew. says:

    6 Sep6 September 11:53

    Halifax, Toronto, Calgary
    Boston, Chicago, NYC, Atlanta, DC, Philadelphia, Orlando

    What’s missing?

    • JamesH says:

      6 Sep6 September 17:51

      United to Washington and 2 carriers each to JFK and Toronto

• Ryan says:

  6 Sep6 September 11:21

  Edinburgh can and will be a fantastic airport when then the access road to the airport is improved.

  The overseas arrivals experience will get better in time, but never any issues domestically.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.