If you live close to the airport, I would recommend doing a few dry runs of pretending to pick them up at their arrival terminal. PHL airport is one huge loop on an island, that is fully navigated solely with highways, on/off/merging/converging ramps, and merging lanes, and is very confusing if you don’t already have knowledge of the entrances and exits you need to follow. Google maps isn’t very helpful either at the airport, and navigational alerts will happen faster than you’ll be prepared for.

Look at Google maps to route yourself there ahead of time. When you get on the “airport island” after crossing any of the long bridges, start really following the overhead highway signs, they’re useful. First follow signs for arrivals / cell phone waiting lot, so you know where to park and wait for their plane to land. Then exit the lot and follow signs for “arrivals”, and “pick up area”. That takes you to the terminals, which are all laid out on a long one-way road. Simply follow cars that will be going this way, but don’t follow cars going to departures of course! It’s easy to do that by mistake. Terminals are labeled with letters A-F. Do not pass their terminal! If you do, you will have to exit and loop back around the entire airport, which is annoying and can take anywhere from 5-30 minutes depending on traffic. After you’re familiar with the terminal where they will come outside to your car, keep driving thru and follow signs for whichever highway you need to go home. This way you can get a feel of the layout.

All of the airport employees, police, taxis and Uber drivers are very knowledgeable and helpful if you get lost or confused.