I believe that some people make travel a lot harder than it needs to be. Especially if you are traveling for leisure. Here, I will include some things I have learned over my many years of traveling the globe. Some things have changed a little and some things have not. The important part is to take away from here, the bits you can use for your own style of travel and toss the rest. Not everything works for everybody all the time and some things, by law, must work for everyone all the time. Some information may seem redundant or even pointless to mention for seasoned travelers, but for the rookies out there, it could save a lot of headaches.
Arriving at the Airport
Arriving at the airport can be one of the smoothest or one of the most hectic things to do on your journey. Especially, if you are leaving on a nice relaxing vacation. My tips should make things a bit easier for you.
*Arrive Early – You will hear it said that you should arrive two to three hours before your flight departure time. For 90 percent of airports that is true. For the smallest of airports, I have done it on the 1 hour plan. If you are planning on leaving out of any major airport, I suggest two at a minimum. It is my standard and always works. Why? Well, there are a variety of factors. One, traffic is unpredictable. Especially, during commuting times. Two, you may forget something and have to turn around and come back to the house. I have done this a few times. Glad I factored in the extra time. Three, you don’t know what the traffic is like at the airport and terminal. It changes from hardly a car in sight, to a virtual parking lot in just minutes. It all depends on departing and arriving flight times and how they fall. Four, the ticket counter (especially if you are checking a bag) is unpredictable. There could be a track team from your local university all standing in line with tons of baggage to check, as well as late connections being made or simply not enough agents to get everyone checked in at a reasonable speed. How to mitigate this:
Tip #1 – Have you checked in for your flight yet? Having a digital boarding pass on your phone is much more convenient than paper ones and really, is the info on your phone so secret that you have to worry about big brother downloading your data in a millisecond on the scanner.? Also, check before you leave the house to make sure your flight is leaving on time. Phone apps or websites specific to the airline are the most accurate and up to date. Mechanical issues or weather – even if not at your own airport – can affect your departure.
Tip #2 – If someone, like a friend or family is dropping you off, don’t let them talk you into leaving later. Someone always says, “I never go that early and I’m fine”. Ignore them. Murphy’s Law will come into play and you will regret listening to them.
Tip #3 – Try the arrivals level instead of departures. Especially in the morning. If a friend or family member is dropping you off, this works. If it’s a shuttle service, it may not. Most flights depart in the mornings for domestic flights. So, everyone is headed to that level or section. If you can get to the arrivals level or section, you will find that it is almost empty of traffic and you can get out of the car and on your way in no time. There is no hard and fast rule or law on this, but the designs of some airports will prevent you from doing this.
Tip #4 – Compare flight info in your phone app to the flight info on the monitors in the airport to make sure you are good on time and gate. Those can change frequently. I had my gate change 5 times in under an hour one day while stuck at Dallas/Forth Worth (DFW).
Tip #5 – Head straight to the TSA security checkpoint for your gate area unless you have plenty of time. Otherwise, if you have a bag to check, head to the ticket counter. If you still have time, grab a bite to eat in one of the many overpriced food areas, go window shopping or sit and people watch. If you did happen to wander over to TSA, check the line and see how long it is. This is when I am most thankful that I have TSA Pre-check. It moves ahead of all other general boarding passes. Personally, unless there is some food place outside of the security area that I just have to eat at, I just go through security and stay in the secured area to eat.
Tip #6 – Before you enter the security screening line regardless of whether or not you are TSA Pre-check, get everything ready. If you have belt with a metal belt buckle, take it off, take your keys, wallet, papers, jewelry, watches – everything except for your ID/Passport, and put them in your carry on or personal item. They aren’t going anywhere and this is faster than using six bins to send everything through x-ray. Go up to the first TSA Officer, present your ID and boarding pass. He will quickly verify you are in the right area and you are not on some terrorist watch list and send you to the SCANNER (ominous music playing). Then begin the discombobulation process and place your phone and ID and place them also in your personal item or carry on, kick off your shoes (unless you are TSA Pre-check) and set everything on the belt. Then just follow the instructions of the TSA Officer to get you through the rest of the way. Provided you didn’t bring anything into the checkpoint that you are not supposed to (see www.TSA.gov for details), you will recombobulate yourself AWAY from the belt where your items come back to you. There are usually benches or tables far from the machines for you to put your things back on. Please gather your things and move away from the belt so that others can get there things. DO NOT get dressed and rearrange all your goodies you took off at the belt.
Tip#7 – Once you are all put back together and ready to roll, head to your gate area, hunt down food, go read a book, get a coffee or listen to a podcast. Whatever you decide to do, make sure you are at your gate at least 30 minutes before your departure. This is when most flights will board AND airlines are notorious for disallowing boarding 15 minutes prior to departure or once the doors to the jetway are closed. I am usually at my gate 45 minutes to an hour before boarding because things change fast and it’s hard to hear the announcements in the noisy airport and all of the nearby gates are using the same PA system to announce flights with those delicate Gate Agent voices.
Tip #8 – Once you have heard the call that they are boarding, calm down. No need to jump up and position yourself just yet. Almost all airlines with few exceptions, board by group number or priority number. If they are allowing people on that are handicapped, veterans, priority boarding pass holders, concierge members, blah, blah, blah – just sit down. It’s going to be a while unless you are in first class. You probably have a seat assignment like everybody else and no one is taking your seat way from you. At least it’s not likely. So, when you get on doesn’t really matter unless people bring too many carry items, which does happen sometimes if the gate agents are on their toes. When your group is called, board in an orderly manner, present your boarding pass to the gate agent for scanning and get on the darn plane.
Now you are on the plane. I will detail later, what to do once you are on board and how to make that process stress free in another post. Although, I may not have covered everything in this post, rest assured, I will in a later one.