Travel Tips for Air Travel

Traveling by air is a necessity for many vacationers as well as business folk. I’ve flown over 650,000 KMs and I can tell you that there are definitely things you should and shouldn’t do when you fly. This is a list of tips and tricks I have discovered over the years that will help you get through air travel easier and not drive everyone else around you nuts.

• If possible, use a travel agent for booking your airfare. It might be easier to book it yourself on the airline’s website, or through a travel website, but a travel agent will seriously help you when things fall apart.
  • When a flight is cancelled, everyone on the plane has to go to the counter and get re-booked and seats on the next flight fill up quickly. By the time you get to the counter, all the seats on the next flight may be used up. If you booked through a travel agent, you can call them immediately while you are in line and have them put you on another flight before you get to the counter. By the time you talk to the agent at the desk, you already have a seat locked in for the next flight and can get them to print your boarding pass
    • In many cases, don’t go to the nearest service counter. Leave that immediate area and find an agent at another desk and get them to help you.
      • The desk closest to the gate of the cancelled flight will always have a huge line from the people who are on the same flight as you.
• When booking a flight with connections, always give yourself lots of time between flights. 90 minutes for a domestic flight and two hours for transborder/international. Flights get delayed all the time and sometimes you have to go through security again as well as customs. All that takes time.
• Always check in the night before and pick your seat. People who get their seats assigned at the airport are more likely to get bumped from a flight when it is oversold.
• Airlines don’t like to advertise this, but their “conditions of carriage” has a clause in it that allows them to book you on another airline at no charge to you if they cannot provide you with a “satisfactory” replacement flight when you experience a delay or cancellation. The agent at the gate may pretend to not know about this but when push comes to shove, airlines are obligated by law to get you on a flight without “significant interruption” to your flight plans.
  • I have been re-booked by United Airlines to American Airlines when my UA flight was cancelled. I have also been booked on a Westjet flight by Air Canada when the AC flight I was originally re-booked on had a longer layover than the Westjet.
• If you are concerned about overhead bin space for your bag(s) and you don’t have status with the airline, check in online the night before your flight and pick a seat at the back of the plane. Most airlines board from back to front which means after the priority customers are boarded, you’ll get first dibs on the overhead bins.
• If you are going on a short trip (week or less), don’t check a bag. I have been known to pack 10 days worth of clothes into a single carry on bag. The reasons for not checking a bag when you can are multiple but the biggest ones include:
  • A checked bag is the worst thing to have when flights are cancelled. When a flight is cancelled, the airline will move you to another flight automatically, but in many cases it’s not the next available flight because you have a checked bag. The gate agent will always ask you if you have a bag and if you don’t, it’s far more likely that you’ll get on an earlier flight than if you had checked bag.
  • The airline will often charge you a fee to check a bag in each direction of travel. It’s already expensive enough to fly so why bother giving them more money when you don’t need to.
    • Because flights are now more packed than they were, airlines will often offer up a free-checked bag after you get to the gate to free up overhead space in the cabin. You can’t bring a full sized bag through security, but you can over-pack a carry-on hoping to get it checked by the airline at no cost after security.
• Be prepared to go through security and not hold the line up. This means:
  • Always assume that everyone behind you is late and that you are the one holding them up from getting to their flight. This sounds silly but the idea is to get through security as quickly as you can so that you can relax at your gate waiting for your flight.
  • Have your liquids in a clear bag and readily accessible
  • While you stand in line empty your pockets of all metal and put them in your jacket or small carry-on. This will prevent the metal detector from going off.
  • Always keep your boarding pass with you because security is likely to ask you for it
  • If you are bringing a laptop with you, open the bag that has the laptop in it while you are in line. When it’s your turn to start putting stuff in bins, the laptop is easier to get at
  • Don’t lose your cool if they want to search your bags. They are just doing their jobs so by cooperating you are  making it easier for them and for yourself.
• If you are from Canada or the US, get a Nexus card. It allows you to skip the customs desk on both sides of the border, and many airports have priority security lines for Nexus card holders.
• Once through security, find out what gate your flight is at and go to the gate immediately. It’s easy to get distracted in some airports and in some cases you may get lost and not get to your gate on time and miss your flight. If you go to it immediately then you know where it is and can go browsing afterwards.
• ONLY BOARD WHEN YOUR ZONE IS CALLED! Airlines board their planes by zone/group number. Don’t start trying to board the plane until they call your number. It’s rude and unnecessary.
• Always have your ID and boarding pass ready when you board. No one likes the person who has to search their bag for their pass or passport because they didn’t keep it with them.
• Try and get a window seat for red eye flights and take a sleeping pill or Benedryl once you are seated. The window seat gives you something to lean your head against to sleep.
• If possible, try to get a bulkhead seat or exit row seat. These are often taken by frequent fliers but if you can get one, they have advantages.
  • Exit row seats have more legroom than others
  • Bulkhead seats usually mean that all your carry on bags have to go in the overhead which means you have more legroom