Useful Tips for Inexperienced (and experienced) Airline Passengers (Rockhead)

[AzJames73]

MineralMan (93,401 posts)

Useful Tips for Inexperienced (and experienced) Airline Passengers
I've flown on commercial airlines hundreds of times. Based on that experience, here are some tips for passengers who don't travel much, and for experienced flyers who don't pay much attention. They'll help at every step of your journey. They'll also help you not be that passenger who slows everyone else down.

1. Have your shit together - Before you leave for the airport, check to make sure your ID is easily accessible and your boarding pass is, as well, if you printed it out beforehand (you should). When packing, don't put all those bottles of shampoo and other vanity products in your carry-on. Put them in checked bags or leave them at home. They sell that stuff where you're going, too.

2. Dress to fly - Wear shoes that are easy to remove. You'll have to remove them unless you're a TSA pre-check passenger. It's a pain in the ass to have to bend over and untie your shoes. Wear slip-ons and you'll be much happier. Also, wear a light jacket with big pockets, even if it's warm. As you approach the security screening, move the junk in your pockets (all of it) into the pockets of the jacket while you're waiting in the long security line. Then, when you approach the screening area you can remove and fold your jacket and put it in the bin. Don't leave anything in your pockets. Put it all in your jacket pockets before you get through the line.

3. Show up early at the airport - Seriously. You're going to enjoy your trip a lot more if you show up early and have plenty of time to check in, check your luggage and get through security. It's a lot more relaxing to sit at the boarding gate with your mocha latte until it's time to get on the plane than it is to run through the terminal at the last minute.

4. Check your bag outside the terminal - If you printed your boarding pass at home (another reason you should), don't go inside and stand in line to check your bag in. If there's a redcap station outside, do it there. Give the nice person who checks you in a $5 tip. It's worth it. Once your bag is checked, you're done, and can go straight to the security screening. This saves time and hassle.

5. Get ready for the TSA screening - You'll need your boarding pass and ID immediately available. Hold them in your hand or put them in a shirt pocket or somewhere that's instantly accessible. Don't wait until the last second to fish your ID out of your purse or wallet or to dig out your boarding pass from your carry-on. See #2 for instructions about what to do with all the crap in your pockets. If you have a belly cover as a belt-buckle, remove your belt and put it, rolled-up, in your jacket pocket, too.

6. Read stuff and listen to announcements - When you get to the TSA screening area, look around and read those signs everyone ignores. Review your preparations and make sure you've dealt with your liquids by putting them in small ziplock bags. Listen to the PA system announcements closely. They may give you information you need. Pay attention to your surroundings and learn from the passengers ahead of you, as well. As the line moves ahead, please move along with it. Don't delay others.

7. Follow directions given by TSA people - Smile and hand your boarding pass and ID, face-up, to the nice person at the desk and listen to that person, who may ask you a question or two and will tell you what to do next. Don't get distracted. This will help you get through security faster. Note: If you have an internal joint replacement, tell the nice person at the desk about it. That will save time, since he or she will be able to instruct you on what you need to do. If you don't, you may have to do things twice, and that wastes time.

8. Be efficient at the X-ray conveyor - Those bins? Use them. Use as many as you need. If you have a laptop, take it out of your bag or carry-on and put it by itself in a bin. Put your shoes in a bin and fold your jacket (full of the junk in your pockets) and put it on top of your shoes. Put any small junk you're carrying in a bin, too. Put your carry-on on the conveyor, along with your purse and any other large junk you're carrying. If necessary, push the entire lot forward until everything reaches the moving belt. Then step over to the next station.

9. Wait patiently for the TSA person to tell you what to do - Go through the metal detector or scanner, following whatever instructions you are given. Look at the diagram inside the x-ray thing. Do what it shows. Stand still. Then follow the next instructions from the TSA person. If you are asked to step over and be patted down, just do it. You're not going to argue your way out of it, so just do it. Usually, it will only involve checking some specific area that was indicated by the scanner. It will only take a minute or two. If there are other issues, listen and follow whatever instructions you are given. There's no point in arguing. That will only delay the process, and you will never win such an argument.

10. Pick up all your junk from the x-ray conveyor - Don't stand there after you do this. Move on, so the next person can pick up his or her junk. Carry it over to the nice, uncomfortable seats outside of the security area and reassemble yourself there. Always move promptly from one area to the next, to avoid annoying everyone around you.

11. Before going to the gate indicated on your ticket, check the flight display near security - You might just discover that your gate has been changed. It happens all the time. If you go to the wrong gate and then have to go to the right gate, you'll waste more time. However, do go directly to your assigned gate. Do that before browsing through the shops, buying magazines, sandwiches, candy bars and other junk to take on the plane. You want to find your gate before doing that, especially in an unfamiliar airport.

12. While waiting in the gate area, look once again at the flight number on your ticket - Remember it. Listen to PA announcements, and if you hear your flight number, pay attention. You might learn something interesting. If you have a boarding pass, which you clearly do at this point, you don't need to go up to the gate counter. You have a seat. Don't worry. Amuse yourself by watching the growing crowd or play with your cell phone or other devices. But keep listening.

13. When boarding begins, listen even closer to the announcements - Do what the nice airline people ask. If you're in Zone 5, don't line up to board when Zone 3 is called, for example. You'll just slow everyone down. Sit down and be comfortable. Then, when the zone or whatever before yours is called, wait until the line grows and then stand up and move up near the back of the line, so you'll be there early when it's your turn. Don't attempt to board until it's your turn. Don't wait until the last minute before boarding. Board when your group or zone is called. Otherwise, you'll just waste your time and everyone else's.

14. As you board the plane, have a plan for your carry-on - If it must go into the overhead bins, then hoist it up there efficiently when you reach your row. Don't suddenly decide that you need something in there. You should have thought of that earlier. If your carry-on will fit under the seat in front of you (recommended), stow it there, not in the overhead bins. Note: bags under your seat are much, much easier when you arrive. You just pull them out and walk on. Leave room for others. Take your seat immediately. Sit in your assigned seat, not the one you'd prefer. Otherwise you'll slow things down when the person who has the seat you took shows up.

15. Once seated, listen to announcements from the flight crew - follow their instructions. Don't wait to find out how to put your cell phone in airline mode until they announce that you need to do that. In fact, anticipate as much as you can. Don't be that person who insists on talking on their phone until a flight attendant comes over and demands that it be shut off. That delays things. Don't delay things.

16. Once the flight is in the air, deal with stuff - The drink and snack cart will eventually get to your row. You probably don't really need that thing you forgot to take out of your carry-on in the overhead bin. Relax, and try to be as comfortable as you can, and let the time pass. Don't start a conversation with the passenger next to you if he or she is reading a book or doing something else. If you don't want a conversation, read a book or do something else. Don't decide that you need to use the toilet while the snack and drink carts are moving in the aisles. Wait until they're past you. It's just not nice to make them back up so you can go potty. Really.

17. When the plane lands, gather all your junk together - Wait for your turn to deplane. Everyone will get off the plane. You will get off the plane, too. There's no way to speed things up, so sit there and relax a few more minutes. Listen for the announcement of which luggage carousel is assigned to your flight. When it's your row's turn, just get up and go. If you did store a bag overhead, please be careful not to knock someone in the head when you pull it out of the bin. Finally, as you enter the terminal, keep walking. Don't stop right in front of the entry door to get your bearings. That will only delay all the people behind you, and isn't that annoying when it happens to you? Just walk briskly on until you get to the main aisle. Then look to see which way you need to go.

I hope this information and these tips help you with your next airline trip. Who knows? I might be on it, too.

He must be bored. Or trying to change the subject because of their latest meltdown over there.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029015911

[Maverick1987]

As with most things posted by Rockhead...

tl;dr

[Carl]

Or just do what normal people have been dong for years.

[freedumb2003b]

Useful Tips for Inexperienced (and experienced) Airline Passengers
I've flown on commercial airlines hundreds of times.

N00b.  This is like a freshman in college trying to pretend he knows it all.  This is a simple list you can copy and paste (and it probably was) from anywhere.

I have several THOUSAND trips and nearly 3 MILLION flight miles.

One of these days I will bore everyone with some really USEFUL advice (example: always close/zip up your carry-on, else you will lose things that jump/roll out on takeoff, landing, etc.; get bright colored smaller bags for inside your carry on so you can find them in the dark).

This n00b doesn't know squat.

[YupItsMe]

I'll give him credit for giving directions that every person should actually follow.    Little tip to wanna be gangsta's and thugs, this type of behavior works wonders with police also.    I'm not proud of it, but I've had a few run-ins with the police because of drinking and driving.  At one point I was brought to jail on the weekend.  Officer bringing me in said to corrections officer at check in.  "Mr. xxxxxxx is a gentleman and should be treated as such"    I've been treated worse by employers than I have by the Dept of Corrections.  They appreciate respect for authority.   I was 100% wrong, my goal was to make their job as easy as possible.

[landofconfusion80]

Or just do what normal people have been dong for years.

Heh heh... he said dong.... heh heh

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

[Ralph Wiggum]

But of course, nothing to do with Islamic terrorists.  Which is the reason that we have to deal with that crap.

[I_B_Perky]

The real reason for the list:

Dummie is lording it over the monetary challenged dummies that he is rich enough to fly instead of taking the greyhound.  Some mole should give him some shit about the damage to the environment the airlines do to Mother Gaia.

[98ZJUSMC]

I'll give him credit for giving directions that every person should actually follow.    Little tip to wanna be gangsta's and thugs, this type of behavior works wonders with police also.    I'm not proud of it, but I've had a few run-ins with the police because of drinking and driving.  At one point I was brought to jail on the weekend.  Officer bringing me in said to corrections officer at check in.  "Mr. xxxxxxx is a gentleman and should be treated as such"    I've been treated worse by employers than I have by the Dept of Corrections.  They appreciate respect for authority.   I was 100% wrong, my goal was to make their job as easy as possible.

It makes a huge difference.  I found I was treated with great deference by being as amenable as possible. Was even given a ride home because I wasn't a dickhead.