Air travel tips for the inexperienced

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
41

[QUOTE=Rubystreak]
Do you think it’s realistic for 2 people to carry enough stuff for a 5 day trip in their carry on bags? My fiance wants to avoid checking in suitcases, though I think that’s pretty much impossible.
[/QUOTE]

Speaking as a frequent flier, please check your bags. If you have any doubt, you should check your bags. Unless you’re planning on wearing two outfits in five days I assure you, your bags will be too big and bulky to be conveniently taken on as carry-on.

People bringing suitcases onto the plane with them is one of the biggest irritants for other passengers, slows down the boarding process and departure of the plane, and the problem is often so bad that there isn’t enogh room in the overhead bins for all the bags people bring with them. Check your suitcases.

Remember, you wno’t have to worry about them in Atlanta if you check them.

42

[QUOTE=fluiddruid]

  • If female, a purse to hold all your change and other things that may set off the metal detector saves a lot of time at security.
    [/QUOTE]

If male, too. You may call it a “messenger bag” or a “man-purse” if you insist.

43

You can check the TSA’s website for prohibited items and wait times at security. It’s good to read, if only because you know some guy was upset his cattle prod wasn’t allowed on the plane. I always go through my purse just before leaving to make sure I got everything out.

If you are bringing prescriptions, bring the original packaging with all the info on it. If it is liquid or an inhaler, it doesn’t need to be in the baggie if you have the orignal packaging with you, but it’s easier if it fits.

The military style backpack probably won’t fit as a carry on, but your airline’s website will have dimensions. Smaller planes (and the one from Syracuse will be small) have even less carry on space. They usually allow you to gate check stuff, which means you’ll get it back right off plane.

If you have a laptop, it stays with you on the plane. Do not check or gate check it.

I like to put my shoes through the X-ray machine first, so I can put them back on before the rest of my stuff comes out.

Program the 800 number for the airline into your cell phone. That way if you miss your connection you can call the airline while everyone else is in line for the gate agent.

44

Regarding the time to give yourself, I used to be one of those last minute, dash through the airport as they announce final boarding, last on the plane before the close the door guys. Used to be easy to do. These days, not so much.

IMO, the basic rule is if you give yourself 2 hours, things will go incredibly smoothly, you’ll sail through check-in and security, and will spend an hour and 45 minutes at the gate being glad you brought a good book. On top of that, just because you were responsible and gave yourself a cushion, your flight will probably be delayed. :wink: OTOH, if you give yourself 1 hour or less, traffic will be a mess, it will take forever to park in the most remote lot, the lines will be insane, and you will be tearing your hair out wondering if you will be able to make your flight, while absolutely no one around you - fellow travelers or airline employees - give a damn whether you make it or not.

In short, I arrive early with a book. I’m not a big fan of stress, especially starting off a vacation.

45

[QUOTE=Rubystreak]
Do you think it’s realistic for 2 people to carry enough stuff for a 5 day trip in their carry on bags? My fiance wants to avoid checking in suitcases, though I think that’s pretty much impossible.

Do they still serve food on the plane? The flights are 2 hours each, approximately. We’ll be spending almost as much time in layovers as in each leg of the trip on the plane.
[/QUOTE]

I did my 12-day trip to Spain with carry-on only, so yes, I’d say it’s possible. You might be limited to one or two pairs of shoes and fewer clothing options (I did laundry halfway through the trip), but it’s certainly possilble.

46

I always ask for an aisle seat. For me, especially because of my size – 6’3’’ and 230 pounds – there is nothing worse than being stuck inside a row and having to ask people to let me out. Plus it lets me stretch at least one leg out.

47

[QUOTE=burundi]
You might get a teeny-tiny bag of pretzels. On longer flights, they’ll sell you sad, limp sandwiches for $6 a pop. You’re much better off bringing food with you on board.
[/QUOTE]

Lots of airport concessions now sell food packaged to be taken on board. I’ve never bought food on board, but when I look at what people who have got, it isn’t so appealing.

Do remember not to carry pen knives and other things perfectly legal 10 years ago. If you have one you like, pack it in checked luggage. I’d also encourage carrying on a bare minimum of stuff. You’ll be happy to not have to maneuver a heavy bad while in line for food, or while dashing from one side of Atlanta to another. It also means no chance of TSA people going through your underwear at the screening.

If you take a laptop, be aware that you have to take it out and check it through by itself.

I have a bag I use for work in which I put books and my laptop. It has an outside pocket, and I dump my change, my keys, and my cellphone in it. If you forget to take these out, and the metal detector beeps, you will get wanded and it will take longer. Different airports have detectors of varying sensitivities. My buckle sets of a few, but not others. I wouldn’t worry about buckles until it happens. Rivets have never set it off.

I’d definitely leave enough time, especially for a first flight. BTW, well over half the travelers have e-tickets. I had a paper ticket from a package to Vegas a few weeks ago, and it seemed strange. Do bring your receipt, since the confirmation number is the last resort for finding your ticket at the kiosk. Pertty much any credit card will do, not just the one you bought the ticket with, but I don’t know how Travelocity works, since I usually get my tickets throught work.

48

[QUOTE=Pigs in Space]
The military style backpack probably won’t fit as a carry on, but your airline’s website will have dimensions. Smaller planes (and the one from Syracuse will be small) have even less carry on space. They usually allow you to gate check stuff, which means you’ll get it back right off plane.
[/QUOTE]

Ah, yes, this is important. Rubystreak, check the flight info part of your itinerary or Travelocity confirmation document. If either or both legs of the flight are on a flight number higher than 4000, you are dealing with a Delta Conection Regional Jet and you may not be able to fit a conventional rollaboard.

I’m looking right now at Delta’s flight info for flights SYR to EYW today (it’s what the site will show me w/o being logged in), and* all three one-stop connections at ATL today involve *both ** legs of the journey being on a Regional. Those flights are in all six cases aboard a Bombardier CRJ, in either the 48- or the 68-seater version; a very nice airplane but a tight fit.

This also means NO food, *MAYBE * if you’re lucky in the longer SYR-ATL leg a chance to buy a snack box, but the shorter one ATL-EYW definitely just a drink and small bag o’ pretzels. Bring a sandwich. Oh, and charge up the iPod or the Walkman, no onboard audio. BTW if on an outboard seat, wear good socks, the insulation where the floor meets the ribs is aparently thin, I discovered on my two prior meetings with the CRJ. I’ve been able to swing carry-on only for a 3-day business trip on RJs, but of course when one dark jacket plus one dark and one light pair of pants plus two different shirts = 4 outfits, that’s no accomplishment. I recommend packing one (1) day’s change of casual clothes and underwear for each person in a gym bag as carry-on; and for insurance, split the packing of the checked luggage.

It looks like you will have to change gates/concourses. Today’s flights have arrivals or departures in both E and C concourse so you’ll have to take the little train, but NOT have to exit the security zone. With a 1:40 layover, I’d say checked luggage can be counted on getting to the other side if everything’s running on schedule; if you prceed immediately there you’ll be in front of the gate for the next flight with over an hour to spare and can then find some nearby location to replenish yourselves for the next stage and be back at the gate 30 min. before departure in time for the [del]cancellation[/del] boarding :wink: call.

BTW, do be getting in line at the departure airport no less than 90 min. before departure ( I’d recommend 2 hours if it’s a peak time; ask someone at Delta for a recommendation). As others have said, you dont know what may go wrong in the processing. You may end up in line behind the Empress of the World and witness her attempt to make the airline and TSA rewrite the Warsaw Convention and the PATRIOT Act specifically for her benefit, while a hundred citizens fume behind her.

49

I just have to say that this has been a fantastically useful, info-filled thread for me. You guys rock. I feel much better prepared for this trip than I did before posting it. THANK YOU.

50

[QUOTE=JRDelirious]
Ah, yes, this is important. Rubystreak, check the flight info part of your itinerary or Travelocity confirmation document. If either or both legs of the flight are on a flight number higher than 4000, you are dealing with a Delta Conection Regional Jet and you may not be able to fit a conventional rollaboard.
[/QUOTE]

All my flights have flight numbers above 4000, on a CRJ-700 Canadair Regional Jet, according to my itinerary. These are small planes? I will have to look this up and see what the seating is like. Are we more likely to get bumped in a situation with such a small airplane? I have never flown on a plane this small. Should be interesting.

51

My flying routine, much of which is duplicative of above:

  1. I am extremely anxious about the possibility of missing flights, so I try to be at the airport 1.5 hours before flight time, or longer for larger airports or busy times of day.

  2. I confirm seat assignments at check in. I have a strong preference for an aisle seat and will have booked one; I will reconfirm that at ticketing.

  3. I wear slip off shoes (moccasins or low-heel mules) both for ease at security and so I can slip them off during flight. Socks are a must.

  4. If I am somewhere overnight only I will take my small roller bag as a carry-on. More than one night away, I check luggage (even if it’s the same small roller bag) to avoid the hassle of the “3 oz for toiletries” rule.

  5. I bring whatever book I’m reading plus one more book. This is for the flight. I may have other books for the trip in my bag, but I’ll have at least 1.5 books for the flight. I also take a puzzle book (sudoku or logic puzzles) and a pen.

  6. Once I’m through security, if my flight is longer than 3 hours, I find a sandwich shop and buy a sandwich. This isn’t to eat right away, it’s for lunch on the plane. Most major airports in the U.S. now have deli shops that will make your sandwich to order for you. It costs about 9 bucks, of course, but hey, it’s the airport. I then go to the Hudson News and buy a bag of chips, a diet soda, a bottle of water, a candy bar, and a magazine. That’s the rest of my lunch plus some additional entertainment. As others have said, food on the plane is a bag of pretzels (which I loathe) or a snack box you can buy for 6 bucks (and maybe not for your flights). The snack box isn’t bad, it’s just not good. A sandwich is better for you, tastes better, and is more filling.

  7. I then go hang out by the gate, having first located the nearest bathroom. Assuming it’s not a trek away from the gate, I wait until five minutes before boarding and then go to the bathroom.

  8. If I am taking a carry-on roller bag, then I do press the gate (by which I mean, hang out close to the gate and wait for my section to be called, and then immediately move forward to board). This is because there can be a shortage of space in the overhead compartments and I want to make sure my bag doesn’t get bumped and checked due to lack of space, so I try to be among the first on. If I have checked my bag, then I don’t press the doorway, herding up to be first on the plane. They are not leaving without me. This is another reason I actually prefer to check my bag.

  9. My suitcase has an easily identifiable tag on it, so I can see it and identify it as mine on the baggage carousel. My bag is a (large or small) black roller bag, and it (they) look like a million others. I actually found fun plastic luggage tags that are bright red. They say “NO, THIS IS NOT YOUR BLACK BAG”.

  10. I take Airborne for 2-3 days before flying and a couple of days after. I know there’s debate on its efficacy, but I tend to catch colds from air travel, and anything that helps prevent that I will do. For the same reason, I drink a lot of water on the plane. This does mean more trips to the loo, but that’s one of the reasons I have an aisle seat.

52

[QUOTE=Rubystreak]
All my flights have flight numbers above 4000, on a CRJ-700 Canadair Regional Jet, according to my itinerary. These are small planes? I will have to look this up and see what the seating is like. Are we more likely to get bumped in a situation with such a small airplane? I have never flown on a plane this small. Should be interesting.
[/QUOTE]

70-seaters. These are great planes, IMO, speaking as a traveler, not as an aviation/safety expert. Every seat is either a window or an aisle, and they are jets, not turbo-props, so you don’t get that loud droning ARARARAARARARARARRR the whole way like you do with a prop plane. There will be one flight attendant, so the chances of snack box service are IME nil; she’ll make one pass through with drinks and small packaged pretzels or cookies, and that’s it. There is only one loo, at the back. There’s no TVs in the ceiling, no armrest jack for you to plug your headphones in, so do bring your own entertainment.

They may be much more rigorous with carry-on luggage, however, because there’s less space. They may allow you to gate-check your bag – leave it on a rolling cart at the base of the airplane stairs, they will put it in the hold and then you pick it up from a similar cart as you exit the plane – which is ideal. But I wouldn’t press my luck and try to carry on an oversized bag on the assumption you can gate-check it; if you can’t you will have to check it as luggage anyway.

53

[QUOTE=Rubystreak]
All my flights have flight numbers above 4000, on a CRJ-700 Canadair Regional Jet, according to my itinerary. These are small planes?
[/QUOTE]

They’re ahhh… cozy. Some have two-and-two seating, and some are even one-and-two seating, and all have limited cabin storage. Onboard services rival those offered on a city bus - no food, no entertainment, and if you’re lucky, a can of pop.

Trust me, you don’t want to mess with anything larger than a laptop case or purse on an RJ, and you will probably find yourself secretly cursing at everyone who thought their roll-aboard bag was going to fit is gumming up the whole line by being forced to gate-check the thing and they’re frantically rummaging through it to grab their books, gameboys, headphones and whatever else they want to keep with them for the flight.

54

[QUOTE=Rubystreak]
All my flights have flight numbers above 4000, on a CRJ-700 Canadair Regional Jet, according to my itinerary. These are small planes? I will have to look this up and see what the seating is like. Are we more likely to get bumped in a situation with such a small airplane? I have never flown on a plane this small. Should be interesting.
[/QUOTE]

You are no more likely to be bumped from this plane that a larger one. It just means that this route doesn’t normally have a lot of passengers.

One this type of plane, avoid the window if you are tall. The curvature of the hull (?) is such that you won’t be able to lean into the window if you want to rest/sleep. You may not even be able to sit up straight if you’re 6’3" or taller.

55

[QUOTE=Rubystreak]
Is arriving at the airport an hour before a domestic flight is scheduled to leave early enough?
[/QUOTE]

I was bumped from my flight out of Portland ME this past Saturday because I did not arrive 2 hours ahead of time - I only arrived 1:15 ahead of time. :rolleyes:

56

[QUOTE=Pigs in Space]
Program the 800 number for the airline into your cell phone. That way if you miss your connection you can call the airline while everyone else is in line for the gate agent.
[/QUOTE]

THIS IS AN EXTREMELY GOOD IDEA. I missed a flight connection along with about ten other folks once because the wrong gate was announced and put up on the boards at first. We asked the incredibly unhelpful gate agent about it and the stupid bastard just put us off with, “I’ll make an annoucement soon.” Luckily one of the women with us called her coworker and had her check the American Airlines website, then confronted the loser gate agent. He then got on his damn computer and announced the mistake and directed us to the correct gate. We’d already missed the connecting flight, though.

57

My tips -

Don’t rely on the airline (or, ideally, the airport) for your food supply. Bring what you like to eat. The food is always lowest common denominator. Also, there are those nightmare stories of people spending hours on the runway when something goes wrong. Just don’t plan on bringing any liquids or gels.

Since you are a Doper, you probably don’t need this advice. However, some people do. Flying is a fairly active activity. Dress for it. This has implications for heel height, plunging necklines, gravity-defying tube tops, and short skirts. You may need to perform feats such as carrying your luggage up and down a flight of stairs, picking up something you dropped on the floor, and lifting your luggage into the overhead bin.

Wear your bulkiest shoes, like running shoes, for the flight and pack your little flats or sandals.

Personally, I am more of a bag checker than a carry on person. But if you decide you can go with the carry-on, remember that means you won’t have any space for souvenirs. You may want to pack or buy a tote bag you can check on the way back to allow more space on the return trip. You can put dirty undies in there, since if those are delayed on the way home it’s not a big deal.

Missing your connection is a bigger deal if you are flying late in the day. First, it’s more likely since problems from the morning tend to have a cumulative effect. Second, there will be fewer flights out remaining that day.

58

[QUOTE=Harriet the Spry]
My tips -

Don’t rely on the airline (or, ideally, the airport) for your food supply. Bring what you like to eat. The food is always lowest common denominator. Also, there are those nightmare stories of people spending hours on the runway when something goes wrong. Just don’t plan on bringing any liquids or gels.
[/QUOTE]

This goes double or triple if you are picky or have any dietary restrictions whatsoever. I was stuck in Orlando with a three hour delay on the wrong side of security. I’m gluten intolerant. I was heading home, so I wasn’t packed with food. Dinner of trail mix from the newsstand is not dinner. My choices on that side of security were pizza and sandwiches (well, I could have eaten six or seven Hershey bars) - I couldn’t even find a salad.

59

[QUOTE=gotpasswords]
They’re ahhh… cozy. Some have two-and-two seating, and some are even one-and-two seating, and all have limited cabin storage. Onboard services rival those offered on a city bus - no food, no entertainment, and if you’re lucky, a can of pop.
[/QUOTE]
CRJ-700s are 2-and-2. I’d say a briefcase/reasonable purse and a small gym bag is about what you’d get to take onboard (it helps if the carry-on’s not rigid, as you may be able to shove-mold it into fitting the space, unlike a boxy one). In my last CRJ flight (last Sunday!) I got on with a briefcase and the suit/shirt/shoes/xtra drawers outfit in a suit bag – the plain kind that’s really only supposed to hold a suit in transit, not the one that’s designed as luggage.