You’re leaving! On holiday, on a trip, be it business or pleasure. And most of the time, the place where you depart from is the airport. Airline tickets are becoming cheaper, and an airplane journey has sometimes become more cost-effective as a taxi ride from one side of town to the other. Every time you get to the airport, you follow a routine. Whether it’s baggage, security screening, or simply who we contact, the minutes you spend in a terminal are, although seemingly trivial, significant in the overall context of the journey. Because (and) the success of your trip depends on the smooth running of this routine. Sometimes, however, you make a few mistakes at the airport (or before you get to it) that bring you nothing but inconvenience, nerves, and, in more severe cases, even with an unexpected return home. Let’s review some of the mistakes we’re making at the airport.
1 You do not dress comfortably
If you do not go on a business trip and after arrival, you are greeted “officially,” so the outfit must be consistent, do not bother to dress sophisticatedly. And we don’t say it because we think only about the comfort of the airplane seat and having an easier “life” when passing through the security filters. Rather than wasting your time on the bottom layer after layer, belts, metal shoes, and the like, plus the possible laptop to remove from the pouch and so on, you’d better try to simplify these nagging processes with a loose fit.
2 You don’t make online check-in
Nowadays, most airlines offer the online check-in option once you have bought your ticket in advance. At least 24 hours before the flight, you can enter the company’s website, enter your flight dates and book your desired seat on the plane yourself, depending on what remains available. Then you print that code (or you send it to your smartphone) and get away with good minutes at the airport, which you can spend in a more enjoyable way than being in line. Once you check-in, you take your luggage to the drop-off counter, and you can go quietly towards the gate.
3 You don’t download the application of the airport or the airline you fly with
Any airline and, more recently, any respectable airport have an application of its own, which can often be helpful to you. With its help, you find out in advance if your flight is delayed or canceled. You have departures and arrivals, terminal schemes, maps, service lists, shops and restaurants inside the airport, rent-a-cars, and other helpful information. An excellent app covering more than 200 airports is GateGuru.
4 You don’t bring food
It’s known that at airports the price of food is very high, sometimes exorbitant. For example, think at the cost of an ordinary bottle with still water. And this isn’t about stinginess. If you’re a bit more eater, if you’ve left in a hurry and haven’t had time to eat, you better get a sandwich or something to nibble on, especially since you might spend time in check-in queues or security filters. Remember that you can get this kind of food in check, as long as you do not have bottles of liquids, soups, sauces, and the like.
5 You don’t behave respectfully
Even if something displeases you or a clerk does not give you the solution you expected, having a nervous breakdown at the airport is not a good option. Patience, associated with a smile, will solve more. Especially in security screening, please don’t get in touch with those whose job is to control you, no matter how frustrated you feel that you’re being checked, dismounted, asked, questioned. Take a reserved attitude, be polite, don’t raise your tone, and do what you are asked: if you have nothing to hide, you’ll get over the checkpoint faster, and you’ll have no problem. Also, behave respectfully with the flight crew, and you will have everything to gain, especially if you want a favor to be done, like changing the place.
6 You do not buy a ticket to the lounge
If you’re not a frequent flyer, you don’t have an “elite” card or a credit card to access airport lounges, you’ll probably find this idea expensive and useless at first glance. But you may be in a situation where you have to spend a few good hours at an airport between flights. And you don’t feel like going to town for many reasons. The lounges sell entry tickets for reasonable prices. Think that for 25-30 euros or dollars you can spend the time left until the next flight in a pleasant place where you have food, drink, newspapers, and magazines, internet, sometimes showers. Rather than sleep on the floor, head on the bag…
7 You provide your data in your wifi connections
Many airports offer free internet services via wifi. Hooray! It’s a pleasure to discover this, especially when you’re expecting to board. Remember that “free” does not always mean “safe.” Such a public place is perfect for hackers searching for “bargains,” so do not type your personal information related to email accounts, passwords, credit cards, and the like if you are connected to the airport network.
8 You don’t tag your luggage
You’re back from the trip, and you’re waiting to get your bag back. Dozens of suitcases appear on the band, many of them resemble two drops of water and yours… is late to appear. But… which one is your luggage? You don’t remember, because you just bought it before you left. To avoid such confusion, tag your luggage. Either with a colored label (to write your name) or with a distinctive sign, well anchored, that will make you see it from a distance, and that will also “save” it from reaching into the hands of some guy that will confuse his luggage with yours.
9 You don’t have enough time to get to the airport
Many people calculate their time to get to the airport according to their own pace and routines. This is a huge mistake and may lead to missing the plane. In addition to the two recommended hours, you have to consider that you have to spend at the airport, from the moment you cross the threshold until you board, a period that is always a big unknown. Obstacles can often come up and slow you down and completely mess up the range you considered “safe.” There are so many mishaps that can happen: a train barrier, a traffic jam, taxi breakdown, etc. And even if nothing happens, you better get there sooner than be in the awkward posture of running with your tongue out to the gate or turning your tail between your feet at home. Take a sufficient margin of time (also depending on the time you leave for the airport), and you will have no problems.
10 You do not check your passport in advance
…or the identity card (if you fly in the European Union). Why should you do that? Because the papers expire at regular intervals, and there is no inner alarm to warn you of that. Constantly check that your passport has not expired and that you are outside those six months until it expires. Otherwise, you’ll turn your eyes upside down at the airport control: you won’t be able to fly! Also, if you go to an exotic or more bizarre country, check if you need an entry visa. Sometimes visas can be obtained on arrival at the airport but sometimes not. And even if you were sure you didn’t need one, when in the airport, the airline representatives might send you to the embassy after finding that your passport doesn’t give you the right to enter that country.
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