November 24, 2003

Tips for Airline Travel

Just in time for the holiday travel season:

  • When you book your ticket, make sure you have a confirmed seat. The FAA allows for a certain amount of 'oversell' counting on no-shows and missed connections, this is how airlines keep the cost of airline travel down. If you don't have a confirmed seat, you may be in that limbo. Airlines will do what they can to get you on board, but isn't it better to be sure?
  • Check in early. If you don't have a confirmed seat, the earlier you check in the higher up you are on the list to get one. If you do have a confirmed seat, this keeps it from being given away (the FAA also permits that for "Late Arriving Passengers") Many airlines allow web check in, some up to 30 hours prior to departure - if you have the access I recommend you do that. If you can't check in online, do so as quickly as you can when you get to the airport. If you are checking luggage you will check in at the curb or the ticket counter. If you aren't checking luggage, many airports and airlines offer self check-in kiosks ~ they allow you to be checked in before you have to wait at the security check point. If you are checking in at the gate, do it first thing.

  • If there is any way to avoid checking luggage, do. Yes, carry-on restrictions are stricter lately. The trade off is - checked baggage slows you down and limits your options. If your flight gets delayed or cancelled, it is quick and easy to move you to another flight...unless you have checked bags. Rerouting your bags requires a 30 minute to 1 hour lead time. Nope, saying you don't care if your bag is late won't work ~ security requires that you travel with your bags. Yes, they will move you even if you have checked bags, but your options are limited.
  • Pay attention to the announcements - 1. Flights move. The gate agents will make announcements letting you know your new gate of departure and if you are not paying attention you may not know till it is too late. If you miss a flight because you were on your cell phone or listening to your MP3 player, the airline is not required to accommodate you. Yes, they probably will ~ but what if there are no seats available until the next day? All you have to do is watch the signs and listen for the announcements. Believe me, you will be glad you did.
  • Pay attention to the announcements - 2. Listen for your boarding announcement! Many times they have people who come up to the podium after the flight leaves wondering why they haven't started boarding. Gate agents make several boarding announcements, including calling missing passengers by name ~ and yet those passengers will swear they were "sitting right there" and never heard a thing. Again, if you miss the flight because you weren't paying attention the airline is not required to reaccommodate you - they will try, but why make your travel any longer or more stressful. As an aside to this, listen to which flight they are boarding - many airlines have multiple flights going through each gate. Just because there is a line of people standing at the door it doesn't mean it is your flight ~ when in doubt, ask.
  • If you buy your tickets through an online clearinghouse, you will probably get a good price. You may not get a good deal, however. You have not purchased a ticket from the airline (or travel agent) and therefore you do not get the airline contract. You may be aware of the steps an airline must take to try and get you to your destination in the event of a cancellation or delay; first is trying to get you out on another one of their flights, second is trying to get you a seat on an airline with which they have an interline agreement, third is putting you onto an airline which does not have interline agreements in place, fourth is a refund of your ticket. If you have purchased your ticket through a clearinghouse, the airline isn't required to do any of that - you are on your own. Most airlines will still attempt to get you onto another of their own flights, but nothing more. Any refund or reaccommodation must be handled through the agency that sold you that ticket.
  • Yes, I know you have been watching Oprah and you are empowered - you know the airlines have to try and get you to your destination, even if that means putting you on another airline. However, the other airline has to have seats they are willing to give up for that purpose. Just because you or your travel agent can call and buy a seat, doesn't mean the seats are available to other airlines. Also, just because you want to be in Houston today doesn't mean there are any more flights going there - the first available flight on any airline might be the following day.
  • Departure time is just that, the time the aircraft will depart. The doors for that flight will be closed 5-10 minutes (depending on the airline) prior to the departure time. If you show up at 11:24 for an on-time 11:26 flight, you won't get on board no matter how much you holler. Why push the envelope? Show up early.
UPDATE:
  • Watch your intake of alcohol. Not only does sitting in the airport bar watching the game increase the chances of missing your flight, if you are intoxicated you can be kept off the airplane. Yes, you read that right - if the agent at the gate thinks you would be a hindrance to smooth flight operations they can refuse to allow you to board. You may be able to take the next flight if you have sobered up, though if the next flight is the following day you are on your own for lodging, food and ground transportation. If you are too belligerent the airline can elect to simply refund your ticket and send you off to fend for yourself - or have law enforcement take over.
  • Find a way to make your bag unique. Whether you check it (which I've already told you to try and avoid) or carry it on, it is best to make sure it is instantly recognizable. If you have to pick it up at baggage claim, it will go that much quicker. If it needs to be re-routed because you have changed flights, it will be easier for the baggage handlers to find. Also, many airlines are now gate checking bags that don't fit in the overhead bins - when there are 20 black roller bags lined up in the jetway you want to make sure someone doesn't take yours (yep, it happens and then you are both inconvenienced). And, when pulling carry-on bags out at the end of the flight, they sometimes get mixed up - if someone grabs your bag you want it to be instantly obvious.
    How to make it more unique? Anything from buying a bag in an odd color (black we see alot, green not so much) to tying a ribbon on the handle. Or put a large & distinctive tag on it. Even the plain black bags with different color zippers stand out a bit. Whatever you can do to mark your bag as your bag.
UPDATE:
  • Put your name on your bag. Seems obvious. Remarkably, we see 30-40% of bags come through with no name on the baggage tag, and another 10-15% with the wrong name listed (not the name of the person who checked it). Not so obvious, put your name inside your bag. This could be as simple as including your business card or as permanent as painting it inside - whatever. I'm sure it comes as no surprise that luggage gets lost - why not make it easier to get your belongings back. Don't believe this is a major problem - this company has built a very successful business on lost luggage.
  • Airlines have no control over the weather - 1. And yet, we are constantly blamed. This past week was a week of storms here in Phoenix, Thursday was especially bad. I had passengers screaming at me about how incompetent my airline was due to the delay they were facing, when directly behind us was a large window looking out onto the tarmac - closed because of the hail storm. Do you really want to try to take off in a hail storm? I even have people tell me, on a regular basis, that we "do that on purpose". Believe me, if we could control the weather we wouldn't use our powers to strand you at the airport so we can hear you scream.
  • Airlines have no control over the weather - 2. When you are flying off for that ski weekend, remember why you chose that particular destination - the snow. Well, the very thing that makes it an attractive city for winter sports, can make the airport close. And no, we don't do that on purpose, either. If a flight cancels due to weather (which is really, truly beyond airline control) you are on your own for accommodations until the next available flight. I repeat, the next available flight - just because a flight may go out first thing the next morning, if it's full you don't get on. If a flight cancels due to maintenance or some other factor in our control, we will feed you and put you in a hotel - weather you are on your own.
  • Airlines will not inconvenience other passengers for you.
    • We don't roll back passengers. If you are on a 2:00 flight to Denver that gets delayed till 4:00, we won't bump the passengers from the 3:00 Denver flight. You wouldn't believe how often this one comes up, and you wouldn't believe how many people don't get the concept.
    • We don't hold flights. Yes, it sucks that your inbound flight was late and you missed your connection. No, it isn't fair to make that connecting flight late causing those passengers miss their connection or be otherwise inconvenienced.

  • Check the local time. If you are making a connection, there is a good chance you are in a new time zone. Chances are, if you were listening you'd have heard the flight attendant make an announcement of the local time. We regularly have people who miss their flight because their watch was an hour behind (or get mad about the delay because their watch is ahead). Ask what the local time is and plan accordingly. Many airports don't have clocks. I don't know this for sure, but I assume it is to avoid problems if they were to get out of sync or stop. Regardless, any employee will tell you the time. Most gate agents, when you ask about your flight, will tell you some version of "we'll be boarding your flight at 6:00 and it is 4:30 now" or "we will be boarding your flight in about an hour and a half, at 6:00" Why not just take a minute to ask?
I'll post more later as they occur to me....

Posted by Vox at November 24, 2003 03:13 PM | general
Comments

Very useful! Keep up the good work.

I'll be picking folks up all over Sky Harbor the next two days. Ought to be a real zoo!

Posted by: John Moore (Useful Fools) at November 24, 2003 06:51 PM