Air Travel Tips

From a friend that used to work for an international travel agency and my business travel experience over the years:

• Before the flight:
  • Cheapest tickets can be found on Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday mornings
  • Book 2 weeks (ideally a month) in advance so you can get cheap tickets, even for holidays
  • Use sites like Expedia/Travelocity to find best prices, but book with airline websites to avoid $5~$10 booking fees (this is in the process of being eliminated)
  • Pack light, don’t bring liquids over 3 onces, check in online a day ahead, then you can avoid the long check-in lines and go straight to the security checkpoint (free/paper tickets cannot be checked in online)
  • If possible, wear comfy clothes (e.g. sweatpants); if you have to bring a suit, wear it so it doesn’t get wrinkled in luggage
  • If your flight gets delayed/canceled, there’s probably a long line at customer service at the airport with angry flyers; call the airline 1-800 number instead to get quicker service (although if you want to get on a different airline’s flight you’ll have to take to someone at the airport)
  • Get aisle seats if you want to get up often, get window seats if you want to sleep
  • If you want free WIFI and airport doesn’t offer any, ask another flyer that looks like a business traveler with a laptop to create an ad-hoc laptop-to-laptop network with internet sharing so you can mooch off his company-sponsored EVDO/EDGE wireless internet; takes 2 minutes
• During the flight:
  • Ever noticed all the people standing on the back of the plane just chilling? They aren’t weirdos, but rather may have back/leg problems; walk around often if you do
  • Don’t drink things with sugar and eat the salted peanuts, always ask for water instead to stay hydrated
  • You can use your ipod headphones for satellite radio/TV (found on AirTran, JetBlue, etc.), they sound MUCH better and helps to save the environment
  • If there aren’t many flyers and you flirt with the flight attendant you may get a business-class seat for free, or at least get a whole row for yourself to sleep on