“Book A Normal Ticket First”: 30 Air Travel Tips To Make Your Flight As Effortless As Possible

I've had luggage damaged in transit and have never been asked for "before" photos or to prove the case was undamaged before the flight. I've had luggage replaced/refunded both through insurance and through airlines directly. Have i just been lucky or is this more of a US thing?

Possibly useful if the airline manages to lose your luggage. It happened to my parents once - somehow the baggage tags got stripped from one of their suitcases, there was no other labelling on it and the only way they could identify it was by sending a picture of an identical suitcase they had with them.

I wish. I fly frequently oversees and even the upgrade option to business class is $500+ and first class is never an option. Kinda annoying.

Man that must be a short flight. I looked at an international flight I've done a couple times and it's about $1000 economy or $7000 first class 0_o

And you've gotta jump on the upgrades. A few years ago, when I traveled to the UK, a few days before I returned home, the airline asked if I wanted to upgrade to first class for $40 USD. *I* didn't mind, but my wife had used her miles/points for my trip, so I thought the decent thing to do was ask her first. She traveled a lot for work at the time, so by the time she got back to me and said, "Sure, go for it!" the cost for the upgrade was $115, nearly 3x the amount. I said "No, thanks," and just flew home on coach like I'd originally planned.

This is true but you won’t likely get first class for this cheap unless it’s a one hour flight. It definitely works for economy plus. If your flight isn’t full and you wait until the day before takeoff, you can get major discounts on better seats. I upgraded my last flight from London to Chicago the day before and saved hundreds of dollars.

And you get entrance to the VIP lounge. Free food and drinks!

Wait you guys have separate queues? We all stand in one long queue here and just get directed to whichever one opens up first.

I usually just look for whichever ones shortest

Also go to the line furthest away, people always line up as soon as they find a line

Long live the left-handers, the largest minority in the world! :)

Is that universal, or is it the opposite in the UK, Australia, and other places they drive on the left....

It's amazing humans didn't die off long ago when no one carried water wherever they went. :D

Double bonus: you are now properly hydrated and hopefully you chose an aisle seat.

Always run a public faucet for 30 seconds or more to flush away any bacteria that might be on it before drinking or filling your bottle. Never let any part of your mouth or top of the bottle to touch any metal. Think health first!

Seeing as I don’t have a baby I’ve taken it upon myself to steal a wallet and take the photo of a baby inside

put both for faster delivery

Even better, don't put cash in it. People are more likely to keep cash than pictures.

Not at an airline, at my accommodation. Yes they found a duplicate of my (non-standard) charger.

VPN can help!

I believe it. This should probably be applied to everything

Be nice even otherwise... They have a tough time too dealing with various people. And also nothing wrong with being nice just like that

100%, I was on a flight where this passenger was so rude to the steward, he handled it so well. When I got up to use the loo and was passing him I told him how impressive he handled the situation, we joked for a bit and then asked what I was drinking, 'oh I'm drinking rum and coke' got back to my seat and there were 8 little bottles of rum and cans of diet coke.

Or be nice to them because their job is hard enough and don't expect them to give favors and goodies for being polite. Too many times this is how the crazy "entitled Karen on an airplane" stories begin. Someone is super nice and overly showers you with compliments because they are buttering you up to say yes to a favor. Then they go batshit when the answer is a super nice no.

NEVER happens unless you have a truckload of frequent flyer points with the airlines. As someone else said, just be nice because it's the right thing to do.

I saw someone post a tip that they bring things like gift cards to Starbucks/etc for the flight attendants and they had gotten upgrades/etc.

I am glued to the safety demonstration and then I memorize the instructions in the seat pocket as well and make sure they are on hand for reference. As well as think of any and all other worst case scenarios I can think up with corresponding escape plans or die quickly plans

Or just read the booklet (most airlines have them, and they don’t have words, so they’re good for all languages and places!

Also, count the number of rows to the exits both in front of you and behind you. In the event of a fire, your eyes will likely be irritated from the smoke

Most of the time, you’re safer on an aircraft than you are in a car, much much safer, statistically. And, most of the time, if s**t hits the fan on an aircraft, you’re dead meat anyway 😂

Nope. Everything is standardised in all big aircraft. Pay attention because the flight attendant giving the talk may insert something funny into the talk that makes you scream with laughter.

it's also a great time to start situating your stuff so that you can leave once the plane has arrived at the gate instead of making everyone else behind you wait while you repack your bag

Nintendo Switch. A book. Youtube Premium that allows to download videos and watch them offline. And, best of all and when possible, wonder at the planet through the window, which people generally don't seem to give a c**p about.