1) Arrive early!
The last time I flew out of Birmingham to Baltimore (for my sister’s wedding, in case you were wondering), I booked a late evening flight and arrived at the airport a bit less than an hour before its scheduled departure. Now, Birmingham was a small airport and you can easily go through the entire process of checking in, do screening check, and find your gate within 30 minutes of your arrival. But when I arrived at the airport, my flight was delayed by two or three hours due to a severe storm in Baltimore earlier in the day which disabled the controller tower, so I was offered the option of boarding an earlier flight for free. Of course, I could not resist leaving earlier, but the only catch was this: the plane was boarding RIGHT NOW and I had only minutes to spare before the gate closes. I was able to get on the plane in a nick of time, but once I arrived at Baltimore, my luggage was not on the plane I was switched to, so I had to wait until the next flight (yes, the one that was delayed!) arrived with my bag. My parents were not too happy about that…
The moral side of the story: arrive at least 1-1/2 hours earlier (2-1/2 is the best) if you don’t want to rush and lose your baggage! You never know what will happen on the day you travel…
2) Dress smartly!
I am plainly annoyed by all the checking that TSA agents do before you enter the terminal, so I have devised a way to get through it as quickly and painlessly as possible. Here’s a few things I DON’T do whenever I travel on a plane:
- wear a belt,
- wear a shoe that is difficult to put on, and
- not bringing a sweater/coat/fleece coat.
- wear a lounge or running pants,
- wear a sandal (during summer months) or a sneaker (during colder seasons), and
- bring a bag or coat which you can shove all of your stuff in and not having to worry about emptying your pockets.
3) Be courteous with TSA agents and friendly with flight attendants.
Face it, people: TSA agents (no matter how much we hate them) and flight attendants (no matter how nice they appear to us) do have a pretty tough job. TSA agents are responsible for protecting our people from crazy blokes and terrorists who want to harm us, and flight attendants’ job is to ensure that we are as happy as possible while riding on a plane. I am amazed at how many obnoxious people are at the airport, but I digress…
If you really want to enjoy your flight, smile at TSA agents (do terrorists smile? I don’t think so…) and also be sure to extend some good ol’ Southern or Australian greetings to your flight attendants (i.e., “G’day! G’day, mateys!” or “Hi y’alls! The weather’s sure beautiful and pleasant for our flight today! I reckon it would be a smooth flight, right?”). Who knows, you might receive some special treatment from the flight attendants (like an extra extra bag of peanuts/pretzels).
4) If at all possible, pack smartly!
My parents know that I tend to over pack (yes, this is a confession) for a weekend trip, and after my baggage fiasco during my last trip, I made a resolution in a “Jonathan-Edwards-ian” fashion this time around:
Resolved, to pack as lightly as possible when travel via plane!Believe me – it is much easier to travel with a smaller bag! Now if I had to take a longer trip or didn’t have an easy access to a washer and dryer, then I would have to take a bigger bag instead. But taking a bigger bag should only be an exception when I travel on a plane!
5) Sit on the window aisle, and enjoy the view!
How often is it that you get to see the marvelous beauty of God’s creation from high above? I am always amazed with how many people are engrossed in their latest novels (50 Shades of Grey, seriously? Not for me!) or listening to Beyonce/Lady Gaga/Eminem/whatever. I love looking down the window and see the landscape change before my eyes, and it only causes my soul to praise the Lord as the Creator and Sustainer of the entire universe! And you paid around $300 minimum for a round-trip ticket, so make it worth your money!
Gotta catch my flight now – see y’all later, mateys!
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