I have eight air travel planning mistakes air travelers need to avoid to make their air travel easier with fewer problems from airline personnel.
Air travel planning mistakes for your journey are easy to make. There are a large variety of factors that you must take into account, from booking, to getting to the airport, to handling problems, to luggage woes, to passport problems.
I’ve got eight air travel planning mistakes to avoid whether you’re a frequent, occasional, or first-time flier.
With reasonable planning, connection problems can be minimized. TikTok boarding recommendations need to be avoided.
1. Booking a connection that’s too tight:
This is a normal travel planning mistake. When booking connecting flights, you must pay attention to the time between flights, particularly if you must recheck your luggage or pass through customs and immigration at your connecting airport. You may also need to take into account going from one terminal to another at your connecting airport. In addition, you’ll need to consider other factors, including prevailing weather problems during tornado and hurricane seasons, for example.
2. Using the TikTok boarding recommendation:
Talk about a harebrained notion. It’s all over TikTok that you only need to arrive at the airport 15–20 minutes before departure. At the least, that advice should be changed to 15–20 minutes before boarding, as most airlines close the boarding doors 15 minutes before the scheduled departure time.
The reality is that almost no one is lucky enough at most airports, even for domestic flights, to get through check-in if you have checked luggage, go through airport security and get to the gate in time to board within 20 minutes. It’s even highly unlikely to make it in TikTok time with only carry-on.
Get to the airport early. Passengers should plan to arrive at the airport about two hours before their scheduled departure for domestic flights and three hours before departure for international flights. I follow my own advice and it has served me well. Not long ago, I flew home from Los Angeles International. I arrived at the airport two hours ahead of my departure. When our taxi entered the airport, it took 15 minutes to get to the terminal. With priority check-in I was at security about six minutes later. It took 20 minutes to get through security in the PreCheck line. At that point, we were still 15 minutes walking to the gate. If you’re counting, that was 56 minutes.
Airline apps can be extremely helpful.
3. Not using the airline’s app:
Airline apps today offer significant utility for air travelers. They allow you to check into your flight and get your boarding pass, as well as everyone’s on your reservation. That can be a huge advantage if your smartphone goes dead at the airport. I load my boarding pass and my wife’s on each of our smartphones. If one of our smartphones runs out of power, the other can be used by both of us to board. In addition, airline apps today track your luggage through the airline’s system and in real time notify you of changes in flight status, including delays, cancellations and gate changes. If you have checked luggage, they’ll tell you at which baggage carousel to find your bag(s).
4. Not checking your airline’s luggage restrictions, particularly carry-on restrictions:
Airline luggage restrictions include limits for both size and weight for checked bags, carry-ons and personal items. Fortunately in the U.S., domestic airlines don’t weigh carry-ons and personal items, at this time. Even in the U.S., checked luggage is weighed and if you’re over the limit, you’ll pay a hefty fee.
Most international airlines will weigh your carry-on and if over their limit, require you to check it for a fee or refuse it entirely, unless you reduce its weight to the maximum allowed. In the U.S., more and more gate agents are checking carry-on luggage size and requiring gate checking oversized bags, at the least. Before you book your flight, know what the luggage restrictions for your airlines are to eliminate problems while traveling.
The TikTok pillow trick should be left unused due to its problems. Always wear the right clothing for your flight.
5. Using TikTok pillow tricks are travel planning mistakes:
More bad advice that’s all over TikTok is the pillow trick. TikTok users have been posting about stuffing pillow cases and travel pillows with clothes to be able to avoid checked luggage and bring more belongings than can fit in their personal item and carry-on. You can explain to gate agents that it’s, “just a pillow,” until you’re blue in the face, but gate agents will almost universally tell you to pay a fee for it as extra luggage and check it or your carry-on, or miss your flight.
6. Not wearing the right clothing for your flight:
It’s a smart idea to be prepared for emergencies when flying. Wear a good pair of shoes or leather sneakers, never sandals or flip-flops. For women, wearing heels may make an airborne fashion statement, but you don’t want to be wearing them in case of an emergency exit from a plane. Sandals or high heels make it hard to move quickly within wreckage. Wear natural fibers in case of fire and no loose-fitting clothing that can become snagged on debris in an evacuation.
Wear layers on the flight. During my recent flight to Australia, much of the flight the cabin was too cold, but on my return flight from New Zealand back to the U.S., the cabin was too warm. Wearing layers allowed me to adjust to the plane’s cabin conditions.
Use morning flights to help you recover in case your flight is canceled, and make sure your passport meets your destination’s requirements.
7. Skipping morning flights:
When possible, I take morning flights. Yes, I have to get up early and either stay at an airport hotel the night before my flight or hightail it to the airport early. Compensating me for that, I arrive at my destination often with time to enjoy myself there immediately. More important, if my flight is delayed — or worse, canceled — I’m far more likely to be able to get a seat on another flight to my destination on the same day of my original flight, rather than the next day. The later you fly each day the less the chance there will be another flight to your destination that day with an empty seat for you.
8. Not checking your passport expiration in time for your international flights is a travel planning mistake made by too many:
Too many infrequent international travelers don’t realize that it’s not enough that their passport hasn’t expired until they get home from their trip. Many nations require that a visitor’s passport won’t expire for three months after you enter and some when you leave. More than 100 countries require that your passport won’t expire for six months after you enter their nation. You’ve got to know the passport rules for your destination(s) and make sure your passport will meet them. If you arrive at the airport with a passport that doesn’t meet your destination’s passport rules, you won’t be able to board.
Not making these mistakes won’t eliminate every problem that might occur while traveling by air, but they will help you avoid many problems that too many travelers have experienced.
(Image: United Airlines flight landing at Philadelphia International Airport. Copyright © 2024 NSL Photography. All Rights Reserved.)
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After many years working in corporate America as a chemical engineer, executive and eventually CFO of a multinational manufacturer, Ned founded a tech consulting company and later restarted NSL Photography, his photography business. Before entering the corporate world, Ned worked as a Public Health Engineer for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. As a well known corporate, travel and wildlife photographer, Ned travels the world writing about travel and photography, as well as running photography workshops, seminars and photowalks. Visit Ned’s Photography Blog and Galleries.
