Definitely get to the gate ASAP. Flying back from Gatwick, our gate was soooo far from anything else. I thought we had entered the twilight zone. If we had waited near the shops until close to boarding, we'd have missed the flight.
Tip No 3 is one I share with people over and over. I think you have it covered it well. I am from Western Australia. I have to drive 2½ from home to get to the airport, add to that roughly 3 hours of hanging around after checkin, then another 20 odd hours of travel time to get from Perth to a European city, I just want to get to my accommodation. I always book a pick up , often through the hotel as while it may sometimes, but not always, a little more expensive. As the payment is made to the hotel they have a vested interest in getting you there and the driver or hotel will assist with luggage (which can be very handy if the hotel is in a non-car tiny alley) .
A friend’s bag didn’t make the flight from Amsterdam to Vienna last month. The AirTag still showed it in Amsterdam. The Vienna Airport uses a third party for lost luggage, which is out of Switzerland. After filling out numerous documents on her phone at the airport and submitting them, left. The bag arrived in Vienna that night according to the AirTag, but the company said it hadn’t arrived and when it did they would bring it to our hotel. After 2 days of bs, they said if they couldn’t get it to us, they would return it to the US. We will went to the airport the third day, scoured through a huge room full of luggage and found it ourselves. Obviously, there was never any intention to deliver it. Worst customer service I’ve ever encountered.
Tip: check the size and weight requirements for all your luggage items for all the airlines you're going to fly on. US airlines typically allow your carry-on to be up to 22 x 14 x 9 inches, and don't specify the max weight under 50 lbs, but that's not the case everywhere. Here are some rules I ran into in the last few months: KLM: the carry-on size is limited to 55 x 40 x 20 cm (21.65 x 15.75 x 7.87 inches). The combined weight limit for both the carry-on and the personal item are 12 kg (26.5 lbs). Air New Zealand: the carry-on can only weigh 7kg (15.4lbs) on domestic flights, and they check. I have a ridiculous amount of different backpacks, rollaboards, and duffel bags trying to meet all the different requirements from various airlines I've used over the years.
About arriving in a timely state. I usually stay at a motel at my home airport because getting to my airport takes a 20-minute taxi or Uber ride. A 1-hour ferry ride and a 20-minute walk to a lightrail station that takes 45/50 minutes to get to the airport station and then a 15-minute walk just to get inside the airport. About travel insurance. If I had not had it on a big trip last fall, I would have been out $10,200.00 for medical. Even if you are healthy, stuff happens. Sorry about the length of this.
Love, love, love this! Been giving most of this advice to my clients for years! One thing I would add to your stellar tip on layovers...you can opt for a slightly shorter layover on outbound flights. However, when coming back into the US from almost any country (there are exceptions), you will have to clear customs, wait for your bag and recheck it. So do NOT skimp on this layover time! Another tip to add, USE A TRAVEL ADVISOR. They know alot of these pitfalls and have relationships with drivers, airlines etc. Also, if you are delayed or miss a connection, they can rebook you while you sit and sip coffee instead of standing in that long customer service line at the airport.
There are many check in counters that don’t open before 3 hours from take off, on international flights. I agree that can be tight, I just don’t have a work around.
Great tips. I traveled domestically recently and thought I had all bases covered. However, my backpack was a) too heavy and b) I couldn’t get it on without help. I’m 74. Even the smallish backpack was too heavy when it wasn’t on the carryon. Tips for elderly travelers?
You can purchase a folding two wheel cart. Just put your BackPack on the cart with bungee cords that come with it. Then it becomes a wheeled carry one. Once your on your flight you can remove the cart, fold it up and put in the cart in the cubbies above and put the back pack under the seat or above depending on whether it fits under the seat. Your best bet is not to pack as much. Wear your heaviest shoes and coat on to the plane
Great video, as usual! ❤ I recently flew to Europe on Air Canada, and was surprised that you had to join their frequent flyer club AND enter your account number when you checked in in order to take advantage of their “free messaging during the flight” offering. Not the end of the world, but I learned my lesson for the return flight! You also sometimes need that app in order to access the entertainment options on flights without built-in screens. I almost always just download things on my phone or iPad, but worth having that app just in case. Not sure if this is happening everywhere, but I was kind of shocked how there were zero outlets available anywhere near the gates in the Toronto airport. Definitely worthwhile to have a portable battery pack that can handle multiple devices and faster charging! Also, while “juice jacking” (where someone hacks a USB charging port) is something that is theoretically possible, I don’t think there’s been one recorded case of it actually being used in the wild (at least when I tried to research this on my own). Thanks again for this video! Your videos keep me inspired to travel even more! And lastly- Alex is awesome! 😊
Travel insurance, travel insurance,, travel insurance. Medical travel insurance. We traveled back to the US. I am a reasonable healthy older woman and visiting my sister. I tripped coming down her stairs that I've been down a million time. I broke my ankle in 3 places and ended up needing surgery and a hospital stay. Thanks to my wonderful German husband, we have travel medical insurance which covered absolutely everything, including a rental wheelchair for when I was discharged and even a flight upgrade on the way back home so I could have my leg elevated. Otherwise we would have been stuck for over $50 thousand. It never would have occurred to me to get the insurance being healthy. God bless my husband.
I have been checking-in 24 hrs in advance multiple times a year for many years now. I have gotten a better seat NEVER. Luckily for me, I am a very light packer, my bag usually fits under the seat in front of me, no matter where I'm going or for how long.
I am a big fan of #3. It's so much better to have your car arranged to take you to your hotel or airbnb. It takes the stress away and only costs a few euros or dollars more than using a ride app or taxi.
I always prepare as if my bag will be checked at airport security. None of the airports in Europe have ever asked me to remove my shoes or open my bag. I suppose I got lucky. It was only this summer at Bush Intercontinental that no TSA Pre Check lines were available, so I had to remove my liquid bag and shoes. Between TSA and customs there, it was easily the worst airport experience I’ve had, and I’ve flown through Frankfurt!
We always get travel insurance and in 2023 for our trip to Italy we had to use it due to our flight being cancelled. It covered our hotel for the first night and the cost to rebook another flight we missed as a result of the delay. We have also taken advantage of the airlines full refund option. And when we do that then we only get Travel insurance to cover everything else. It probably all evens out cost wise. I don’t know that I would always use the airlines full refund option since this can be covered through travel insurance.
Layovers are our biggest issue. We once had a 5 minute layover, really. It took us 2 months to get someone front the airline to address it. Their answer was the system wouldn't allow them to schedule it if it wasn't doable. I will say that it started out at around and hour, but the flight go changed on both sides.
I had a change such that one of the flights had switched to daylight savings so that the layover was negative 1 hour! I noticed beforehand and called the airline. They put me on a much better flight because that was what was available. No charge. Similarly, I had a choice of three flights and chose the middle one to be sure I had a good connection. The airline cancelled that middle flight and put me on the later one. When I called they told me the connection was doable. I asked them if they’d ever been in the Atlanta airport, they hadn’t but agreed to change to the first flight at no charge as it was their change.
That should depend on the size of the bag. My regular bag can easily hold 70+ lbs without looking stuffed. Such bags, when they are supposed to be under 70 are tagged heavy if they are over 50. It makes no sense for it not to be weighed to protect the baggage handler. Closest I got was 68# to Australia. I now aim for less than 60 # which is doable if I watch the scale. Our other bag is often below 40, so I try to move weight to lighten the big case.
i respect you and i wish you are fine and please and please be careful about natural disaster in your country but i wish you are fine and have a nice day with peace and have a good healthcare and going an oher country and no death in your country and i wish you are fine and have a good healthcare
Summer of 2022, I couldn't figure out why both the airline website and app wouldn't let me check in online. Come to find out, it's because my ticket had been flagged with the dreaded SSSS. Glad I had gotten there 3 hours early for my international flight
What's the biggest Air Travel mistake you've made?? ✈
📽 Travel Vlog Channel - / @christitravels-1968
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Definitely get to the gate ASAP. Flying back from Gatwick, our gate was soooo far from anything else. I thought we had entered the twilight zone. If we had waited near the shops until close to boarding, we'd have missed the flight.
plus as a bonus of a tracker...you can use it to find your way back to the hotel!
That is an amazing tid bit of info!!
Wow! That is a great suggestion!
Tip No 3 is one I share with people over and over. I think you have it covered it well. I am from Western Australia. I have to drive 2½ from home to get to the airport, add to that roughly 3 hours of hanging around after checkin, then another 20 odd hours of travel time to get from Perth to a European city, I just want to get to my accommodation. I always book a pick up , often through the hotel as while it may sometimes, but not always, a little more expensive. As the payment is made to the hotel they have a vested interest in getting you there and the driver or hotel will assist with luggage (which can be very handy if the hotel is in a non-car tiny alley) .
A friend’s bag didn’t make the flight from Amsterdam to Vienna last month. The AirTag still showed it in Amsterdam. The Vienna Airport uses a third party for lost luggage, which is out of Switzerland. After filling out numerous documents on her phone at the airport and submitting them, left. The bag arrived in Vienna that night according to the AirTag, but the company said it hadn’t arrived and when it did they would bring it to our hotel. After 2 days of bs, they said if they couldn’t get it to us, they would return it to the US. We will went to the airport the third day, scoured through a huge room full of luggage and found it ourselves. Obviously, there was never any intention to deliver it. Worst customer service I’ve ever encountered.
Tip: check the size and weight requirements for all your luggage items for all the airlines you're going to fly on. US airlines typically allow your carry-on to be up to 22 x 14 x 9 inches, and don't specify the max weight under 50 lbs, but that's not the case everywhere. Here are some rules I ran into in the last few months:
KLM: the carry-on size is limited to 55 x 40 x 20 cm (21.65 x 15.75 x 7.87 inches). The combined weight limit for both the carry-on and the personal item are 12 kg (26.5 lbs).
Air New Zealand: the carry-on can only weigh 7kg (15.4lbs) on domestic flights, and they check.
I have a ridiculous amount of different backpacks, rollaboards, and duffel bags trying to meet all the different requirements from various airlines I've used over the years.
About arriving in a timely state. I usually stay at a motel at my home airport because getting to my airport takes a 20-minute taxi or Uber ride. A 1-hour ferry ride and a 20-minute walk to a lightrail station that takes 45/50 minutes to get to the airport station and then a 15-minute walk just to get inside the airport.
About travel insurance. If I had not had it on a big trip last fall, I would have been out $10,200.00 for medical. Even if you are healthy, stuff happens. Sorry about the length of this.
Love, love, love this! Been giving most of this advice to my clients for years!
One thing I would add to your stellar tip on layovers...you can opt for a slightly shorter layover on outbound flights. However, when coming back into the US from almost any country (there are exceptions), you will have to clear customs, wait for your bag and recheck it. So do NOT skimp on this layover time!
Another tip to add, USE A TRAVEL ADVISOR. They know alot of these pitfalls and have relationships with drivers, airlines etc. Also, if you are delayed or miss a connection, they can rebook you while you sit and sip coffee instead of standing in that long customer service line at the airport.
There are many check in counters that don’t open before 3 hours from take off, on international flights. I agree that can be tight, I just don’t have a work around.
Great tips. I traveled domestically recently and thought I had all bases covered. However, my backpack was a) too heavy and b) I couldn’t get it on without help. I’m 74. Even the smallish backpack was too heavy when it wasn’t on the carryon. Tips for elderly travelers?
You can purchase a folding two wheel cart. Just put your BackPack on the cart with bungee cords that come with it. Then it becomes a wheeled carry one. Once your on your flight you can remove the cart, fold it up and put in the cart in the cubbies above and put the back pack under the seat or above depending on whether it fits under the seat. Your best bet is not to pack as much. Wear your heaviest shoes and coat on to the plane
Great video, as usual! ❤
I recently flew to Europe on Air Canada, and was surprised that you had to join their frequent flyer club AND enter your account number when you checked in in order to take advantage of their “free messaging during the flight” offering. Not the end of the world, but I learned my lesson for the return flight! You also sometimes need that app in order to access the entertainment options on flights without built-in screens. I almost always just download things on my phone or iPad, but worth having that app just in case.
Not sure if this is happening everywhere, but I was kind of shocked how there were zero outlets available anywhere near the gates in the Toronto airport. Definitely worthwhile to have a portable battery pack that can handle multiple devices and faster charging!
Also, while “juice jacking” (where someone hacks a USB charging port) is something that is theoretically possible, I don’t think there’s been one recorded case of it actually being used in the wild (at least when I tried to research this on my own).
Thanks again for this video! Your videos keep me inspired to travel even more!
And lastly- Alex is awesome! 😊
Booked by cheapest price on Expedia YYZ to PDX. It was 3 flights and took almost 10 hours. Direct was just over 5 hours.
Great tips, thank you
Well done
Carole freeman. I like your advice. Thank you.
Travel insurance, travel insurance,, travel insurance. Medical travel insurance. We traveled back to the US. I am a reasonable healthy older woman and visiting my sister. I tripped coming down her stairs that I've been down a million time. I broke my ankle in 3 places and ended up needing surgery and a hospital stay. Thanks to my wonderful German husband, we have travel medical insurance which covered absolutely everything, including a rental wheelchair for when I was discharged and even a flight upgrade on the way back home so I could have my leg elevated. Otherwise we would have been stuck for over $50 thousand. It never would have occurred to me to get the insurance being healthy. God bless my husband.
I have been checking-in 24 hrs in advance multiple times a year for many years now. I have gotten a better seat NEVER. Luckily for me, I am a very light packer, my bag usually fits under the seat in front of me, no matter where I'm going or for how long.
I am a big fan of #3. It's so much better to have your car arranged to take you to your hotel or airbnb. It takes the stress away and only costs a few euros or dollars more than using a ride app or taxi.
My rule, 2 hours domestic, 3 hours international. Works well for me.
I always prepare as if my bag will be checked at airport security. None of the airports in Europe have ever asked me to remove my shoes or open my bag. I suppose I got lucky. It was only this summer at Bush Intercontinental that no TSA Pre Check lines were available, so I had to remove my liquid bag and shoes. Between TSA and customs there, it was easily the worst airport experience I’ve had, and I’ve flown through Frankfurt!
Unrelated question - where did you get that gorgeous sweater you're wearing?
We always get travel insurance and in 2023 for our trip to Italy we had to use it due to our flight being cancelled. It covered our hotel for the first night and the cost to rebook another flight we missed as a result of the delay. We have also taken advantage of the airlines full refund option. And when we do that then we only get Travel insurance to cover everything else. It probably all evens out cost wise. I don’t know that I would always use the airlines full refund option since this can be covered through travel insurance.
Layovers are our biggest issue. We once had a 5 minute layover, really. It took us 2 months to get someone front the airline to address it. Their answer was the system wouldn't allow them to schedule it if it wasn't doable. I will say that it started out at around and hour, but the flight go changed on both sides.
I had a change such that one of the flights had switched to daylight savings so that the layover was negative 1 hour! I noticed beforehand and called the airline. They put me on a much better flight because that was what was available. No charge.
Similarly, I had a choice of three flights and chose the middle one to be sure I had a good connection. The airline cancelled that middle flight and put me on the later one. When I called they told me the connection was doable. I asked them if they’d ever been in the Atlanta airport, they hadn’t but agreed to change to the first flight at no charge as it was their change.
On Southwest, you can track your luggage tag if you check it through their separate app.
i respect you and i wish you are fine
If flying thru Reykjavik on Icelandair, short connection times are the rule and are no problem
What do think of the new process that they looking at total weight of all bags?
That should depend on the size of the bag. My regular bag can easily hold 70+ lbs without looking stuffed. Such bags, when they are supposed to be under 70 are tagged heavy if they are over 50. It makes no sense for it not to be weighed to protect the baggage handler. Closest I got was 68# to Australia. I now aim for less than 60 # which is doable if I watch the scale. Our other bag is often below 40, so I try to move weight to lighten the big case.
i respect you and
i wish you are fine and please and please be careful about natural disaster in your country but i wish you are fine and have a nice day with peace and have a good healthcare and going an oher country and no death in your country and i wish you are fine and have a good healthcare
Good tips. Being an android user I sure hope the airlines don’t do the luggage tracking that only work with Apple devices. Take care and God bless.
Summer of 2022, I couldn't figure out why both the airline website and app wouldn't let me check in online. Come to find out, it's because my ticket had been flagged with the dreaded SSSS. Glad I had gotten there 3 hours early for my international flight
Use a travel agent