How To Deal With Airport Delays This Summer

There has been much in the news lately about the excessive delays at the TSA checkpoints in the airports. This summer is expected to be one of the biggest air travel summers on record, so putting the two together it's not hard to foresee some potential problems ahead.

SEattle Sea-Tac Airport

Here are some tips to get you thru it.

Get to the airport early.

Like really early. For domestic flights be there a minimum of 2 hours ahead. For international at least 3 hours ahead. Yes it is totally inconvenient to sit at the gate for a couple of hours, but it is much worse to miss your flight because you are in long lines at the security checkpoint.

Airlines are having an added problem in that flights are full, and they can't necessarily get you onto the next flight, so you could find yourself stranded.

 

Plan ahead.

Plan your outfit to make it as quick and easy as possible to get through security. The more layers and belts and jewelry and bags etc that you have to offload, the longer it is going to take and the more fractious everyone around you is going to be.

Wear something simple, but all your bangles and bracelets etc inside your handbag, wear shoes that can slip on and off and don’t cause delays while you are unlacing them.

Have your laptop out, keep all your toiletries in clear or ziplock bags – basically streamline your game.

Chicago Midway

Be Nice.

Even when everyone around you is being an ass.

Imagine how it must feel to have your entire day filled with angry and aggressive people. That is how it is for TSA agents and gate crew, all day, every day. It must be hell.

I was reading today that TSA agents are the lowest paid of the government workers, are mostly hired as part timers so don’t get benefits, and generally have a really tough time of it. So no matter what is going on, be nice.

If you let yourself get agitated and stressed out you just make everything worse anyway, and it won’t get you to your gate any faster.

3000 bags missed their flight at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport

Avoid The Bad Airports.

If you can, route your trip through an easier airport. It may take a little research, or driving further than you wanted to, but it can be well worth it.

I won’t fly through Chicago O’Hare, as every time I have flown through there, there have been delays and problems.

Last year I flew back to America via JFK twice. What a nightmare. I think the main attributes they look for when hiring TSA agents at JFK are hostility and being a colossal asshole. Every single person working there was not just scowling, but going out of their way to be an ass. The first of the two was in September. The lines were ridiculously long, they were refusing to let pre check people the pre check line, just to be dicks – it was quite something. I luckily had oodles of time so it didn’t matter that my entire layover was spent standing in their stupid lines, but other travelers were in tears, which I think was the TSA agents’ goal. I kept thinking it could be worse – I could be at La Guardia.

Funnily enough four days later I was flying to Australia out of the Tom Bradley terminal at LAX. The difference was like night and day. Firstly, the Bradley terminal is an airport to be proud of. It’s modern, sleek and ridiculously chic. You would think you were in Dubai. Furthermore every airport worker you encounter smiles. The TSA still deal with the same volume of people as JFK, maybe even more, but everything moves along smoothly. What I noticed most was how chill the other travelers were when everyone was treating them nicely.

If you haven’t booked your airline tickets yet, look at the other airports nearby – they might make for an easier trip.

8 Tips For Saving Money On Summer Travel

Summer is finally here, and those of you who haven't yet booked your holiday may be feeling overwhelmed at the price of last minute vacation travel or be thinking all the bargains have gone.
I found these 8 tips for saving money on summer travel on 
Airfare Watchdog.com

1. Avoid ‘peak’ summer travel. Summer doesn’t officially end until well after Labor Day. Since school starts earlier and earlier these days, you’ll find that airfares and hotel rates tend to go down for travel after around August 18, when kids go start to return to school. So plan your travels for “off-peak summer” if you can. 
2. Look into low-season destinations. Check out some of the not-as-popular summer destinations that still offer great activities and good weather. Since thousands of tourists won’t be flocking to those locations, prices for hotels, transportation, and everyday activities will be lower. Plus, crowds will be much smaller.
3. Use a flexible search to find better deals. When planning your travel, try to be as flexible as possible with your departure and arrival dates. That way, you can take advantage of flexible travel date airfare searches. If you can flex your travel dates slightly, and don’t need to travel on specific date, you can take advantage of huge savings, sometimes simply by booking a day or two earlier or later. Some of our favorite flexible search tools include those of JetBlue, Southwest, and United for airlines, along with Google Flights and Kayak.
4. For Europe travel, focus first on crossing the Atlantic cheaply. At this point, it’s no secret that the euro is at an historic low, which makes for cheaper travel within Europe. However, some cities may still be pricier than others, so to get the best deal you may have to fly into a nearby airport and then travel city-to-city by plane or train. Check out some of our favorite smaller airlines, such as Norwegian, Condor, and Wow Air, where you’ll find great deals within Europe. While you might have to spend some extra time getting to your actual destination, you’ll save money while touring two cities for less than the price of one. For example, while round-trip fares to Amsterdam may be about $1,500, you could instead fly into Frankfurt for about $799 (which we recently saw on Singapore Airlines from New York). A flight or train ticket from Frankfurt to Amsterdam is only about $100. All of those savings add up!
5. Check out your options with frequent flyer miles. When researching flights, see if it makes sense to cash in reward miles with any of your frequent flyer programs. In certain situations, you might have better luck calling the airline’s reservation center and speaking directly with a booking agent.
6. Do your research before booking an air + hotel travel package. While the package deals for airfare and hotels stays seem promising, sometimes they are significantly overpriced. Before whipping out your credit card and snagging that “great package deal,” search airfare and hotel prices on their own. That way, you’ll get a feel for what the prices are when they are separate and you’ll know if you’re actually saving money by booking a package. For example, British Airlines recently had a package deal for airfare and five nights in Dublin for about $750 per person. When we searched for airfare independently, we found that the flight alone would be more than $900. In this case, the package deal was definitely a no-brainer!
7. Check to see if your credit card offers travel insurance. Many travelers purchase travel insurance without first checking to see if their credit card offers any coverage. The credit card you use on a daily basis might already offer you enough insurance to cover your trip. Our favorites are the Chase Sapphire card, United Explorer card, and some Citibank AAdvantage cards, which all offer superb insurance protection.
8. After you book, check for airfare and hotel price drops. Airfare and hotel prices fluctuate on a daily basis. It’s a total bummer when you’ve paid for a hotel or flight and find out that someone else paid less. If you stay on top of it and check for price drops after you book, however, you might still be able to save some money. You can either get cash or a credit for future travel if you know how the system works. For example, Tingowill give you your money back if the price of your hotel room drops after you book; and Yapta is useful for tracking airfare price drops.