The great thing about travel is that all you have to do to be an “expert” is get out on the road. Therefore it’s the perfect venue for crowdsourced answers — because there’s no reason to assume that a businesswoman traveling the country doesn’t have better tips for you than a veteran travel journalist. This morning, Redditors are doing just that — offering helpful hints on how to travel without losing your mind or breaking the bank.
In a thread for “Reddit Frequent Flyers,” the sites users are sharing some of their best travel hacks and hints to make traveling during 2018 way less of a headache.
In addition to saving you drama, some of the most practical tips save you from wasting time and experiencing the embarrassment of looking like you’ve never traveled before.
“Buy a budget round trip to Chicago? New York? Be super certain you understand which airport you’re departing from. It’s not always the same one you landed at” – Qatest
Some of the most useful tips are those that help bypass the most aggravating part of the airport experience: getting through security.
“Screenshot your boarding pass and keep your ID in your front pocket makes security as simple as possible. EVERYTHING goes in your bag before you even get in line (wallet, keys, belt, shoes).
Edit: Turn the brightness on your phone ALL THE WAY UP when presenting your boarding pass in security lines or when you board the plane.
Lock the orientation on your phone, with the QR code open, and place your phone about a foot above the scanner. Push the phone down onto the glass scanner, and then raise it back up. This is the best way to scan that QR code… those scanners can be finicky. – thismydallasaccount
“I keep a gallon-sized ziplock bag in the outside pocket of my suitcase. Just before I get in the security line, I empty my pockets of everything and put it into the bag along with jewelry. Then the ziplock goes back into the suitcase.” – BradC
Some of the most useful travel hints address how uncomfortable waiting, boarding, and sitting on the plane can be even for those who travel all the time.
“Seriously: Join. The. Lounge.
Either annually (if you fly frequently) or buy a single-day pass. Check your credit card, you may already have membership.
Lounges have open bars (yay), better wifi, and decent seats & toilets. But the best advantage, by far, is that airlines keep their Ninja customer service people in the lounge. These are the folks that can you the last seat on the last flight, even if it’s in a higher class. These are the folks who can get you a hotel for the night and a voucher for a decent meal.
My wife always questioned my lounge membership, saying that we could’ve used those miles for travel. Then we took a trip to California and everything went wrong. “To the Lounge!” And everything was just fixed.” – bladel
“If we have extra room, we’ll pack a power strip in our carry on. You are a God damn peoples hero when everyone’s waiting for an outlet and you bust out the power strip.” – itsallcauchy
“I learned the hard way my first time flying overseas: drink a shit ton of water while you’re waiting on your layover. Just bring an empty canteen or aluminum water bottle to fill up at fountains.
I know you don’t want to get up to pee all the time, but on a long haul flight you’ll get sick, bloated, headachey, and dried out if you don’t hydrate. Drink up. You’ll thank me later.” – BowmanTheShowman
Flying while tall is definitely a thing.
“6’9″ here too and I fly a lot. Several times when I have asked at check in if there is a seat with more leg room there has been a handwritten note at the gate saying Mr. Isthisinfectious was very polite. Please upgrade his seat if possible
Being polite pays off more often than not. I have never seen an asshole telling the gate person off get an upgrade.
Once they even upgraded me to business class from Manila through Hong Kong to Vancouver. It was glorious.” – Isthisinfectious
Airplane terminals and seats are something no one really gets used to, but apparently the experience is a lot more comfortable when you’re polite to airport and airplane staff.
“Gate agents are (usually) awesome people who have to put up with so much garbage that’s completely out of their control. If you’re polite to them and treat them with respect, you know, like an actual human, they will do everything in their power to help you out. And like you said, they can do a lot more than people realize. I’ve had two cases like that.
First story, I was on an afternoon flight to Indy with a short layover in Chicago. Flight was delayed so I missed my connection. Delta has those automated kiosks that let you scan your boarding pass and spit out your new one if something like that happens. So I go and scan my pass and it kicks out a new one for the following day along with a hotel and meal voucher. Well I was attending an event that started early the next day and this flight would’ve gotten me to Indy missing half of the first day of the event. So I go to delta’s customer service desk and get in line behind this lady that’s just absolutely screaming at the desk agent. I kinda tuned her out and just waited for my turn. When I get to the desk the agent just looks totally defeated. I politely explain my situation and ask if there’s any way I can get to Indy yet tonight to make the start of my event the next day. She smiles at me and gets this kinda renewed burst of energy and starts typing on her computer like a madwoman. She was able to get me a seat on a “fully booked but I was able to squeeze you on” flight in an hour and let me keep the meal voucher.
Second story, I was coming home from San Antonio and had booked another afternoon flight (I like to sleep in while I’m traveling). Didn’t realize that the group I had met up and crashed in their hotel with were all flying out early and so I had to wake up early so they could check out. Decided to just ride with them to the airport to see if I could get on an earlier flight and if I couldn’t would just roam San Antonio for half a day until then. Same thing as before, calmly and politely explain my situation to the ticketing agent, she kinda laughs at my situation and then re-books both my early and connecting flights at no charge and got me home 6 hours ahead of schedule.
tl;dr Gate agents are people too whose job is to help you in your travels. Be nice to them.” – SDBassCreature
Getting off the plane, finding your bags, and heading to the hotel — and even staying in the hotel — can be frustrating, so there are hacks for that, too.
“If you fly a lot, get a rewards credit card with that airline. After flying frequently for work for a couple years, I now have platinum memberships with different airlines. Which means I get free checked bags, priority boarding, access to the lounge in airports that has free food and booze, and best of all free upgrades to first class if there are open seats. Not to mention all the free flights I’ve gotten from racking up points on the card. My company reimburses my flights, so I charge them to the card but get to keep all the points for personal use.” – BPSteve
The best hacks on the list are the all-inclusive hacks, that get you from home to the airport to the hotel and back in one post. We can only imagine these people are entirely nomadic…
“If you have a problem with a flight, the person working at the counter is both the one person who can help you and the one person who was in no way responsible for causing your problem. Treat them like your salvation, and don’t let loose on them the anger you have for the airline. If you’re having a bad day, there’s a good chance they’ve dealt with 300 people who are also having the same bad day. If they look like shit, offer to get them a coffee.
Aviation is an incredibly complex system with a million moving parts and dozens of interrelated processes that are all difficult to predict, and which require people from a half dozen specialties to understand their bit and communicate it with all the others, but which all get distilled in to “your flight is thirty minutes late, reason: late flight”. Roll with it. You probably won’t get a satisfying reason why things are late, and time estimates come with huge error bars and lots of guestimates.
On a related note, none of the employees get to go home until you do. They’re not dragging their feet, it just feels that way because you’re in a hurry.
Bring ear plugs if sleeping or spending a night are a possibility. Airport PAs are constant and loud, and they seem doubly loud late at night without the background noise of crowds.” – HonoraryCanadian
“This isn’t a hack but more a tip to other travelers because it’s my pet peeve: STAND BACK FROM THE BAGGAGE CLAIM CAROUSEL. When everyone stands right next to it, it’s difficult to see ahead to find your bag and also provides limited space and time once your bag is near you to pull it off the carousel without hitting someone else. If everyone stands back a few feet, it’s much easier to see and just walk up right when your bag arrives and you’ll have space should it be a little bit of a struggle to get the bag off the carousel.
Wash your hands more than usual. Airports have tons of people going through them and a lot of ways to come into contact with germs.
If you fly a lot, don’t buy cheap luggage. I also recommend 4-wheeled bags because it’s nice to be able to wheel them flat to maneuver or when your arms get tired.” – tacobellemel
“I’m on flights 8-10x or more times per month, generally across the US but some international. Here are some things that I have learned over the years of being a frequent flier.
1- never check a bag. Packing lighter is almost always possible. Choose clothes that can be mixed/matched to give more combinations for a longer trip.
2- expect problems, delays, cancellations, etc. It’s generally not the gate agent’s fault so don’t be an aggressive jerk to him/her. They want to help and will usually be far less helpful to those that are being rude or shouting about how they are “Diamond/Platinum/Gold status”
3- get a pair of noise cancelling wireless headphones. I have Bose as I used to work there and like their headsets the best (I also use their Aviation headset for flying small planes). They’re not cheap but they make a big difference in the overall experience.
4- drink a lot of water. Planes are pressurized to a higher altitude than sea level, you can get dehydrated faster. Also, careful with booze.
5- when exiting the plane, it isn’t a race from the back of the plane through the people that were sitting in front of you. You’ll get a chance to exit, I promise. Just wait and allow those in front of you to exit first. Have your bags as ready to go as possible but if they are out of reach, just wait.” – SailingSmitty
These are some pretty obvious pros who are here to change the game up:
“This is my experience on my international flying:
Fly out & arrive between Sunday-Wednesday. Airfare rates are cheaper.
Scout your layover airports for lounges or dayrooms to stay for long layover or incase of delayed or cancelled flights. Most international airports have pod hotels you can book between 1-6 hours complete with a private shower.
Always have a small bottle of hand sanitizer in handy and a pack of travel size wet wipes/lysol wipes. In long haul flights I wipe down my seat and tray and boy does it have gunk. If you dont like the smell of the Purell hand sanitizer buy the ones from Bath and Body works.
Always carry mints with you esp for long haul flights. I recommend tictacs or mentos.
Always have cash with you.
Sign up for your airlines travel rewards membership and sign up for an online/mobile account. Being a member will allow you access to their lounges in airports and help you from time to time on real time updates of your flight – Based off my exp with Southwest, Delta, & Japan Airlines
Save your Airlines customer support number in your phone in case of issues, also look for a local office number in the country of destination.
Tip from an actual flight attendant: Do give gifts to your flight attendant & gate attendants. Chocolates, mints & small snacks are appreciated. They will remember you and will treat you with extra care…and who knows…maybe a free upgrade.” – Sweetragnarok
This one has a few 2019-level tips:
“I have a few tips to offer for the no-business traveler that have served me well.
Book direct with the airline you want to fly. Research your destination on however many travel websites you like and record the flight details. Then go find that same flight on whateverairline.com. The price will almost always be close to the discounter and you’re not bound by the discounter’s policies because they own your ticket. Trust me it’s worth the few $ to be able to extend a stay or get home in inch without any grief. I learned the hard way. F*** you Travelzoo!
Stick with an airline you like that has a major hub near your departure city and get the damn credit card! You’ll get free checked bags, club passes, priority boarding and usually a $99 companion flight. These airlines have partners that get get you to the most remote reaches. Loyalty has it’s perks.
Travel as an individual. For example, whenever I fly with friends, family or for business. I just tell them…”I’ll see you there”. I book my flights earlier than needed and leave a fluff (no commitment) day at the end. As a single flier, you are more apt to get bumped (which I do voluntarily) which results in vouchers, upgrades etc. Using this method, I have not paid for a single vacation flight since 2009 nor have I used any rewards flights (miles). This includes round trips to Alaska and Hawaii (4 trips) from the east coast and two flights to the Caribbean. More often than not, the delays I have encountered only added a few hours to my trips and rarely inconvenience anyone. I even got to see San Francisco on their dime (Hotel and food voucher) as well and was able to scam the hotel points for me and another guy who gave up his seat.
Vouchers. Listen carefully here. Say you get a voucher for giving up your seat and the voucher is worth $300. You search and find that you can round trip to Florida for $299 (all taxes and fee included) Score? Right?
Nope…look for a flight that requires you to pay any amount ($5) over the max voucher value and use that airline credit card. That $5 just earned you full milage credit for the entire trip (voucher flying doesn’t usually earn mileage credit), travel insurance from the credit card, free checked bag etc.
Research: Deals, Dates, Rewards and Super Savers for the trips you want. Do the math before you book. In the distant past I weighed buying flights against the miles earned / used when flying.
Example, Round trip flight to Hawaii might cost $1000-$1600 or cost 80,000 miles. A super saver on their website might only be 40,000 if you move your travel a day or two in one direction or the other. Flexibility helps.
Example two: Round trip to Thailand is sometimes only $400 – $700. (I’ve seen them) and will generates 20,000+ air miles which is yet another free flight. Sometimes paying for the flight in $$ is better than using miles / points for what it generates. Again, using the credit card gets you milage credit / segments, insurance, bags and so on.”
Have fun! EDIT: typo” – beachnudist
While many of these hacks may vary between airlines, most of them are neutral enough to make the skies a lot more friendly.
