Image via Complex Original
For those who only fly for vacations, air travel is a glorious an exciting thing. It's a means to a wonderful time, an escape from the normal life. For those who have to travel frequently for work, airports, airplanes, and everything else that comes with them is an enormous hassle. The lines, the prices, the constant loss of electronic access, the annoying people ... they all make flying horrible.
But it doesn't have to be this way. Like anything, there are little tricks to make your experience much easier, keeping your stress levels down, and easing the pain on your wallet and motion-sick stomach. Check out these 18 Life Hacks to Make Air Travel Easier.
RELATED: Car Hacks for Surviving Summer
RELATED: 20 Car Hacks To Make Your Life Easier
RELATED: Weekend Getaways from NYC less Than 2 Hours Away
RELATED: First We Feast - Travel Tips to Eat and Drink Better on the Road
Easily get sick? Book morning flights.
The ground heats up as the day goes on, meaning it's going to cause more turbulence in the air and increase the possibility of thunderstorms.
Also, sit by the wings of the plane.
This one just comes down to common sense. A plane sits on an axis. If you want the least up and down movement, sit on top of that axis, aka, the wings.
Sign up for email alerts on sales.
And actually pay attention to them. The sales are usually extremely specific [i.e. "book travel from these select cities at this select time"], but eventually you're going to find a sale that actually works for you. Checking emails is much easier than paying $200 extra.
Sign up for an airline credit card.
If you know you're going to be traveling a lot in the upcoming year, keep an eye on credit card offers. Usually, you can get a deal that waves your signing fee and gives you 10,000-25,000 points (enough for a free flight). Some airlines are even offering two free round-trip flights when you sign up. And points accumulate quickly, if you travel a lot, leading to more free flights.
Always check in ahead of time.
If you really want to be efficient, print out your ticket at home or have it ready using a smartphone app. If you don't have to check bags, you'll be able to go striaght to security, passing a ton of people and saving a ton of time.
Try not to check bags.
It's an incredible feeling already having your ticket as you walk into the airport and see an enormous line backed up, waiting for the airline desk that is being worked by only three people. Not only are you saving time waiting in line there, but you're beating all of the same people on your flight to security, making it a breeze to get through.
Bring an extra power pack.
You want to be safe, and you won't be sorry that you were. Flying makes for extremely long days and a lot of boredom. Boredom that leads to you texting, calling people, snapchatting and checking scores excessively. Boredome that leads to drained batteries, essentially. So, when you're stuck on the tarmac, and your phone dies, pull one of these puppies out and enjoy the extra juice.
Bring a power splitter.
If you're stuck at an airport for a long time, looking for a power outlet could be one of the most frustrating experiences ever (never fly AA, if you're going to be flying through LAX. IT IS THE WORST). Bring a safety net by packing a splitter with you. If you get your own plug, you can use it to plug in all your electronics without taking up a ton of other people's plugs. Or, if you can't find one, you can simply ask a person who does to split it. We doubt they'll say, "NO. MY POWER." Well ... depends on how long it took them to get that plug.
Buy tickets on Tuesday and early Wednesday.
It's been proven that tickets are cheapest on Tuesdays, when most sales are going on, and on Wednesday morning, from midnight to 1 a.m., when airlines are trying to dump remaining tickets.
Ease your fear of flying by sitting in the rear.
Recent studies have concluded that the back of the plane is the safest in crash scenarios.
Put an extremely bright ribbon or marker on your luggage for easy ID.
Waiting for your bag at the end of a long flight is annoying enough. Cut down on time and make it easy to spot your luggage amidst a sea of black Samsonites by putting something like a thick bright orange ribbon on one of the handles.
Plastic wrap your bottles.
Everybody always puts their bottles of hair products and body wash in bags, but some of those products are way to big to fit in anything but gallon bags. Just take a piece of plastic wrap, tighten it over the opening and screw the top back on. Extra security to protect from getting apple-infused ginseng scents on your jeans is never a bad thing.
Wear slip-on shoes or sandals.
Only people who don't travel a lot haven't realized this on their own by now. Don't hold up the line with boots that lace up to your knees. Slip 'em on, slip 'em off, get out of line.
Pack your belt, wallet, phone, and anythinig else in your pockets into your carry-on while you're in the security line.
This is great for getting through security as quickly as possible. It will make your life easier, and everybody around you will love you for your efficiency.
Sit and wait for people to get on and off the plane.
This obviously doesn't apply if you've got a big carry-on you need to worry about getting into storage or if you're on an airline like Southwest, for which it's first come, first serve. If those aren't the cases, then sit and watch as everybody complains about standing for 20-30 minutes filing into the plane. Finish reading your newspaper, make a last call, or get a little bit more work done with that Wifi access, then walk right on and to your seat.
Don't take the bulkhead seat, if you like having your carry-on.
You have to put all of your carry-on items up into storage for takeoff and landing no matter what. We like to at least have one bag that carries all of our entertainment.
Track your own bags.
There's this little device called Trakdot that was introduced this year that you keep in your baggage. It's a little GPS tracker that allows you to access it wherever it ends up in the world. You can get updates via text messages or email, so even if it does get lost, you can be like, "MY SHIT IS RIGHT HERE. GO GET IT, GIVE ME 18 DRINK VOUCHERS, AND DELIVER MY BAG TO MY HOUSE. Thank you :)"
Connected flights mean more miles.
This is a personal matter of how much time you have and how patient you are, but connecting flights are always cheaper, yet they actually accumulate more miles or points.