Flight rules from personal observations

Dear Habr!

Why post in a freelance hub? Because travel and travel are often part of the life of a freelancer.

It so happened that I have been friends for a long time with airplanes, or rather with flights to them. I make about ten trips a year on this type of transport. In this regard, accumulated some observations. It may be primitive, but successfully applied in practice. In addition, the time is coming winter rest, so the relevance of the topic is present.
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1. No need to rush to get to the airport a few hours before the flight.

Before you get on the plane, you will have wasted your time in the waiting room, which, by the way, is not the most comfortable in many airports. Especially in the regional. And if there is an excuse that you still work with a laptop, then wi-fi, again, is not at all airports. Especially for the regional.

It is better to sit on the track or sleep longer than to spend extra minutes at the airport. But consider the situation on the roads, of course.

Without you, they are unlikely to send a flight if you are a few minutes late. I speak from personal experience - I approached the reception desk 5 minutes before departure and I was successfully missed. But still it is better not to be late - they can fly away without you.

Useful information:

As a rule, check-in ends 40 minutes before departure. Both domestic and international flights.

2. Check in for flight online.

I am sure that most of us have long been buying tickets online. And that's cool. But even better - register online. Earlier, I ignored this opportunity, but not so long ago all the same interest seized me and I tried. It was scary and for what?

As a result, when registering, you specify the place yourself, you can conveniently view the salon plan. You can choose a place without online registration, but not at all rates (usually they are more expensive). But why pay several thousand for the sake of choosing a place, when everything is finally free?

Useful information:

Online check-in starts 23-24 hours before departure and ends 1.5 hours before. Each airline may have its own characteristics.

3. Get boarding pass through the terminal.

Large airports have long been equipped with sausage boarding passes. It is enough to enter the reservation number or full name and everything, the document is with you. What is the benefit?

Save time at the check-in counters. If you have a load, now it is enough to approach the special stock for baggage acceptance. To her, as a rule, there is almost no queue. And why? Because very few people know about such a short way.

4. Do not go first to land.

When all the formalities and inspections are over, it remains to wait for landing. We are told the exit number through which we either get on the bus to the plane, or we get to the ship on foot on the runway. In neither case should we run ahead of everyone, but behind. Why?

When you get to the salon first, everyone crowds, makes noise, jostles, and more. The aisles are narrow, and everyone needs to sit down, luggage is also advisable to pack everything. Having come last, you, as a rule, fall into a quiet salon, where everyone is in his place. You do not need to stand in line to your row, because the path is already clear.

It happens when a place is in the middle of the cabin or further, only it takes about five minutes for it to turn - grandmothers with handbags, awkward aunts and other people create real ten-point traffic jams. There are downsides.

For example, you do not have enough space for hand luggage on the shelves. But it is rare.

They can still take your place. But this is not always a minus. My place has been occupied several times already. Once, exactly the same story happened, something messed up with places and I was sent to a business class, instead of an economy class. Isn't it nice?

5. Choose a place with an edge.

According to the classic layout, the plane has two rows of three seats. There are exceptions - three rows, or two rows of two chairs (on the embrair, for example. By the way, the plane is excellent in comfort, Brazilians know a lot about it). But the essence is always the same - there are chairs at the aisle, and there are - at the window. Why do I like passages?

Need to get out - no one interferes. Though run anywhere - it's just your business, not your neighbors business.

In addition, the window is colder. The temperature behind the board is less than 50 degrees, the glass is cooled.

Sitting on the edge you have more space. After all, the neighbor is only on one side, and the other side is completely yours. As if personal space immediately becomes an order of magnitude more.

According to the classics, the extreme places are C and D. But here everything is an amateur.

6. Charge device batteries before entering the departure area (waiting room).

No outlets in the waiting room. No, that's it. At least in many Russian airports, this is exactly the case. And this concerns not only the departure zone, but also the entire airport premises. There are current sources, only usually there are no chairs next to them, you have to sit on the floor. Where to find outlets?

Near the vending machines for drinks, crackers and sweets, as well as near multicashes.
Do you hope there are sockets in the airport cafe? Nah Yes, but not often.

7. Take a plane to read something in advance.

If you like to read on the go, think about it beforehand. In airplanes of different airlines there are logbooks. In addition, flight attendants hand out fresh press. But do not hope for them. Why?

Logbooks are no longer interesting. Solid advertising. I used to like to read the magazine of Aeroflot, the pleasure is direct. Now - one advertisement. The same goes for S7. A fresh press is an option. But when they give newspapers, which turn with a meter in height - it is far from convenient to read. This is not a compact magazine, but a whole gazette meter by meter.

You can read something at the airport - twice as expensive or purchase in advance.

By the way. Before departure, you can safely go to the press store or any other counter with books and magazines and stand to read there. Nobody says anything normally. Only not particularly impudent.

8. Drink more fluids.

During the flight, they hand out juices, water and other drinks several times. But I also take 2-3 cups at once. They say that at the height you need more fluid, so why should you deny yourself? Some, because of constraint or some kind of etiquette, refuse to drink at all or take one position. But no one will refuse you to get drunk as you want.

9. After landing, do not rush.

After landing, no need to rush to run to the baggage claim. Usually, the tape is launched only 20 minutes after landing, or even more. Calmly and unhurriedly, you can get out of the salon, walk through the airport to the place of issue and arrive in time.

But sometimes you need to hurry! For example, if you need to fill out migration cards or go through border control to print in your passport. In order not to be at the end of the queue, it is important to quickly run up to the racks where the border guards sit.

10. Buying a ticket in advance is not always saving.

The fact that a ticket purchased a month will be cheaper than a few hours before departure is a fiction. It is reasonable to begin to monitor ticket prices for weeks 2-3. And if the price is below average, you can immediately buy it. But the price may drop a day before departure, and a couple of hours. And maybe go up. There is no reliable formula. In any case, the exact date of the flight is not always known and, having bought a ticket in advance, it may have to be handed over - and these are additional expenses.

11. Consider airline features

Some things may be the same for many airlines, and some rules may vary. It is important to be aware. For example, about the end of check-in or the possible weight of baggage.

Actually everything. Of course, there are still some subtleties. For example, that a sprite bank in the relegation zone costs 150 rubles (5 dollars) or Internet access for an hour 300 rubles (10 dollars), but these are trifles.

Maybe you have any observations to improve the comfort of travel?

UPD

- If the flight is delayed for a long time, then you should be provided with food (this is often a meal ticket that can be spent in a cafe at the airport). If the flight is delayed for more than 6 hours - you must provide the hotel. ViGo5190

- In London, check-in for a flight ends about an hour before departure, and arriving at the airport, let's say for half an hour before the flight, you simply will not be let through. r3verser

- There is a useful service www.seatguru.com - there you can see the layout of the cabin of a particular aircraft (or even a specific airline) and choose good places without paying a penny. Also, the salon can be viewed at avia-photo-libraries like www.airliners.net . ilvar

- Many companies have a choice of food on board. That is, naturally, when buying a ticket, you can indicate that you do not want a standard menu, but something else. Aeroflot, for example, has a very impressive list. It is not worth the extra money. Pegorov

- Borispol and Zhulyany (Kiev). Design yourself an RFID card for simplified passage of border control (the guy who sits in the registration hall, a small booth with the logo of the border service). It costs 21 hryvnia, and it saves a lot of time. appplemac

- The peculiarity of most airlines: the one who came last is sent to the business class (it’s three times when you hit one hour before departure). rusevgen

- Gatwick, North Terminal. There are many outlets, and they are located quite comfortably - on original stands and tables. Wi-Fi - there are 63 access points, either password-protected, or with paid internet - payment by card or via Skype. Skype itself connects to the server and shows statuses, but neither calls nor messages go through. The Internet is expensive, if there is a SIM card from a European operator - it’s better to use mobile roaming sometimes. andrewsh

- I’ve seen free internet at 2 airports so far, Riga (Latvia) and Shannon (Ireland). In the UK in all airports paid Internet, but if you get by bus to the airport (EasyBus, National Express) - on board the bus is free. artem82