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Trouble-free (as possible) traveling...through the airport
By Elizabeth Perkins of Elizabeth Cunningham Perkins
This is a Part One, where I give airport travel tips for avoiding some of the the most usual troubles. Check on the flight and the weather: Before you head to the airport, check on the status of your flight and the weather conditions at your departure, transfer, and arrival cities. For various reasons, the airline cannot always reliably inform you ahead if delays are likely due to weather and/or air traffic control holds. The airline may list the flight as on time even if a delay is almost certain. But a website such as Flight Aware can show the actual location of the aircraft and after that, knowing as much as possible about the current weather conditions will tell you a lot. As a ground handler at an urban airport I have been able to give my scarily accurate but officially unofficial prognosis to worried traveling folks about what to expect, based upon my knowledge of the weather (locally and at their destinations) and the current location of their airplane-to-be. I could tell them their flight probably would be delayed (and approximately how long) or even likely cancelled, while the airline's ticket counter personel were still insisting the flight "should be on time" or saying it's "still listed as on time" and my prediction would almost always prove correct, alas. There isn't much you can do about ATC or Weather holds and crew-rest caused flight delays that often follow after, but having an accurate heads-up picture of the situation may help you plan ahead around the just-in-cases or make some calls to parties expecting you on the other end. Or you can relax and wait things out with an ear and an eye open and stay ready to get to the head of the line if alternatives arise suddenly. Don't automatically believe everything you read on airport flight status signs or hear from toll-free customer service lines. The information I could get from briefly gazing out the terminal window at what was happening on the tarmac around where a given flight was being worked - or was supposed to be being worked then or soon - was the best indication of what was likely to happen with that flight, especially when added up with current weather and accurate flight status information. Not everyone can see or interpret all of those signs I could get from looking out my favorite windows at the ramp areas but anyone can tune into the weather forecasts or fire up an internet connection for the most accurate flight information. When it comes to air travel, remember that should has no obligation to match reality! Do your best to find out the actual location of your aircraft and keep up with the weather forecasts where you are and where you are headed. An aside about airport signs: The signage in most airports is confusing but no one who is working at the airport during your period of flying frustration ever designed or installed or now approves of any of those poor signs. I don't know how many times I heard, "You know, your signs are lousy!" (Yup, I already knew.) Luggage: An old joke says that there are three main types of airline luggage - mis-routed, lost, and destroyed. From my experiences as a ground handler I claim that the conditions are not anywhere near as bad as that. Yet I fly with carry-on bags only, even when I will be away more than a week. If you must check in luggage, check over your luggage tags for accuracy before you walk away from the ticket counter. And keep your luggage tags handy! You may need these to put in a claim for a bag or two at your destination. If your bags don't arrive with you it does not usually mean they are lost or even mis-routed or destroyed, though those terrible things do happen. As a ground handler I could tell horror stories, but most often I had to take luggage back off the correct airplane before take-off to be "expedited" another way due to weight and balance issues, which may also be weather related. Security check-point pointers: Read the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) website thoroughly and carefully - and take everything literally. Supervisor judgement calls at your location over unusual items or circumstances may vary from another experience you had elsewhere or even in the same location on another day, especially where there is still a bit of ambiguity written into the rules. All airports layouts are different so security procedures will continue to differ slightly from airport to airport. Derive power from expecting the inevitable! I recommend that you complain about airport security procedures - if you need to or want to - through the TSA's website instead of at the checkpoint. The TSA officers on duty while you are traveling through - even the supervisors and managers - have little to no say-so about how things are being done. However do request to speak with a TSA supervisor or manager to report abuse or suspected theft and make sure any such incident is written up - or, on the other hand, you can ask a supervisor or manager put in a commendation. To begin a breeze through security, have your correct departure city boarding pass and your government issued photo ID in your hand right-side up when you get to the ticket/ID checker. Take all metal objects out of your pockets well ahead of the security check-point. For small pocket items I bring extra clear plastic bags like those used to carry travel sized liquids, creams, and gels (see the TSA website). Have a place to put all your belongings and a carry-on bag load plan so you don't have to keep stopping to relocate items you hastily tucked into a pocket you never - or hardly ever - use, or worse, have to dash back to recover (if you're lucky) something you distractedly left on a public countertop along the way. For airline complaints: Be as courteous as possible to the airline workers at hand, even through your frustrations. Be aware that you may be complaining to the very same person at the gate that you conflicted with at the ticket counter, so you will make matters worse for yourself if you say something like "that ticket guy downstairs is sure the dumbest, worst, etcetera and I was told blah blah blah and so forth...!" Airport workers are usually cross-trained these days and as the flights arrive and depart workers shift from ticket-counter to gate or ramp to baggage claim, doing different jobs here and there, inside and outside. So tactful inquiring or double-checking is best if you have a problem or concern, as in "Are you sure this is correct?" Even at an urban airport many line workers, supervisors, and managers know one another, and often grow somewhat familiar with one another's quirks and tendencies so exaggerating or bad-mouthing isn't likely to help your cause. The best strategy to follow if you are pretty sure you are being wronged somehow by your airline is requesting to speak to that airline's station manager, for then you will usually stand a better chance of talking to a manager if one is available, even if it isn't the station manager. In the airline industry it often happens that one person will know or be trained to do more than another, so second or third opinions can work wonders sometimes. Otherwise, keep contemporaneous documentation - notes on who you spoke with, what each person said, and what happened next and next - as your troubles unfold, and do your best to get where you are going, and then take it up with the airline's real customer service department after your trip. Stay tuned for Part Two!
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Contributor's Note
I do plan to pen an Airport Travel Tips Part Two pretty soon, with some finer tuning of a few finer points!
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Flight Aware - Free Flight Tracker
| Weather.Com
| Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
 
Know about the calmer quieter places to wait out delays.
Check on weather conditions before heading to the airport.
PLEASE VISIT THE CONTRIBUTOR'S WEBSITE
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This intel was contributed by ECP
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