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Are you are one of us who flies often -- perhaps traveling to and from a distant work site every week, or perhaps the airline is your morning and evening commute? If you are like me, air travel is no longer an exciting adventure but a part of the routine. You grow to expect comfort, relaxation before a hectic workday, or rest at the end one. You will often need to work while traveling. The airport and the airplane may be the only place where you can concentrate on preparing for a meeting or completing a trip report.
The following tips are meant for the frequent traveler:
1. Try to concentrate your travel on one airline. This will allow you to accumulate more miles toward free travel and will also allow you to get into the airline's preferred status -- the key to first class upgrades and to better treatment by the airlines. Most major airline reward their loyal customers by providing levels within their frequent traveler programs. For example, accruing 25,000 miles or 30 flight segments on US Airways (within one calendar year) will qualify you for "Preferred" status. Reach 100,000 miles or 100 flight segments and you will qualify for "Chairman's Preferred" with a guaranteed seat even when the flight is sold out.
Achieving a preferred status will also provide you with special reservations phone numbers and the ability to use the shorter First Class line at the ticket counter, even when flying coach.
2. Upgrade to first class using your frequent flier upgrades. As everyone knows, the seats are bigger and the service is better. But equally important, the front of the plane also allows you to get off the plane earlier and have more time in a connecting airport. Also the larger seat and table allow more room for a laptop and other work materials, as well as for a continually refilled cup of coffee.
4. Pack light and avoid having to check a bag. The airlines allow two carry on bags, one under seat and one in the overhead. This typically will allow you to carry a brief case or computer bag and a rolling bag that can be placed in the overhead storage. By not having to check bags you save time at the departure airport and particularly at the arrival airport. It will also make it easier to quickly change flights in the very common event of a flight cancellation or missed connection.
3. Join the airline club. Most major airlines have clubs, or private members' only waiting areas in the airport near that airline' gates. For an annual fee, these clubs offer a place to wait for a flight, a bar, free coffee, and a staff who can usually provide the same services as the gate personnel, often the same as the main ticket counter (except baggage handling). If you have no bags to check you can go straight to the club room for check in and to receive a boarding pass.
If there are problems with your flight, such as a cancellation or a delayed flight, the personnel at the desk in the club can often provide more help in rerouting you than those at the gate.
4. Reserve a bulkhead aisle seat. Whether in coach or first class, but particularly in coach, the bulkhead (first row of a section) offers more leg room. While the window seat may feel claustrophobic to some (due to the wall in front of their eyes) I find it better to stare at a wall than at the back of the head of the passenger in front of me. The aisle seat, however, does not usually cause the "head in a box" feeling. Also the additional room often allows the window or middle seat passenger to get into and out of the seat without disturbing the aisle passenger. The one disadvantage: there is no under the seat storage for brief cases and laptops that may be needed during the flight. I usually remove my laptop and some other material from my brief case and then place the case in the overhead storage. I can then fit the laptop and other material under my own seat, held in place by my feet, for takeoff and landing.
5. Get to the airport early. It is best to arrive at the airport at least an hour before the flight time. I usually plan to arrive about one and a half hours before the flight. Note that I said "plan". Several times over the last few years I have arrived at the airport 30 minutes to an hour later than expected due to car problems, traffic, or because I was caught in a client's parking lot with a last minute question or problem. More than once the additional time cushion prevented me from missing the last flight home on a Friday evening.
When I do get to the airport in the expected time I go to the airline club, check in, and sit down, relax with a cup of coffee, read the newspaper or make some phone calls. Then at the time of my flight I am much more relaxed and comfortable than if I had left later for the airport, only to spend time on the road worried about making my flight followed by a mad rush through the airport to arrive at the flight at the last minute, out of breath, sticky with perspiration, and wishing I had allowed time for a bathroom stop.
Some friends who travel only occasionally say that they enjoy the excitement of travel. I reply that I have had exciting trips and boring trips. Boring is better.
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