De-stressing At Least One Part of the Holidays
december 15, 2011
Air travel during the holidays has a bad rap. It’s portrayed as a time when airports and airplanes are overrun by huge, monstrous crowds.
In reality, the holidays aren’t much different than any other time of year — there are long lines, canceled flights, crowded airplanes, frazzled fliers. And the number of people flying isn’t significantly different than any other time of the year. But the holiday travel season does have one thing the rest of the year doesn’t: lots of infrequent fliers. They often arrive at the airport late and they don’t know the drill — they don’t know where to park, where the ticket counter is, or how to get through security in a timely fashion. The end result: lines that are longer than they need to be! With these thoughts in mind, the Springfield-Branson National Airport offers these holiday tips for infrequent and first time fliers: - Get your boarding pass online. Airline websites let you print out a boarding pass 24 hours before departure. It’s an easy way to bypass the ticket counter line.
- Don’t wrap presents. There’s a good chance security will unwrap them to see what’s inside. Try bundling presents in towels or pajamas.
- Know what you can take on the airplane before you get to the security checkpoint. Bringing a prohibited item through the checkpoint is illegal—even if it’s an accident. For more information, go to the web site of the Transportation Security Administration: http://www.tsa.gov. Once you get there, click on the link that says, “For Travelers.”
- Put on your walking shoes; dress comfortably; travel light.
- Be in the airport terminal at least 90 minutes before your flight leaves. That sounds like a lot of time, but it isn't. You'll have to stand in the ticket counter line. Then there's the security checkpoint line. Then you’ve got to find the departure gate. The bigger the airport, the more time you’ll need.
- Before getting to the security checkpoint line, remove your watch, cell phone, jewelry, belt — anything that could set-off the metal detectors. Put these items in your carry-on bag. Avoid putting them in the open containers for the ride through the x-ray machine. That’s how things get lost.
- When you reach the checkpoint have your ID and boarding pass out and ready for inspection.
- Take off your shoes and coat before going through the metal detector (it’s a rule).
- And finally, under the category of “strange, but true”, don’t even think about getting on an airplane with a snow globe in your carry-on bags. Here’s what the TSA says about it: “TSA does not permit snow globes through the security checkpoint because they contain an undetermined amount of liquid. Snow globes are permitted in checked baggage.”
By following these tips the stress of holiday flying really can go away…well…at least some of it!
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