Rules for flying during the holidays
Adapted from a Twitter thread during the Southwest meltdown of December 2022.
Because before we know it, the Southwest Airlines fiasco of December 2022 will be out of sight and out of mind, so I wanted to use the opportunity to share my recommendations for traveling at the most wonderful time of the year.
10 Rules for flying at Christmastime:
Don't fly unless you must.
Carry on everything.
If possible, only take direct flights.
Be nice to everyone.
Shit truly hits the fan? Contact a travel agent.
Get lounge access.
Get TSA Precheck and/or Clear.
Pack good snacks.
Friction, eventually, is funny.
When you can, accept the offer to give up your seat.
Some context for credibility:
Over the past decade+, I've lived in five states across three timezones, frequently traveling for work or life, often with infants/toddlers, and my family always travels home for Christmas.
My wife regularly travels for work to countries on opposite ends of the earth.
Family and friends have worked in every airline industry role except the control tower.
In our pocket of Atlanta, 1 out of 5 neighbors works for an airline, and they share their thoughts in our chitchats.
Rule 1: Don't fly unless you must.
The weather, the crowds, the high emotion just waiting to boil over. It’s all a recipe for a holiday movie where everything goes wrong.
Rule 2: Carry on everything.
You don't need as much as you think.
You can mail to/from your destination. I recommend Priority Mail or ShipGo.com.
You can easily utilize dry cleaning and laundry services. Every hotel or Airbnb has a solution these days.
Below is the bag I use. My most recent trip: 10 days from Atlanta to Toronto to Vancouver to Atlanta, four legs in total. The trip was both business and personal. Everything fit in a single bag. No laundry or dry cleaning was needed.
Rule 3: If possible, only take direct flights.
Every leg of a flight is a potential problem waiting to compound.
Rule 4: Be nice to everyone.
Have a problem? In almost all cases, the airline employees you are dealing with didn't create the problem, but they can solve the problem or at least alleviate the pain most of the time.
Be incredibly nice. (You should be doing this already, but it bears repeating.)
Rule 5: Shit truly hits the fan? Contact a travel agent.
While every other stranded passenger is on Kayak trying to book flights, hotels, cars, etc., a travel agent is a cheat code.
Travel agents are not as expensive as one would assume, and they solve problems better, faster, and cheaper.
Rule 6: Get lounge access.
Lounges always felt like a fancy country club, and I didn't grow up fancy, but lounges make the trip 3x easier.
Chiller vibe/crowd
Space to rest comfortably
Free food, snacks, drinks
Often free showers and exercise areas
More reliable wifi
Cleaner, nicer bathrooms
Rule 7: Get TSA Precheck and/or Clear.
There are four airport security paths, from slowest to fastest...
Security
TSA PreCheck
Clear
TSA PreCheck + Clear
The fourth option takes literal seconds. Many credit cards and airline rewards programs will cover some or all Precheck and/or Clear costs.
Rule 8: Pack good snacks.
My fellow parents of toddlers know this, but most also know the feeling of being stuck on a tarmac for 2+ hours or waiting for a plane to de-ice.
I prefer protein bars because they're dense and small, so 2-3 bars are sufficient without crowding a bag.
Rule 9: Friction, eventually, is funny.
Every bad experience makes for a great story. The worse the experience, the better the story.
Everything is going to be fine.
Rule 10: When you can, accept the offer to give up your seat.
In December 2022, my brother and his wife were chilling in a Houston hotel before returning to Denver.
Their airline offered them $2,500 and a daily free hotel + daily free food to give up their seats on a flight.
Happy travels, and remember: Begin with empathy.
Everyone also wants to get where they're going.
The airline also wishes nothing had gone wrong.
The flight crew also has family they're traveling to see for the holidays.