It seems everybody is busy these days. We never seem to have enough time to do things at a leisurely pace, and that includes flying. Even if we have some extra time, we feel like we have to rush through the airport. But you can avoid that rushed feeling if you use some of these techniques — which we read on Yahoo — to navigate your way through the airport.
Dubai International Airport, Terminal C
1. Plan ahead. This may sound like common sense, but time adds up when you’re en route to the airport. If you don’t plan for it, you run the danger of missing your flight. Factor in traffic, security checkpoint wait time, and how long it takes to ride the off-site airport parking shuttle to the terminal into the amount of time you allot yourself to get to your gate. It adds up fast!
2. Don’t pay attention to /departure lanes. This may be hard for rule followers to do, but there’s no law saying what lane you have to use. It’s simply a matter of what lane has the most traffic and avoiding it. Being dropped off in arrivals if you’re actually departing really only means you’ll have to walk up or down one flight of stairs.
3. Pack light. You’ve heard this a thousand times, but it bears repeating: using a carry-on means you don’t have to use the ticket counter when you depart or baggage claim when you land.
4. Check in at home. This is a great time saver. You never know if the self-check kiosks are going to be busy, and if you check in at home with your airline’s mobile app, your boarding pass is stored in your phone, ready to access when you arrive at security.
5. Ship gifts ahead of time. Traveling at the holidays is stressful enough without additional bags to manage. Carrying wrapped gifts with you through security might get you a special trip to a private time with an agent. What it costs in cash will save you in headaches and aggravation.
We only covered five of Yahoo’s tips, but there are more. And you probably have several of your own. What are yours? Let us hear from you. Leave us a tip in the comments section below or on our Facebook page.
Photo credit: Konstantin von Wedelstaedt (Wikimedia Commons, GNU Free Documentation License)