Top 5 Tips for Every First-Time Flyer Should Know
Are you about to board the plane for the first time in your life? We can understand what you must be going through as a first-time flyer at the moment. You are happy, excited, a bit scared, and extremely anxious. From questions like ‘what if I get nauseous?’ and ‘how does it feel when the plane takes off or lands?’, to consistent confusion on whether you should apply for TSA PreCheck on your first-ever flight or not, everything about your first-ever flight is a memory of a lifetime.
Don’t worry, today we are going to help every first-time flyer with all the tips and advice that no one else would share with them. Do not worry a bit about the takeoff and landing, that is the pilot’s job, not yours. Do not overthink and create fake scenarios in your head that won’t happen. Simply, take all this time to prepare the best for your flight and journey and you will surely have an amazing experience on your first-ever flight.
Also Read: 7 Tips To Stay Calm While Traveling
Amazing Tips for First-Time Flyer
No matter whether you are traveling solo or have a company, the following tips for first-time flyer are to help you with your first-time air travel. So, let us get into this right away:
1. Know Your Airline Well
The pivotal rule in traveling with any airline or agency for the first time is to know them well. By knowing, we don’t simply mean that you need to know about their ratings and air travel history. Rather, it is important to know the rules and regulations that the airline follows and expects its travelers to abide by.
One of the most important things that you need to know about your prospective airline is their luggage policy. You don’t want to be paying any fine just because your luggage crossed the allowed weight. You would also not like having to leave some of your most useful possessions at the airport because there were not allowed inside the plane.
Other than the luggage-related policies, it is better if you know about the airline’s refund policies, cancellation rules, and whether they offer any compensation for excessively delayed flights.
2. Get TSA PreCheck
This amazing thing works like magic when you have to navigate through those airport checking lanes and are not mentally prepared for long queues. If you still have some time left for your first-ever flight, we suggest you get yourself approved for TSA PreCheck. If done, you can easily get faster checkouts with fewer security checks and everything will get very smooth for you.
Flying for the first time, you surely are going to be a bit anxious and stressed out about checking and everything other formal process at the airport. Getting the TSA approval saves you of all this stress and adds a touch of pleasantness to your experience once and for all.
Also Read: 5 Ways Traveling Benefits to Your Mental Health
3. Pack Your Most Important Possessions in Your Hand Carry
Fear of losing your luggage or having it ripped apart at the airport is real. Many people have lost their most important belongings from their luggage and never recovered them even when they were traveling with the best airlines.
The only way to secure such important and irreplaceable items is to keep them with you in your handbag. To name a few, you can take along your medical prescriptions, contact lenses, glasses, documents, charger, contacts’ book, and more. Just make sure everything that you put inside abides by the rules of your airline’s luggage policy and isn’t going to cause your trouble later on.
4. Go to The Airport Early
Boarding a plane is very different than boarding a bus or Uber. There is a long queue waiting for you to join it and a lot of checks that you need to pass through before they allow you inside the waiting lounge. Things can get even more detailed when you are a third-world resident visiting a developed country.
So, it is always suggested that you arrive at the airport at least 2-3 hours before your flight’s time. The process of checking up and giving you a clean chit might sometimes last no longer than 10 minutes. On other occasions, especially during the peak travel season, things may last a little too long. So, it is always best early than late.
Also, boarding a plane itself is a very organized process when you are traveling with the world’s leading airlines. There is a specific boarding time written on your ticket that you need to vary of. It is the time when you are allowed to enter the plane in a group of 20-30 other passengers after a thorough security check. This also takes time, so you need to consider your boarding time too when planning on leaving for the airport.
5. Have All Your IDs Under The Hand
Gone are the good days when anyone could board a plane simply by showing the tickets. Now, the security officer demands everyone for all their relevant IDs, passport, and other documents. Now, with so many people waiting behind you in line, no one would like you if you started finding your IDs in your bag at the time you are asked to show them.
Hence, you should have all of them either ready in your hands or on the top of your hand carry stuff. You should be well-managed in this regard, so you don’t bother others and act like a good citizen in line. You’d love yourself for this too, we promise!
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Conclusion
So, these were some of our favorite tips for all the first-timers that we also used when it was our first time on the plane. Trust us when we say that it is going to be the most rewarding experience of your life only if you are well-managed and prepared for your flight beforehand. Hopefully, things will go smoothly and you’d start planning your next trip soon.
We wish you all the best and we hope that as a first-time flyer you enjoyed these tips on your first-ever flight to bits.