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Tips For Holiday Airline Travel

It’s here – that time of year when we travel to visit friends and family for the holidays.  The holiday airline travel season is the busiest of the year, so it’s important to get things right before you head out to the friendly skies.  Getting your tickets is only the first step.  What can you do to make sure your upcoming holiday travel goes smoothly and you arrive at your destination with the least amount of hassle?  Here are our top tips:

• Select your seats now.  If you’re traveling on an airline that allows you to select your seats, do that now, before you get to the airport, especially if you’re traveling with someone else.  Because flights are often overbooked, you might end up sitting in a middle seat, surrounded by strangers, instead of next to your significant other.  Todd and Marsha* traveled to New York recently and ended up on opposite ends of the plane.  Todd said, “I’ll never do that again.  I’m definitely going to select our seats as soon as I book my tickets, instead of waiting until the day of the flight.  It was horrible!”
• Set your luggage apart.  Look at any baggage carousel and it’s a sea of black suitcases.  How can you tell which one is yours without looking at every tag?  Make luggage handling easier by selecting colors other than black, perhaps with some easily-identifiable markings.  That way, you’re not taking someone else’s luggage home and they’re not opening yours up and finding your gift to Aunt Martha.
• Hoard travel sizes now.  Each time you go to the store, pick up a couple of travel-sized shampoo and conditioner bottles, tubes of toothpaste and other items you’ll need on your trip.  Don’t rely on those supplied by the hotel you’re staying in or on your relatives to have what you need.  Hotels are providing smaller and smaller sizes of shampoo and conditioner, hardly enough for one person.
• Hand sanitizer wipes are a must.  Small packages of hand sanitizer wipes come in handy, especially during the winter travel season, when everyone who forgot to get a flu shot is traveling next to you.  It’s not obsessive to wipe down your arm rests, the seatbelt buckle and your tray table; it’s simple hygiene and you will be glad you did when you get home without catching something.
• Get to the airport at least 3 hours prior to your flight, especially during the holidays.  The airlines tell you to be at the airport at least 2 hours prior to your flight but during the holidays, bump that up to 3 hours.  During the holidays, the lines can be horrible and the last thing you want to do is miss your flight because you were waiting 30 to 45 minutes in line for airport security.  If the lines aren’t bad when you get there, you can always grab a quick meal, catch up on your reading or do some work on your laptop while you’re waiting for your flight.
• Book your limo to and from the airport now.  The cost and hassle of parking your car at the airport parking lot over the holiday weekend can be staggering and the parking lots are packed full.  Why not get to the airport on time and relaxed by hiring an executive car service or limo?  At Austin Choice Limousine, our professional, courteous drivers pick you up at your door to whisk you to the airport with time to spare, relaxed and ready for the holidays.  They load and unload your luggage, so you’re not breaking your back or that of your friends taking you to the airport.  And taking a limo the airport can actually save you money over what it would cost to drive yourself, park your car and then find it when you get home, among the maze of other travelers doing the same.  When you return home, your limo will be waiting for you and you aren’t one of the many wandering around the parking lot, looking for your car.

Prepare early for your holiday airline travel.  We look forward to helping you enjoy the trip, with a safe, relaxing trip to and from the airport from Austin Choice Limousine.