50 Essential Travel Rules & Habits of Frequent Flyers

Many of us have golden rules that we live by. If you travel a lot, you probably also have specific rules and habits that you apply to your trips.

From packing tips to safety measures and flight booking strategies, experienced travellers on the AFF forum recently shared theirs.

In this article, we’ve summarised the top 50 golden rules and travel habits that frequent flyers have shared with the AFF community. We’ve sorted them into three categories:

• Golden rules to live by while travelling
• Golden rules for booking flights and hotels
• Golden rules for packing and taking care of your belongings

Within each category, we’ve ranked each tip according to the number of people who shared that piece of advice and the number of “likes” received on the forum.

Without further ado, here are the top 50 travel rules and habits of the Australian Frequent Flyer community!

Golden rules to live by while travelling

1. When things go wrong – and they will – don’t stress. If you’re in control of the situation, calmly work to resolve it. And if you can’t do anything about it, why worry?
2. Always have travel insurance. If you can’t afford travel insurance, you can’t afford to travel!
3. Plan to get to the airport early.
4. When logging into public Wi-Fi networks, do not give out your primary email address.
5. If you wear glasses, carry a spare pair with you.
6. Track the inbound plane to anticipate any disruptions to your flight.
7. Use the bathroom at the latest possible moment before boarding a flight. Once on the plane, you never know when your next opportunity might be.
8. Don’t rely on airport information screens and don’t assume. If something seems unusual, illogical or contradictory, check for yourself.
9. Eat where the locals eat. If in doubt, ask a local. When flying, choose the local cuisine of the airline.
10. Keep a bit of petty cash with you for emergencies, either in the local or an easily convertible currency (like US Dollars).
11. Always treat airline, hotel and hospitality staff with respect, even if they are testing your patience. (This AFF post sums this up nicely.)
12. Remember that travel is a privilege, not a right.
13. Don’t worry about trying to see and do everything at your destination. Sometimes less is more.
14. Never join a long queue.
15. Never accept a downgrade.
16. If your flight departs between midnight and 2am, take extra care to ensure you get to the airport on the correct day.
17. Never eat at a restaurant in a tourist precinct, with photos of everything on the menu, with a menu in more than four languages, or with a tout trying to drag in passers-by.
18. Regularly back up your photos.
19. If spending up to $20 on a taxi, food delivery or something else that will make your life easier, just do it.
20. Use bottled water to brush your teeth unless you’re sure the local tap water is safe.
21. Don’t follow touts.

Golden rules for booking flights and hotels

22. Plan to “do nothing” every 3-4 days of your trip, to give yourself a chance to rest, relax, recover and as a buffer in case of unexpected disruptions to your trip.
23. When booking a flight that connects to a long-haul flight that departs in the morning, fly in the night before and stay overnight in a hotel near the airport.
24. Don’t skimp on transport and accommodation just to save a few dollars. After a long flight, it’s worth paying a few dollars more for a private transfer to your hotel.
25. Where possible, avoid flying Economy Class on long-haul and/or overnight flights.
26. Avoid booking short transits between flights, especially at London Heathrow Airport. (Even if you make it, your luggage might not!)
27. Avoid booking flights that depart before 9am.
28. Book daytime flights where possible, rather than overnight flights.
29. If flying to meet a cruise departure, plan to arrive at least two days beforehand.
30. If you’re travelling somewhere prone to bad weather at that time of the year, flying earlier in the day helps reduce the risk of delays or cancellations. (E.g. if flying from foggy Canberra in the winter, take the first flight of the day as the plane will have parked at the airport overnight.)
31. Never pick up a hire car immediately after a long-haul flight.
32. When booking a long-haul flight, aim to arrive in the afternoon. Don’t book long-haul flights arriving early in the morning unless you have somewhere to sleep on arrival (e.g. your home or a hotel booked for the night before.)
33. When booking flights on separate tickets, plan an overnight stop between flights as a buffer in case of a delay to the first flight.
34. Avoid middle seats.

Golden rules for packing and taking care of your belongings

35. Don’t use the safe in your hotel room – and if you do use it, make sure you don’t leave anything inside when checking out! (Bonus tip: putting something obvious inside the safe, such as 1 of 2 shoes, can be a good reminder to yourself that you also have valuables in there.)
36. Count the number of bags with you before leaving home, the hotel, the airport or a taxi.
37. Fly with hand luggage only. (And if you must check in luggage, put an AirTag in your bag!)
38. When packing, remove half of the items in your suitcase and then do the same again. As long as you have your phone, wallet and passport, you can buy anything else (especially toiletries etc.) after you arrive.
39. Take a photo of your luggage (and its contents) before you fly.
40. Keep your passport with you at all times.
41. Check your hotel room thoroughly before checking out. (I personally call this the “idiot check”, because that’s what I felt like every time I left something obvious in a hotel room!)
42. Don’t pack important medication in your checked luggage.
43. Create a packing checklist.
44. Don’t pack more than 8 days’ worth of clothes, regardless of the trip length. If you’ll be aware for more than a week, plan to do laundry once per week.
45. Use the overhead locker across the aisle from your seat, rather than above your seat, so that you can actually see your luggage.
46. Take a pair of slippers onto long-haul flights if you plan to remove your shoes.
47. Have at least one change of clothes in your carry-on bag.
48. Don’t wear brand new shoes for the first time while on a trip.
49. Take physical credit cards and your physical driving licence – contactless and digital cards are not universally accepted.
50. Remain aware of your surroundings and your personal safety at all times.

Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum

Do you agree with this list? Perhaps you have your own golden rule of travel which hasn’t been mentioned yet?

You can read the full thread, and share your own travel rules and habits, on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum!

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to more than 100 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. His interests include aviation, economics & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.