Good wing tips - bad advice?

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Altair

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Here is an article from SMH travel about making life in WHY so much easier.
Good wing tips - Tips - Travel - smh.com.au
I think the writer is using dated information and in fact many of the tips either will not work for the infrequent flyer or are just not good advice.
What are your thoughts?
 
The bit about boarding last is spot on and saves being knocked about by 300 other passengers.

But don't try it in economy if you have anything other than hand baggage, the overhead bins will be full and the bag will have to go way at the back of the plane. On arrival, you'll have to wait for everyone else to get off before you can get your stuff.

Ordering the veggy meal is a good idea too - I've just never bothered to do it.
 
All of the advice under "Checkin" strikes me as shockingly bad. In the age of terrorism, security queues and Low Cost Carriers I would think it's a good policy to check in and be through security as early as practical. At least 60-90 minutes for domestic would be my advice - It's really not that much to ask for occasional holiday travellers and will ensure they're not caught out. There are a lot of unexpected things that can cause you delays.

Chrisb.
 
I think the veggie meal sounds like you are getting one over on the other pax but do you really want vegetarian meal on long haul?

A lot of the stuff in the article sounded a little cr4p to me. Checking in late? Great I guess if you are traveling alone and dont mind being at the back of the plane - last for food and drink etc... I agree on the boarding last - if you arent in a premium group and have nothing in hand luggage then sure saunter on last - but be prepared to debate whether or not it was fair of someone to involuntarily swap seats with you ;)

The flying direct option again sounds good but I am sure the benefit is really less time in the plane than having a cheaper flight and spending an hour in Taipei airport!

Frankly the article could have said "Before you fly make sure you plan and research the trip" - and that would have been useful advice ;)
 
Quick comment re booking a veggie meal.

I travelled on an award flight (economy) over Christmas - lucky enough to score an upgrade to Business on a full flight.

Talking to the airline staff who processed the upgrade, she mentioned that I had an advantage in that I had no special meal request logged. I got the impression that another passenger was being considered for upgrade and that it had all been too hard as they required a special meal.
 
mabunji said:
Quick comment re booking a veggie meal.

I travelled on an award flight (economy) over Christmas - lucky enough to score an upgrade to Business on a full flight.

Talking to the airline staff who processed the upgrade, she mentioned that I had an advantage in that I had no special meal request logged. I got the impression that another passenger was being considered for upgrade and that it had all been too hard as they required a special meal.

Upgrades are always under the warning that special meals may not be provided anyhow.
 
Some of that advice is bad or unhelpful.

2) Avoid peak times is unhelpful. Well some routes all possible flights are around the same time of day for various reasons (eg Aus/NZ to/from mainland US). Also can be hard to find out peak times - eg at LAX peak time varies by terminal and the worst times to arrive/leave may not necessarily equate to the most number of flights (arriving after certain international flights may be worse than arriving after five times as many domestic flights).

4) Check in 45-60 minutes prior to departure. On many airlines this will mean bumped off the flight. In my experience the best seating options come from either pre-selecting or checking in early, not from turning up right at closure of check in for the flight. Late check in is not always smooth - the same desks may be used for other flights :rolleyes:

6) Boarding late. Works in Australia, not in USA.

8) Avoid alcohol - bah!
 
chrisb said:
All of the advice under "Checkin" strikes me as shockingly bad. In the age of terrorism, security queues and Low Cost Carriers I would think it's a good policy to check in and be through security as early as practical. At least 60-90 minutes for domestic would be my advice - It's really not that much to ask for occasional holiday travellers and will ensure they're not caught out. There are a lot of unexpected things that can cause you delays.

Chrisb.
Agreed. Almost every word in point 4. is wrong.

Turn up late and expect to get a row of 3 to yourself? Suuuure. More likely end up in row 89B between two rugby players on an end-of-season trip.

"Airline staff often fill the plane from the front". No, they fill all windows and aisles and then start assigning middle seats to the poor sods who turn up close to flight time.

"Late arrival for check-in is always smooth, with no wait and plenty of options." Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha ...
 
With most flights busy i would prefer a forward isle to anywhere else except maybe some exit seats. If they happen to have a row of 3 or 4 to myself sure but that so seldom seems to happen on any routes i fly its almost not worth considering. (Mind you it did happen on a NRT-MEL 6 or 7 weeks ago)

I must prefer to check in early, go to the QP and relax with a magazine, and drink, last re-charge of the notebook batterys incase i want to watch DVD's and then wait for last call to board.

To me it is preferable to have an extra 30 mins in the QP filling time rather than stressing if i will get through the traffic and actually make the flight !

Evan
 
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serfty said:
Ahhh ... the QP ... When does check in open again? :p
I guess the writer's avoidance of early check-in is linked to the last sentence of point 8 :rolleyes: . I'm with Serfty on this issue :p .
 
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