Since I was on a plane yesterday and couldn't post, you get two for one blogs!
Yesterday starting at 7am my husband and I started our travel and that travel wouldn't end until today at 2pm. That is over 24 hours of airports and driving.
There are many people that hate airports. The airport is dirty, people are rude, the service is lacking, and the price for a cup of coffee is as much as a student loan. I am not that person. I love the airport. When I book my flights I try my hardest to shop around to find the best price and most of those flights have a layover. Now if you don't have a layover you are lucky, but I like a layover. Today the flight that we took was from Columbus (CMH) to John F. Kennedy (JFK) and was about a two hour flight. When landing in JFK we had a little over five hours to kill and that was not the plan at first, but I like to people watch.
When booking a flight check around. Do not just go for the first price that you see that tickles your fancy. For flights in the states I start to look about a month and a half out. Look on a Tuesday when the flights will be at the lowest. I have found that looking after six in the evening the tickets were at the lowest, however, this may not always be the case. Booking too far out you may think is a mistake, but it honestly pays off in the end. For International flights look about three to six months out. Book closer to six months out if you are going to go to more than one location. When you look at train tickets in Europe they wil have the best prices about 120 days out. Most first class tickets will be around €45 for Comfort 1, so booking early you can plan your days around that.
Before you book your ticket, get the app of the person that you will be flying. Delta, American Airlines, United, JetBlue, all of them have an app where you can move seats around, upgrade (for a price), check all of the statuses of the flights, track your luggage, everything that you will need is there. The most important part is you will be able to see the gates that you will need before you leave and where you can pick up the luggage after the flight. If you are flying internationally you can check in online the day before with your passport, it really is quicker to use.
Always allow ample time to get to the airport and if possible get the travel insurance. When we flew from Columbus to JFK there was a man that had missed a flight by over an hour due to traffic. He didn't get insurance and he had to purchase another ticket. If your flight leaves at noon and you live two hours away, give yourself an extra two hours so that way if there is an accident you won't be stuff. Missing you flight really is no fun.
Over the last few years or since 9/11 happened the security has been getting tighter at the airport. There are all of these rules that no one can seem to understand. Let me break it down for you. You get to the airport, park, check-in, get your boarding pass, walk up to TSA. Sounds easy right? Wrong. There are now two lanes TSA PreCheck and TSA security. The TSA PreCheck is where you do not have to take off your shoes, belts, and jackets. You will still have to follow the 3-1-1 rule and take your laptop out of you bag. This rule means that you are aloud 1 quart sized baggie with the liquids or gels, in 1 carry on bag, and the liquid or gels can not be over 3.4 ounces. With the PreCheck you will only have to go through the metal detector and device that makes you do the jumping jack move. The TSA PreCheck is a wonderful think that anyone can apply for. Military if you fly, you do not need to apply just add your DoD number to the KTN space when booking your flight. For everyone else you can follow this link to fill out the application.
(https://www.tsa.gov/precheck)
For those of you that do not have the TSA PreCheck you will have to take off your shoes, belts, everything out of you pockets, the 3-1-1 items, and jackets. Not only all of that, but you will be stuck behind a long line of people fighting for the grey bins that you have to put your items in.
Yesterday starting at 7am my husband and I started our travel and that travel wouldn't end until today at 2pm. That is over 24 hours of airports and driving.
There are many people that hate airports. The airport is dirty, people are rude, the service is lacking, and the price for a cup of coffee is as much as a student loan. I am not that person. I love the airport. When I book my flights I try my hardest to shop around to find the best price and most of those flights have a layover. Now if you don't have a layover you are lucky, but I like a layover. Today the flight that we took was from Columbus (CMH) to John F. Kennedy (JFK) and was about a two hour flight. When landing in JFK we had a little over five hours to kill and that was not the plan at first, but I like to people watch.
When booking a flight check around. Do not just go for the first price that you see that tickles your fancy. For flights in the states I start to look about a month and a half out. Look on a Tuesday when the flights will be at the lowest. I have found that looking after six in the evening the tickets were at the lowest, however, this may not always be the case. Booking too far out you may think is a mistake, but it honestly pays off in the end. For International flights look about three to six months out. Book closer to six months out if you are going to go to more than one location. When you look at train tickets in Europe they wil have the best prices about 120 days out. Most first class tickets will be around €45 for Comfort 1, so booking early you can plan your days around that.
Before you book your ticket, get the app of the person that you will be flying. Delta, American Airlines, United, JetBlue, all of them have an app where you can move seats around, upgrade (for a price), check all of the statuses of the flights, track your luggage, everything that you will need is there. The most important part is you will be able to see the gates that you will need before you leave and where you can pick up the luggage after the flight. If you are flying internationally you can check in online the day before with your passport, it really is quicker to use.
Always allow ample time to get to the airport and if possible get the travel insurance. When we flew from Columbus to JFK there was a man that had missed a flight by over an hour due to traffic. He didn't get insurance and he had to purchase another ticket. If your flight leaves at noon and you live two hours away, give yourself an extra two hours so that way if there is an accident you won't be stuff. Missing you flight really is no fun.
Over the last few years or since 9/11 happened the security has been getting tighter at the airport. There are all of these rules that no one can seem to understand. Let me break it down for you. You get to the airport, park, check-in, get your boarding pass, walk up to TSA. Sounds easy right? Wrong. There are now two lanes TSA PreCheck and TSA security. The TSA PreCheck is where you do not have to take off your shoes, belts, and jackets. You will still have to follow the 3-1-1 rule and take your laptop out of you bag. This rule means that you are aloud 1 quart sized baggie with the liquids or gels, in 1 carry on bag, and the liquid or gels can not be over 3.4 ounces. With the PreCheck you will only have to go through the metal detector and device that makes you do the jumping jack move. The TSA PreCheck is a wonderful think that anyone can apply for. Military if you fly, you do not need to apply just add your DoD number to the KTN space when booking your flight. For everyone else you can follow this link to fill out the application.
(https://www.tsa.gov/precheck)
For those of you that do not have the TSA PreCheck you will have to take off your shoes, belts, everything out of you pockets, the 3-1-1 items, and jackets. Not only all of that, but you will be stuck behind a long line of people fighting for the grey bins that you have to put your items in.
When I left Columbus I had TSA PreCheck. In the middle of the ticket and toward the top the words were written in bold and a pleasant surprise. Despite me doing all of the right things and following the rules above, I made a mistake. Yes even someone like myself can make a mistake here and there. If you joke around with TSA security they will be nice to you. Hey, you may even make them smile :) I had to laugh out loud because the man in front of me was pulled to the side to get his luggage hand checked, meaning he didn't do something right. Karma. Mine had to be hand checked too. The TSA agent that saw me laugh simply said "Man, you too?" He took my purse asked if I had a lot of change, looking confused I told him yes. He looked inside, took a sample to make sure there were no chemicals and sent me on my way, all after I told him that at least he got his worth for the day since the man behind me also had to have his bag hand checked too.
FYI: too much change will make everything around it not be able to bee seen.
Just be nice to the agents and they will be nice to you.
Once you get past the TSA checkpoint it is now time to find your gate and do my favorite thing...people watch. I decided to fly Delaa Airlines, not just because they were the best price, but they were the only ones that had just one layover and the quickest route time to Paris from JFK when we wanted to leave. Flying Delta has it moments. The first flight that I was on was so small that if you have more than a purse to carry, you are going to have to check the luggage at the gate. Depending on the flight there is normally only one flight attendant running the whole show. The upside to the flights is the Bischoff cookies and the Ginger Ale that you can get.
Now I mentioned earlier that my layover in JFK was for over 5 hours. This was not my planning, but due to Delta being fast fliers decided that we would only need 30 minutes to get from Terminal 2 to Terminal 4, checked in, get a snack, and get boarded. I knew that this was going to be cutting it close so I called the Customer Service line and asked what they could do for me. They then moved the flights around and that is how the 5 hours came to be. It really was not a bad layover and time goes fast, but if that does happen to you, make sure that you are nice to the Customer Service people. There are times that a smile and a “I understand” can go far.
After the layover there is still a 7 hour flight that we have to take to Paris!
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