GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl
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"How you win matters." Ender, Ender's Game
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Post by GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl on Sept 28, 2015 12:44:12 GMT -5
Thanks, Sroo, and everyone else for all your tips and advice. Feel free to keep them coming!!!!
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GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl
Senior Associate
"How you win matters." Ender, Ender's Game
Joined: Jan 2, 2011 13:33:09 GMT -5
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Post by GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl on Sept 28, 2015 12:45:55 GMT -5
Oh, okay, so print at home OR wait in line at the ticket counter BEFORE going through security. I've never waited more than 5 minutes at the self check in kiosks at the ticket gate. Not a big deal. If you are checking bags you will have to do so at the ticket counter anyway. One bag to be checked -- already paid for. So, could I do curb-side check-in for the bag and the kiosk for the boarding pass (or even print the boarding pass at home)?
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lexxy703
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Post by lexxy703 on Sept 28, 2015 12:51:48 GMT -5
Food: can folks pick up pizza or sandwiches or such at a food court outside security and take the food through security to eat it while waiting at the gate? When packing food from home for one's carry-on, are there restrictions (aside from liquids) (and aside from the generally-accepted conventions of no stinky Limburger cheese and the like)? There are plenty of places to eat or buy food once you get past security.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Sept 28, 2015 13:13:40 GMT -5
Food: can folks pick up pizza or sandwiches or such at a food court outside security and take the food through security to eat it while waiting at the gate? When packing food from home for one's carry-on, are there restrictions (aside from liquids) (and aside from the generally-accepted conventions of no stinky Limburger cheese and the like)? There are plenty of places to eat or buy food once you get past security. This depends on airport and time you're flying out though. I've been on a 6 am flight and most food places at Sea Tac aren't open this early. I've also been flying through a connecting airport at night and begged a place to make me a sandwich before they shut down for the night (at 8 pm). And some airports have squat near your gate.
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lexxy703
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Post by lexxy703 on Sept 28, 2015 13:19:33 GMT -5
There are plenty of places to eat or buy food once you get past security. This depends on airport and time you're flying out though. I've been on a 6 am flight and most food places at Sea Tac aren't open this early. I've also been flying through a connecting airport at night and begged a place to make me a sandwich before they shut down for the night (at 8 pm). And some airports have squat near your gate. I fly out of Dulles which is a big busy airport so I didn't think about that. I guess you should slip a pack of crackers or a granola bar in your purse just in case GRG.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2015 13:34:08 GMT -5
I'm putting together hints for my DIL since she and my son are flying to visit my parents over Christmas- with their 1.5-year old daughter as a lap child and a short connection in Atlanta.
Agreed on the difficulty of getting food for an early AM flight. I'll have to tell DDIL since they have a 6 AM flight out of DSM.
If you have lots of non-computer electronics, put them all in a gallon bag in the tray so they can see them. (Charging cords, earbuds, iPhone chargers, electrical adapters.) I've had officials make me wait while they groped through all my underwear in my carry-on piece by piece after finding a lot of (perfectly legal) wires in it when they X-rayed it.
Keep an eye on changes in your flights, especially if you booked months in advance. Sometimes they change by only 5 minutes but sometimes a carefully-chosen 2-hour layover in Chicago gets changed to different flights with 35 minutes between them. You have the right to call within a reasonable amount of time and tell them you want it changed. Have a good idea of what you want instead (e.g. a specific later flight out of Chicago if available). I even got a routing through a different city once, at no extra charge, when the routing through my initial connecting city became too short and there were no reasonable alternatives through that airport.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2015 13:50:21 GMT -5
ATL is a pretty easy airport to get around in. Have them check the connecting gate as they exit the plane. Tell them to proceed to the tram and get to their concourse. It's intimidating because of the size, but it really is one of the easier airports to get around in. I agree, and DS has done enough flying that he should be comfortable navigating ATL. I'm also hoping that with their 6 AM departure from DSM, they'll get into ATL on schedule.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Sept 28, 2015 14:25:09 GMT -5
I've had the pleasure of overnighting in ATL (twice), Houston (twice), Seattle (I missed this flight due to traffic), Chicago (twice), Burlington (3x - but only once in Burlington - twice we were diverted to other airports flying to Burlington due to weather) and LGA (twice). These are due to missed flights from delays or canceled flights.
At this point, regardless of flight time I don't assume that I'll make it through. Chances are better if you fly earlier in the day but that's no guarantee.
And while there may be more options of rebooking from a larger airport, if you are flying to a smaller one, your choices are still extremely limited. Some smaller airports may only have a couple of flights to that airport each day.
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TheOtherMe
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Post by TheOtherMe on Sept 28, 2015 18:49:17 GMT -5
My problem with flying these days is I live near three small airports CID, MSN and DBQ. Only American flies out of DBQ and only to ORD.
If I am flying United, I will not fly from MSN as it's a tiny, tiny plane to ORD to connect to the part of the country where I fly. CID has direct flights to the destination where I go the most.
I have flown out of DSM a lot--because my parents lived 60 miles from there for years. Nephew recently flew a 6 AM flight that got cancelled the night before. Probably the plane didn't make it. He was rebooked the next day going a totally different route than he originally booked.
I've had good luck flying out of DSM, but it's been years since I've flown from that airport. It's pretty much CID or DBQ for me now.
I don't like driving in Chicago (I've never done it), so I'm not driving to fly from O'Hare or Midway.
Sometimes from DBQ, if flights get cancelled that were full, they bus the passengers to O'Hare as the airport does cater to businessmen.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2015 20:47:26 GMT -5
DS also had a 6 AM flight out of DSM cancelled a few years ago. He missed his cousin's rehearsal dinner at one of the best restaurants in NYC. :-(. I sure hope they do better on this flight.
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wvugurl26
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Post by wvugurl26 on Sept 29, 2015 7:09:26 GMT -5
Atlanta I try not to push connection times just in case my incoming flight is late. That being said while it is huge, it's super easy to navigate. I flew in there alone as a 19 year old having never flown and did fine. And we landed at the very end of the far terminal and I took off out of A2.
I realize I'm very spoiled. I have tons of direct flights 45 minutes from me. And I have two other equally huge international airports a little further away. Flights generally cost more and parking is way more but the option is there. Especially for international flights.
I guess my number one tip is keep things you need in carry on baggage.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2015 7:53:33 GMT -5
I realize I'm very spoiled. I have tons of direct flights 45 minutes from me. And I have two other equally huge international airports a little further away. Flights generally cost more and parking is way more but the option is there. Especially for international flights. Oh, I know. DH and I don't miss the HCOL and the traffic jams in NJ but we sure miss nonstop out of EWR. Of course, sometimes the TSA lines there were so bad I wanted to cry and go back home.
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milee
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Post by milee on Sept 29, 2015 8:06:16 GMT -5
If I have a choice of where to connect, I choose Atlanta. It's easy to navigate or if I need a long walk, there are interesting ways to walk between the terminals without having to backtrack or leave the secured areas.
Plus, I love, love, love One Flew South in the International Terminal. One of my favorite restaurants anywhere - weird that it's at an airport. I've been known to make a slightly longer layover in ATL just to give me enough time to hop over to E and eat at One Flew South.
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wvugurl26
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Post by wvugurl26 on Sept 29, 2015 8:19:42 GMT -5
If I have a choice of where to connect, I choose Atlanta. It's easy to navigate or if I need a long walk, there are interesting ways to walk between the terminals without having to backtrack or leave the secured areas.
Plus, I love, love, love One Flew South in the International Terminal. One of my favorite restaurants anywhere - weird that it's at an airport. I've been known to make a slightly longer layover in ATL just to give me enough time to hop over to E and eat at One Flew South. I have walked at Atlanta just to get some exercise. If you are spending hours on a plane, a nice long walk between gates can be a great thing. And you don't have to go out of security to do it. If I have to do a layover, Atlanta's a great place. Other places don't have half the options or they will confuse the heck out of you. Or you have to take a train or a bus to another terminal.
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garion2003
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Post by garion2003 on Sept 29, 2015 9:25:09 GMT -5
I agree, and DS has done enough flying that he should be comfortable navigating ATL. I'm also hoping that with their 6 AM departure from DSM, they'll get into ATL on schedule. That's one of the reasons I generally connect through ATL. Even if something goes haywire and I miss my connection. There are so many flights out of there that I'll have a lot more options for rebooking.
I generally connect through ATL because Delta makes me Once time I went from Maine to Minneapolis - via Atlanta!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2015 9:35:06 GMT -5
When searching for award travel on American, the regular award level would get us to Paris only if we connected in Chicago AND Miami! I used double the number of miles to get us there on the nonstop from Chicago. I get crazed about the risk of missing connections, even though it's happened more than a few times and I lived to tell about it. When DH and I flew to Iceland from Boston we spent 2 nights in Boston on the way out and one on the way home. It helped DH, who needs time to recover from flights, and did wonders for my sanity.
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wvugurl26
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Post by wvugurl26 on Sept 29, 2015 9:39:40 GMT -5
I forget who it was but they were trying to take us from BWI to Punta Cana by way of Quebec. No thank you. I wasn't trying to do awards travel.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Sept 29, 2015 9:43:32 GMT -5
When searching for award travel on American, the regular award level would get us to Paris only if we connected in Chicago AND Miami! I used double the number of miles to get us there on the nonstop from Chicago. I get crazed about the risk of missing connections, even though it's happened more than a few times and I lived to tell about it. When DH and I flew to Iceland from Boston we spent 2 nights in Boston on the way out and one on the way home. It helped DH, who needs time to recover from flights, and did wonders for my sanity. I've started to do that too. When we go to the Caribbean, we usually fly through Atlanta. The last time we went we took an afternoon flight from MKE to ATL, spent the night in the Marriott Gateway that is attached to the airport by tram, had a nice dinner, woke up early and flew from ATL to Barbados arriving in the early afternoon. This method beats the 'get up at Oh Shit in the morning' fly through ATL, worry about connectors, fly to island and get in late. We were going to do this to to fly to Turks and Caicos last year. There was just no easy way to get there from here.
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Ryan
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Post by Ryan on Sept 29, 2015 9:56:29 GMT -5
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Tennesseer
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Post by Tennesseer on Sept 29, 2015 10:04:10 GMT -5
GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl-as this will be your first flight ever, here is one bit of advice: You will be hearing strange noises and feeling a bumpy ride from time to time during your flight. The very vast majority of noises you will hear are common to every flight, including the the sounds of the wheels being raised and lowered after takeoff and right before landing. You will most likely hit a pocket or two of air turbulence during your flights. That is normal. You may get a sinking feeling on occasion when hitting air turbulence. That is the plane descending and/or ascending 10-20 feel during the turbulence. That is normal. If you are not sure what a sound is or the bumpiness you are experiencing, look around at the other passengers and flight crew. Experienced passengers and definitely your flight cabin crew know what is normal and what might not be normal. Take your cues from them. Your flight attendants will gladly answer your questions, time permitting.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Sept 29, 2015 10:19:17 GMT -5
Are you staying in ATL? If you are I can't recommend enough the Marriott or the Spring Hill Suites Gateway. Most convenient thing ever. The tram stop is between the airport and the rental car complex. I think it takes 2 minutes to get from the hotel to the airport. Not going. The wedding we were going to was canceled right before I bought our airline tickets. I've stayed in ATL twice, both times snagging a cheap room through Hotwire at the last minute for cheap.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2015 19:48:37 GMT -5
Keep your seatbelt fastened at all times. Breath. It will land. Swallow hard and often on take-off and landing to balance the pressure on your eardrums.
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GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl
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"How you win matters." Ender, Ender's Game
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Post by GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl on Oct 14, 2015 7:41:08 GMT -5
UPDATE: Thanks to all of your advice and tips, ODS survived his first flight ever, yesterday. DH, who hasn't flown in 10 years, accompanied him and turned around caught the next flight home (same plane, same seat, and same crew, LOL). Fortunately, timing was such that the lines at security were relatively short and DH explained their inexperience to the TSA folks who were understanding and helpful. ODS enjoyed the flight, but then he loves roller coasters and other thrilling rides. He made his own way to baggage claim, found his bag, caught his shuttle, and made it to his final destination successfully. Time-wise, with travel to and from the airport, arriving early at the airport to ensure enough time to get through security, waiting for baggage claim, etc., this was not an efficient trip. The time demands of air travel these days absolutely make it better suited for longer distances than the route ODS took yesterday. The Acela would have gotten him there about 2 hours sooner (and maybe even faster if one hits traffic or flight delays). But, with planning, airfare can be considerably cheaper than Amtrak. Either way, navigating an airport and flying confidently are life skills, so ODS will be getting a fair amount of practice over the next 4 years. Our next adventure is to convince YDS that the physics of flight are sound and that there ARE airlines that don't serve tree nuts as snacks in flight. Thanks again for sharing all of your knowledge -- YMAM is a very kind and supportive community. You folks rock!!!
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daisy
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Post by daisy on Oct 14, 2015 17:29:22 GMT -5
Okay, peripatetic YMers, what tips and advice would you give first-time flyers? No tip and no advice is too minor or too inconsequential. Let's pretend the passenger just woke up from a Rumplestiltskin-type nap and airports and air travel are a whole, new, world. Thank you for any and all tips and advice!!!! Clonazepam is your friend.
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