Three Travel Tips: Surviving Thanksgiving Air Travel

Travel Blog • Jim Benning • 11.16.07 | 11:37 AM ET

Travel tips are easy to find on the Internet, but some are better than others. Herewith: World Hum-approved travel tips from around the Web.

It starts today: Thanksgiving travel madness. An estimated 27 million people are expected to fly between now and Nov. 27—up 4 percent from last year. Military air space has been temporarily opened to ease congestion, but it’s going to get ugly out there. What to do?

1) Ship your luggage using a courier service and print your boarding pass at home. Then avoid the airport’s departure level. “When getting to the airport (especially for a morning flight), don’t go to the departure level. It will be a zoo. Besides, you have no baggage to check and you already have your boarding pass. Instead, skip the car and people traffic and head for the arrivals level. In the early morning, no one is there. Then take the escalator upstairs and go through security to your gate.” (Peter Greenberg, MSNBC)

2) Fly early. “Travel early in the day to avoid problems since delays can spread nationwide through the air-travel system. [For example, in Seattle, m]ore than 90 percent of flights leaving Sea-Tac between 6 and 7 a.m. in September departed on time compared to 67 percent of those between 7 and 8 p.m.” (Seattle Times)

3) Program your cell phone. “Program numbers for your airline, hotel, car rental company, or your travel agent into your cell phone. In case you need to change your flight, you can call the airline directly rather than waiting in line at the ticket counter. Make sure you have the phone number for whoever is waiting for you at the airport so you can keep them posted about your situation.” (AAA)

Photo by paper or plastic? via Flickr, (Creative Commons).