crazyanglaisy

Bravo! My tip (which I'm still battling to put into practice myself) is to approach each and every flight in a positive frame of mind, treating crew, airport staff and fellow travellers politely and with kindness. In my experience, this is the fast track, guaranteed route to receiving excellent service and to having a more enjoyable journey.

dsf

Fly to Innsbruck on a sunny day, and snag a window seat.

unileeds

Top tip... If you want to shortcheck your bags or drop the last leg of your flight... ASK!
Just managed to drop a lengthy MAD-AMS sector and managed to take the Puente Aeri to BCN instead. The agent just said, sure, I've cancelled your last leg, no penalty. I had already managed to short check my bag too. She was like great.

mikeday1983

My top tip is if you don't ask, you definitely don't get. Always be polite and sincere.

HIDDY

Eat breakfast before leaving the house in the morning.

Fitch

1. Make sure you have passport, credit card, phone, cash on you.
   
   Flights pass through and over some surprisingly "unfriendly" places - if you have to divert to one of them (or leave the aircraft in a hurry at one of them) you really don't want to be explaining to a border guard (in e.g. one of the -stans) why you have no travel documents and no money
   
   
2. If your journey matters, do your research.
   
   I never have a backup plan for e.g. an LHR-AMS-LHR... if it all goes teets up, there'll be another flight along fairly soon and it won't cost the Earth... But flying LHR-SOF || SOF-DOH-BKK || BKK-HKG || HKG-TPE, all on bargain J fares with 4 different carriers ? You can bet I have thoroughly thought through Plans A, B, C & D (and have them on a piece of paper in my pocket)
   
   
3. Write stuff down on paper.
   
   Kit runs out of power, usually at the worst possible time. Take a few minutes to think about how you will cope with NO phone, NO tablet, NO laptop... For a serious trip, I usually have a few sheets of A4 on me consisting of BPs, maps & directions, booking references, key contact details etc.
   
   
4. Remember how safe and comfortable you are
   
   
   For comparison, take a 5hr ride in a 20-year old Mercedes taxi at 100mph through the depths of a Romanian winter; or an 8hr ride on an Indian train with no aircon at 20mph at the height of summer... Whatever the minor irritations on board your BA flight, you are travelling in the safest and most comfortable way ever invented... and a large number of your fellow humans will only ever walk - everywhere, for ever
   
   
   

Virazuno

Spot on ^

Lucanesque

Never heard of this one before! I thought the address has to match what the credit card company is expecting? Or do you mean getting a credit card that is registered in Germany?

Virazuno

American Express do not use the billing country as part of their authentication process.

(For the record, this post is a statement of fact, not an advocation of certain practices...........)

Lucanesque

Awesome! Great to know that fact, thanks ^

missdimeaner

+2, I get some funny looks when I swan about with my little pouch with all the necessary 'evils' for getting into a random country, phoning and spending. I just know I am not going to be 'that person' who blocks others in an emergency situation.

The trick is to wear it during landing and take off (at least).

To echo other posts - be nice to people, or at least tolerant. A lot of passengers only travel once a year and aren't anywhere near as savvy as most on this board. A little understanding goes a long way.

Smile and people sometimes smile back (or think you are a complete nutter !)

Don't take you frustrations out on the crew/ground staff - it's a lose, lose situation - you get more flies with honey than vinegar.

Lucanesque

1) Take the walkway to 5B/C. You're going to be sat down for the next few hours, and it's so peaceful down there. The only people you meet are other FTers and crew.

2) Travel HBO where you can. Longest I've done is 2 weeks HBO, laundered a few things, got a case that is only just within the maximum size

3) If you don't travel HBO, then keep some bare essentials in your carry on, e.g. underwear, shirt, medicine, and toiletries. If the worst happens and your checked bags don't make it then it's less of a disaster.

4) Be nice to everyone. Not everyone flies or enjoys flying as much as many FTers, for some people flying is a novelty. For crew it's their job, and nobody likes dealing with obnoxious / smartarse people in their job.

5) Keep your shoes, passport, wallet, and phone all on you until safely up in the air. Evacuations do happen, albeit exceptionally rarely, with those four items you should be able to survive in any country at a push.

6) Dress to be comfortable, not to impress, particularly on long haul.

7) Dress for your destination, although there's a certain comedy value of seeing people arrive back in LGW with singlets, shorts, and flip flops when it's -2 outside.

8) If you're going somewhere new and time matters, then do your own research. Finding out in advance where taxis / trains / hotels / restaurants / offices are cuts down on stress.

9) If you're going somewhere new and time doesn't matter, ignore point 8 and treat it as an adventure.

10) if you're travelling to the US, even if it's only once a year, consider getting Global Entry. At most US airports you can be plane door to taxi queue in ten minutes on a good day, and 15-20 on a very bad one.

BERbound

My tip is to check avios.com when making an avios redemption. I had it set in my mind that a long haul Y redemption on avios.com has the same taxes as a BA.com redemption , i found out recently that's not always the case (im aware of the IB difference but not the avios.com difference).

Example On BA.COM a Tel Aviv - London one way in Y is 10,000 avios and £131.12 in charges whilst on avios.com the same flight is £10,000 and £46.80 = a worthy £84.32p difference.

A better bargain is WTP on the 787 for 15,000 avios and £46.80p, or Iberia J for 20,000 avios and £23 on the A330 or A319 recliner ex MAD.

BillyBleach

For frequent travel to the US, invest in Global Entry ($100 application fee, £42 back ground check).

Not only saves you immigration queues, but more importantly the awful customs queues that are so prevalent in US bag claim areas.

paul4040

My top tip for 2017: try and enjoy it. Relax. Oh, and San Jose is nice.