While you may have done a great job of reviewing your cheap traveloptions, including cheapairplane tickets, discount hotel rooms, and cheap vacation packages,prior to finalizing your travel plans its helps to know what to expect and howto cope when traveling over the holidays.
U.S. airlines are expected to transport 27.3 million fliersbetween November 18th and November 29th, an increase of2.5 percent.
Common concerns when flying over the holidays includingonboard comfort given that planes tend to be packed to capacity and long linesat airport security checkpoints.
The following are the three heaviest/busiest travel days:
Sunday,November 27
Monday,November 28th
Wednesday,November 23rd
The lightest travel day will be on Thanksgiving Day Thursday, November 24th.
The projected busiest airports will be:
- Atlanta
- Los Angeles
- Chicago OHare
- Dallas-Ft. Worth
- New York JFK
- Denver
- San Francisco
- Las Vegas
- Charlotte
- Phoenix
On the busiest travel days planes will be close to 100percent full, particularly on more popular routes. Airport security checkpoints will be stressedto the breaking point.
The following are tips on how to best deal with flyingduring the busiest days of the year:
Giveyourself plenty of time to get to the airport, particularly if you will beparking at an airport lot.
Reserveflights early in the day to increase your odds of being placed on a laterflight the same day if your original flight is cancelled.
Travelto/from secondary (less popular) airports.
Avoidchecking bags, if at all possible.
Oneway to avoid being treated like cattle in coach is to use miles to upgrade orpay extra for premium economy.
Placethe phone numbers for your airline, hotel, and rental car in your cellphone foreasy access.
Fullycharge your cellphone before departure.
Toavoid having to deal with the gate crowd, consider buying a day pass to yourairlines airport lounge.
Signup for PreCheck for expedited security clearance.
Be realistic and face the fact that none of the above willguarantee your travel plans will go without a hitch. Be relaxed and expect travel to bestressful. Observe the Golden Rule andtreat others, especially airline and airport employees, how you would like tobe treated.
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