Tips for surviving holiday travel

By Joe Brancatelli

I’m almost old enough to remember when holiday travel was a more intimate affair, a matter of going over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house.

Of course, nobody goes over the river and through the woods anymore. Now we all drive to airports on traffic-jammed roads and fly around the world on packed planes to see our friends and families for the holidays. And the rush is on right now, when business travelers cede control of the air-travel system to those jolly holiday travelers who often can’t tell an airport from an air balloon.

So how will we all survive and co-exist until the end of the first week of January, the traditional end of the end-of-the-year holiday rush? Here are ten of my best suggestions. The more you fly, the more you know this stuff. But it never hurts to read over this list and check it twice.

Fly early in the day

Transportation Department statistics show that flights scheduled to depart and arrive early in the day have the best on-time performance. But relative timeliness isn’t the only reason to fly early: If your selected flight is canceled, you’ll have a better chance of being rebooked on a flight later in the day. Conversely, if you book an evening flight, you’re not only subject to longer delays, you also may not get on another flight that day if your original one cancels.

Travel lighter

The government’s two-bag carry-on limit is not written in stone. The airlines reserve the right to force you to check one of the carry-on bags on full flights. Assume holiday flights will be full, so consider traveling with only one carry-on bag. How do you slim down? One way is to put your toiletries in a checked bag. Why bother trying to stuff all of your lotions, potions, gels and pastes into a one-quart zippered bag? Just put them all in your checked bag and skip the time-consuming arguments at the security-screening checkpoint.

Carry duplicates

You know that you should always carry your prescription medicine and
eyeglasses in your carry-on bag, right? But also make sure to bring the
prescriptions, too. In the holiday rush, you might misplace the drugs
or glasses, but you’ll be able to replace them with minimal hassle if
you have the prescriptions. And consider throwing a change of underwear
in your carry-on bag. If you’re stuck en route when an airport is
closed for weather delays or security reasons, you may end up spending
a night at an intermediate point without access to your checked bags.

Do a weight check on checked bags

In their relentless drive to make air travel unpleasant, the major
carriers are now cracking down on what they claim to be "excess weight"
bags. They are charging up to $100 a bag on luggage that weighs over
the 50-pound free limit. All the major carriers are also strictly
enforcing the limit of two free checked bags per traveler. Check
additional bags and you’ll pay for it. One last thought: Consider
shipping bags instead. UPS and FedEx offer cost-effective options.
They’ll pick up your bag at your home or office and ship it direct to
your hotel or your final destination.

Ship your presents

Reduce your stress level further by mailing your gifts or sending them
by an overnight courier or package service. It may cost a few dollars,
but the stuff will get there and you don’t have to carry it. And
abandon all hope of taking gifts as carry-on. First of all, the gifts
will count against your carry-on limit. Secondly, wrapped presents will
be unwrapped and examined if their contents can’t be verified by the
X-ray machines at security.

Leave early, park off-airport

Don’t risk missing your flight because of a ground delay. Roads to,
from and inside the airport and airport parking lots are clogged with
traffic during the holidays, so allow more time than normal. And
remember: On-airport parking lots are filled to overflow during the
holiday season. So why bother driving into that madness? Use an
off-airport private lot instead. All offer shuttle service directly to
your departure terminal; many offer interesting perks such as car
washes and oil changes. And trust me on this: Do not rely on friends or
family to pick you up or drop you off at the airport. The holiday
season is stressful enough. Why dump the extra grief of an airport run
on anyone, especially people you care about?

Have a delay defense

Dealing with the long lines — and all the extra time you’ll have if
everything goes swiftly — is less stressful if you’re prepared. Bring
plenty to read and/or lots of CDs and DVDs. If you’re traveling with
children, make sure you’ve got a supply of smallgames, toys and snacks
to keep them occupied. If you’re traveling with infants, make sure that
you have a sufficient supply of diapers and food. You won’t find this
kind of stuff at most airport shops.

Stock up on water

Don’t scrimp on water. Airline travel is dehydrating and you should
drink at least eight ounces of water for every hour of flying. You
can’t bring "outside" bottles of water through the security
checkpoints, but do pick up several bottles from the food court inside
the "sterile" area beyond security. Do not assume you’ll get all the
beverages you need in-flight. Flight attendants won’t come down the
aisles often enough to suit your needs.

Join the club

If you’ve got a long layover between flights or are faced with an
unexpected delay, consider joining an airline’s club network. Although
club membershipis an annual affair, many airlines sell "day
memberships" or weekly or monthly passes. The clubs are relatively
quiet oases in the maelstrom of airports during the holiday season.
Your sanity is worth the relatively small investment.

Use your phone

Flight delays and cancellations will wreak havoc with your itinerary, but they
can be managed if you plan ahead. For example: Program your mobile
phone with the toll-free reservation numbers of your chosen airlines.
If a disruption occurs, don’t go back to the ticket counter. Start with
a call to the airline. The telephone agents can probably do almost
anything the folks at the ticket counter can do. Reserve a speed-dial
button for your favorite hotel chain, too. If a major disruption occurs
and passengers begin scrambling for hotel rooms, then you’ll be in a
better position to score last-minute lodgings when you can make an
immediate call to your chain’s reservation number. Programming your
car rental firm’s toll-free number into the phone wouldn’t hurt,
either.

Don’t forget to enjoy the holidays! See you in 2008!

Related Orbitz resources:

Joe Brancatelli is editor and publisher of JoeSentMe.com, a
non-commercial Web site for business travelers. Read more "On the Road with Joe Brancatelli" at
roadwarrior.orbitz.com.

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