4 Hacks for Improving Your Airport Experience

Traveling is exciting, but a lot of the time, before you can look forward to your vacation, you have to navigate the lengthy and awkward airport process first. This experience can be particularly stressful if you are traveling with younger children or a large family, and therefore have many other people and responsibilities to think about.

Here are 4 methods you can embrace to make your airport experience much easier to handle.

1.   Enroll in Prechecks

Many people would do anything to avoid the long and painful security process at the airport. The majority of your time spent at an airport is on your feet waiting, as well as panicking about separating all the necessary items in the correct way. Prechecks can help you to avoid excessive queuing or airport procedures if you meet the criteria to enroll. TSA precheck benefits include avoiding lengthy security queues and not being required to separate all your items like you usually would have to, such as electrical goods and liquids, which is always a plus.

2.   Pack Smart

If you are only taking a carry on to the airport, then you should pack wisely so that all the items you will need are easily accessible at the top of your luggage, or in a separate pocket. You don’t want to risk having to pull out all your carefully folded clothes in order to search for something you need.

To ease stress, think ahead to what you will most likely need at the airport, and make sure you can quickly get to it. If you are checking in your baggage, pack a separate handbag or carry on to keep with you at the airport.

3.   Think Carefully About Flight Times

Sometimes the cheapest deal isn’t always the best if it’s going to leave you exhausted, grumpy, and unable to check into your hotel straight away, especially if you end up arriving at the crack of dawn. Think about your own body’s productivity and how you best travel and book your flight times around that. This means that your airport experience can be less stressful if it’s at a more comfortable time of the day, such as early afternoon instead of early morning, for instance. This may also make it easier for younger children if they aren’t particularly skilled at getting up at strange times.

4.   Check Everything in Advance

Anything you can do in advance, do so. This includes online check-in and printing out boarding passes and travel documents before you arrive at the airport in order to avoid extra queues and processes. Also, think about planning your airport route before you go. Checking the layout of the airport in advance, especially car parking if you are leaving a vehicle, can be a big time-saver. This will help you avoid the risk of getting lost, being unsure of where to go, or making a mistake with the airport section you’re supposed to be at. You could also read online tips and reviews from fellow travelers for your specific airport and destination airport in case there is something helpful you can learn.