The Luggage Blog

The holidays are a joyous time of year. It’s a time of year where families unite to enjoy a wonderful feast filled with turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce. It’s a time of year where your grandfather falls asleep before and after dinner. These times can produce a ton of wonderful memories, or if you travel, they can also produce nightmares. I would like to share with you the top ten tips for Thanksgiving travel this year. So for all you holiday flyers out there, get you pencils ready and take some notes.

1. Prepare For Your Flight At Home

Print your boarding passes at home on your computer and check in before you even leave the house. I can’t begin to tell you how much time and aggravation this will save you.

2. Avoid The Crowds Before Take Off

Do not go to the departure level, it’s going to be crazy especially in the morning. Since you already checked in and printed your boarding pass, you can go to the arrivals level, take the escalator and go through security at your gate. This way you will avoid the people traffic.

3. Avoid The Crowds When You Land

Have your family, friends or whoever your visiting come pick you up at the departure level. You will walk out to the car with your luggage in hand while the rest of the folks will be crowded by the arrival level waiting for their bags.

4. Traveling With Gifts

If you are bringing presents with you and you have to check your bags do not wrap them. When going through security you run the risk of getting your bags checked and that would force security to open your presents, especially if you use a foil wrapping paper that may set off the alarm.

5. Luggage Tags Are Important

Luggage tags are useful, however conveyer belts love to eat these things. My advice would be to duct tape it to your bag. If you’re worried about how good you look when your travel and don’t want to be caught carrying a bag with duct tape on it, tape it on the inside of a flap. That way the belt can’t eat it.

6. Beware Of Thieves

It’s true that thievery takes place in airports, but what you may not know is that thieves generally don’t take your entire bag, they takes things from it. So do yourself a favor and right after you get your luggage at baggage claim, open it and check to make sure you have everything. If not, file a report with the airport immediately.

7. Extend Your Holiday

Don’t travel on the day before and the day after Thanksgiving. Do yourself a favor and book your vacation for a few more days. That way you avoid the rush and you will get a longer vacation. Of course that’s a good thing if your family isn’t completely insane.

8. Choose Less Popular Airports

If this is a possibility for you then consider flying into alternate airports. Airports that are not located in big busy cities. Think Flint instead of Detroit; Milwaukee instead of Chicago; Oakland instead of San Francisco; Providence instead of Boston.

9. Bringing Food And Drink On A Plane

If you are wondering whether or not you can bring food or drink on an airplane, the answer is yes. However, there are some regulations that you should be aware of before bringing anything. For instance, you can bring a drink from home or purchased before the flight but it has to be less than 3 ounces. You can bring in drinks purchased after the security checkpoint. All factory sealed food can be brought onto a plane but if you are bringing a container of food, it has to be again less than 3 ounces. For more information about the rules and regulations of flying please visit tsa.gov.

10. Relax

Last but not least, keep a cool head. The holidays are a busy time for travel and delays can happen. Make sure to relax and don’t stress out about it. It’s the time of year to be happy and nothing can ruin that faster than poor travel plans. Enjoy your trip!