In 21st century it seems to be normal, kind of casual to fly, i mean almost everyone does that, but each year and each day somewhere in the world, there is a person who is rejected from boarding, closed to jail for couple hours to not have the right paperwork and many many other problems related to flying even such a very common one which is a delayed flight.
Some of you are regulars and you don't need to read this, but the newbies or not so frequent ones might find this helpful, who knows, maybe i know one more thing than you do.
Passport
Silly you say? Oh yeah it is, but so many people actually do not check their passports before booking their holiday. The entrance permission to a lot of countries is, that your passport must be valid for another six months after your arrival back home. So when you find out, a week before your holiday, that your passport expires in six months from today, you might get into trouble. Express passports are usually super expensive and valid only for those six months, so that' s not gonna help you.
Check the country rules and your passport before booking!
Visa
Make sure, that your country does not need an entry visa to your preferred destination. If so, make sure to do it in advance and preferably in an office of the particular embassy, as that is the safer option rather than online. If it's no where near, rather read everything twice before buying, it is never pleasant to arrive after several hours and then be sent back, because you had it wrong.
Try to avoid filling visa papers at the airport! There might be papers missing, you might be short on time and so on and so on - it might not be such a nice start to your trip.
Flight booking
Read Read Read! Do you get food and do you want it? Do you want your favorite seat? Do you need an extra bag or special bag such as the one for golf? Everything can be done either at that moment or later while checking in - depends on the airline, but do not take anything as granted. Nowadays airlines put as much as they can for an extra fee, so make sure to either check it, pay for it or at least know about what you can and can' t have. All these extras are more expensive, when bought at an airport. Sometimes it can be even more than the ticket it self.
Check-in
Online check in is an amazing thing. Not just for a smooth walk through the airport, but also that you get a better chance of getting a seat which you want and for free (some airlines want a smaller or bigger fee when choosing the seat while purchasing the ticket), but also not to hear that sad sentence - something like ,,I am sorry sir, but the flight has been overbooked and i am afraid i cannot check you in"
Unfortunately it is very common, that airlines sell more seats that there actually are on board. It is of course to make sure that the aircraft will take off full as there is always someone who does not make it or cancel.
When this happens to you, be calm and negotiate! Sometimes they offer money if you take the next coming flight, sometimes they put you into a business class or let you spend time in one of the airport lounges.
Someone will eventually have to leave and it might be even very pleasant in the end ;)
Boarding
Calm down, even though there is no one by the gate, does not mean they are not in the bridge (the tunnel towards the aircraft) so you really do not need to stress nor rush and push your self forward, because you already got a seat and if you sit down now or only in 15 mins where is the difference. So let everyone to stand in the crowd and you go (i suggest you) to the toilet to avoid not working, smelly, dirty and over crowded aircraft lavatories.
Plus cabin crews hate when you just got on board and you are trying to get through the people to go to the toilet, really there is not much space.
On Board
You know that little box underneath everything basically, which you have to tick before purchase and it says ,,I agree with..." i would suggest you to read it at least briefly and once, to not be among the ones who complain about things they agreed with. So you might even get rejected from the flight and you cannot say a thing, because pilot just said so. There in the tube (aircraft) pilots have the last word, so when they say that your suitcase is too big and has to go to the cargo, so it damn will go to the cargo hold :D
First row and emergency rows are for fit people who could help in case of an emergency. So if you have a small kid, broken leg or bigger proportions, you will have to sit somewhere else.
Usually second and third rows are sliiiightly bigger than the rest.
We hope you enjoy your holiday. If you might have any questions, you can comment below or send us a message and we will try to reply as soon as possible.
